Bareback - your experiences please :)

Dark Storm

Dark Storm

Well I'll be a Krampus's Auntie! :D!
Jan 4, 2009
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Hadfield
Good or bad... :smile:
Does your horse love it? Does he or she ever complain about boney butts?
Do you prefer to ride them with a saddle pad, as they're difficult to sit too or you just find them more comfy?
If you can't find your balance, do they point blank refuse to canter?
Are they looking after you when they do this or is it self preservation?

I lack confidence in bareback, and Shadow knows it...........
 
The only time I sat on Rafi bareback he tensed right up and was so worried he wouldn't move. I didn't push him because I didn't know which way he'd go!

Now I ride in a Christ bareback pad, but it's nothing like riding properly bareback - it even has knee rolls. It's so comfy though and Raf goes really well in it. In fact the other night in the school he spooked and span and I didn't fall out the side door, I'd have had no chance if I'd been sitting on his slippy back.

In my dreams I'd love to be able to vault on my naked horse and gallop down the beach - like Jean Francois Pignon. In reality I just get chucked head first into muddy ditches - and that's with a saddle!
 
Two answers to this as two different ponies.

Jack only ever let me on with the pad, bony bum and let me know. I did everything bareback, all paces and the odd jump. Did hack out as had the insurance but don't now.
Trotting was easy to sit to once I changed how I used to sit. I could get extended trot without being all over the shop. But, if I had to go down steep hill I had the handle on the pad , plus material to help stop me sliding over.

I could add my tb as rode her bareback with the endurance pad. She had very high withers, trust me you would want the pad.

Current cob I backed her bareback, first rides around yard are also bareback. Now will put saddle on to get on with more riding. I always back bareback initially, just my choice.

Jack would only give you canter if you relaxed, if you we're tense he would not. If you lost your balance he would also slow down and wait for you to adjust.
 
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I remember being told by a very very good rider that I ought to be doing lots of work without stirrups (obviously with a saddle). I was happy when this person took me up on my offer to ride Joy as I was fed up of explaining that there was no way I'd be doing that given how bouncy she was. Now I'm not the best of riders but I'm not the worst either. I had ridden a New Forest and Irish Cob bareback on a fairly regular basis and was happy to canter. On Joy, I find stirrup less hard enough. Yes she's bouncy but also she isn't well schooled so I'd defy anyone to feel happy bareback on her.

Anyway, the upshot of it was that this person soon understood what I'd been continuously trying to say, it wasn't just me. The matter was never mentioned again.

I do ride Joy bareback, at least, I will be a passenger on her at walk. That's as much ad I can say.
 
Nothing particularly constructive to add - I don't ride bareback very often. Rocky doesn't mind but the others are less tolerant because they're not used to it, I do ride Stevie in bareback from the field though.
 
Used to do it all the time as teenager, my ponies were kept three miles away and it was a long cycle ride with a saddle perched on the handlebars. We used to just take headcollars and jump on bareback to hack back to the house and tack up properly there.
Sadly with my now lacking confidence and balance, I'm not too keen on the idea. I've mastered no stirrups trot on a school horse but my boy is just too insecure with unbalanced riders to risk it on him. I tried once. Struggled on, sat for 30 seconds with friend holding him, he panicked that I was too tense and shot off at a canter. I bailed unsurprisingly. The upshot was that it was the easiest fall I've ever had - no saddle to impede my descent so I just sort of slid off gracefully lol!
 
I've started working bareback on Ziggy this year. He is a well padded Connemara and I am a well padded (10 stone) 5'2" unbony bum.

Pros:

* It feels fantastic, I can feel every muscle working and it is what I dreamed of when I dreamed for all those 50 years of having a pony.
* For a little guy (14.1 or so) he is incredibly comfy, like a little individual Parker Knoll.
* It's very handy when I am just taking him back to the field after untacking and I am too lazy to climb the hill.
* When he trots slowly and canters nicely it feels as if I could go for ever.
* Central heating!

Cons:

* Getting on. I am practising vaulting (with advice from NR of course) and can now vault on as long as I am standing on a verge or something to give me a few inches advantage. From the ground, er, not yet...
* Fur on my breeches. And on the Velcro on my boots. And the Velcro on my jacket. And my hat. And probably my knickers as well... :redface:
* When he trots fast/harshly it shakes my bones. Probably his too!
* Falling off. If he spooks big, he is so slippery I just end up on my a*se.

Overall, I would say pros outweigh cons. If I do something wrong (eg landing too hard when I get on) he tells me about it with a tail swish, and he never swishes when we are going along bareback, so I reckon it suits him too :biggrin:
 
I used to ride bareback all the time as a child, could never be bothered to take saddle to yard. In them days you could ride out bareback. We did it often, and galloped and jumped all over the place (happy days) I had an Anglo Arab nice little mare and rode, anything from ponies to show jumpers and eventer . Now I am old its all nerves, guess my old bones wouldn't take it, the self preservation kicks in. Oh I wish I could just go for it. No chance at my age but there you are. I don't know why I worry, my neds are fine and dandy with low withers and mighty comfy backs. and I am still fit at 54 years All I dreamed of as a child has come to me to late. Enjoy your youth and go for it! Life is short and problems many.
 
Sliding off and un-ceremonialessly dropping on the floor like a stone, has sort of made me a reluctant bareback rider.. to this day my lower back hasn't been the same.. who know's maybe my lack of flexibility brought on by the accident might be why he ever developed a sore back :unsure:
 
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