Can The Player's Amination Run If He Be Mounted

I've got a mounted player character from chapter6, and have tried everything to get the animation thread to run consistently while the guy is mounted...

sometimes it runs, sometimes it doesn't...

refer to this thread for details about what i'm trying to do...

i'm at my wits end on this... something so obvious, but i can't seem to grasp what is happening here to get it working right...

THANKS in advance for any and all inputs...

--Mike