How do you ride yours?

newforest

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Mar 15, 2008
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Question in the title.
Not sure why I have put this in training because usually bareback riding is messing about. :D

Trotting. Do you sit, rise or swap between the two. Or something else such as pray!!.
I read somewhere that you shouldn't do sitting trot too much because they haven't developed the back muscles until you get to elementary dressage.
How true that is unsaddled I don't know and how much of that depends if yours hollows or carries themselves?

The cob is normally too fat to ride bareback this time of year, so though I don't doubt what the weight tape says, she's not carrying beyond my pelvic abilities, yet. Saying that all of me isn't in contact with her. My knees face east and west respectively!

We swapped between the two to try and guage which was more comfortable, as well as testing different foot angles to see if that made any difference.
My body wanted to place itself in a position and I did go by that feel initially, tweaked it, read her, and went back to the original.

Over to you.
 
When riding with a saddle I alternate quite a bit between sitting and rising trot - as much for my benefit as hers. Bareback riding I doubt very much i could do a rising trot anymore anyway - so would definitely be sitting trot at all times. I could rise to the trot many years ago riding bareback but to be honest it was just a game we played to show off a bit how good we were bareback lol! - we all rode sitting for every pace for the majority of the time and just nestled down into the 'sweet spot' and sat with legs slightly more forward than one would with a saddle. Gosh I am filled with nostalgia now, wish I could still do all that stuff :(
 
Sitting trot although it's very dodgy as I struggle with my balance. I don't think I could even attempt a rise without going splat.
 
When riding with a saddle I alternate quite a bit between sitting and rising trot - as much for my benefit as hers. Bareback riding I doubt very much i could do a rising trot anymore anyway - so would definitely be sitting trot at all times. I could rise to the trot many years ago riding bareback but to be honest it was just a game we played to show off a bit how good we were bareback lol! - we all rode sitting for every pace for the majority of the time and just nestled down into the 'sweet spot' and sat with legs slightly more forward than one would with a saddle. Gosh I am filled with nostalgia now, wish I could still do all that stuff :(

I have a bareback pad you could play with. Or anyone else come to that.
It's a western tie and the cob said no.
 
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It depends entirely on what I'm doing and why!

Out hacking, always rising generally.

Schooling a mixture of rising (with & without stirrups) & sitting (with & without stirrups).

I don't ride bareback though, as Pete doesn't like it - I've a bony bum & he's a sensitive flower!
 
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Bareback I nearly always rise to the trot I feel a bit out of control if I sit to it as I start to feel like I'm bouncing around all over the place.
 
I took Jess out bareback yesterday, it was a bit interesting at the point we have been having a good canter the last few rides :p she kept asking to go :p I don't mind the cantering, its the stopping that takes some thinking about, as I ride more bareback my balance will improve and then I'll be ok with it but it was the first time I've ridden bareback in a while.

I generally try to alternate between sitting and rising, but yesterday ended up doing all sitting as the metal D-rings meant to attach stirrups onto my bareback pad were digging into my lower thigh badly (I won't use the stirrups as think it would put a pressure spot on her wither).

I've decided to modify my bareback pad, I am going to remove the girth strap (piece of webbing right over the back) and move it further back, while I am at it I am going to replace it with an old western saddle billet as its thicker webbing, that will allow me to use a proper western cinch rather than the pissy little fleece thing it came with, that will give us a little more side to side grip. And I am going to make it into a cut back at the wither to give some relief there as Jess has quite big withers which will hopefully stop it slipping back, and I'm adding D-rings to the front so I can add a breast plate. Hopefully all that will stop the pad shifting around so much, we had to stop at one point yesterday to wriggle and pull it back into place :rolleyes:
 
Quick question...Are you insured if you hack out bareback I know there are issues with hacking in just a halter did know if it was the same for a saddle?

Anyway back to the question....razor blade so don't do any bare back. I use to ride chanter and jump him always sitting trot never really tried rising.

In the saddle I go between the two when schooling. This is to start building his back up and to help me loosen my hips and pelvis to enable me to sit better to his trot and not block it
 
Quick question...Are you insured if you hack out bareback I know there are issues with hacking in just a halter did know if it was the same for a saddle?
The highway code says something along the lines of you must use a bridle and should use a saddle, so the saddle bit is just a recommendation, not a requirement as far as I know :) I was almost entirely on private land though so not such a big deal.
 
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Quick question...Are you insured if you hack out bareback I know there are issues with hacking in just a halter did know if it was the same for a saddle?

Anyway back to the question....razor blade so don't do any bare back. I use to ride chanter and jump him always sitting trot never really tried rising.

In the saddle I go between the two when schooling. This is to start building his back up and to help me loosen my hips and pelvis to enable me to sit better to his trot and not block it

You can get seperate insurance to ride in a halter :) X
 
Trot bareback? Haha! I can sit to a very slow trot in my wonderfully comfortable Christ bareback pad and if I make a real effort I could possibly manage a few strides of rising but it wouldn't be easy, nor very comfortable for Raf as I flop back down. I feel very inadequate now :p
 
Trot bareback? Haha! I can sit to a very slow trot in my wonderfully comfortable Christ bareback pad and if I make a real effort I could possibly manage a few strides of rising but it wouldn't be easy, nor very comfortable for Raf as I flop back down. I feel very inadequate now :p
Not at all.
I'm envious of that gorgeous pad that mine simply won't wear. Ok she will but leans into the post and rail and rolls, if you correct that she then had a hissy. How plain do I need to be, human.
 
Sorry if this a dense question - but why would you use a bareback pad to ride bareback? Surely if you are going to ride bareback then that is exactly what you do - get on the horse and ride without any sort of saddle/pad or whatever? Quite possibly I am missing something crucial here and often seen bareback pads advertised but always just thought of them as a very basic treeless saddle? What is the difference if you use a pad - does it give you stirrup leathers and irons or what, or just keep you lovely jods clean ? o_O
 
Sorry if this a dense question - but why would you use a bareback pad to ride bareback? Surely if you are going to ride bareback then that is exactly what you do - get on the horse and ride without any sort of saddle/pad or whatever? Quite possibly I am missing something crucial here and often seen bareback pads advertised but always just thought of them as a very basic treeless saddle? What is the difference if you use a pad - does it give you stirrup leathers and irons or what, or just keep you lovely jods clean ? o_O

My jodhs are neither lovely nor (usually) very clean, but my sheepskin saddle pad was warm, soft and very comfortable, and less slippy than Ziggy on his own., But he didn't like it, so it's naked bareback for us.
 
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Sorry if this a dense question - but why would you use a bareback pad to ride bareback? Surely if you are going to ride bareback then that is exactly what you do - get on the horse and ride without any sort of saddle/pad or whatever? Quite possibly I am missing something crucial here and often seen bareback pads advertised but always just thought of them as a very basic treeless saddle? What is the difference if you use a pad - does it give you stirrup leathers and irons or what, or just keep you lovely jods clean ? o_O
For me she is shiny and therefore an extremely slippery eel without.
It's not got stirrups, it's pretty much a numnah.
Nothing to do with keeping clean for me, but on a wet day it keeps my bum dry. :D
 
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Sorry if this a dense question - but why would you use a bareback pad to ride bareback? Surely if you are going to ride bareback then that is exactly what you do - get on the horse and ride without any sort of saddle/pad or whatever? Quite possibly I am missing something crucial here and often seen bareback pads advertised but always just thought of them as a very basic treeless saddle? What is the difference if you use a pad - does it give you stirrup leathers and irons or what, or just keep you lovely jods clean ? o_O
Mine has the option of stirrups but I don't use them because they just attach to a 2" webbing strap (also the girth attachment) over the back.
I use it to keep clean, the sandy soil here means non stop dusty horses and as I often stop off on the way home, well explaining the ridden bareback dirt pattern at Tesco's gets old quickly :p
 
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