Bareback
Cheryl Sutor
WHY RIDE BAREBACK?
Riding bareback can be fun and a great learning
experience! Since there is no saddle, riding bareback
will help you learn to balance better on your horse
without the aid of stirrups. It can also help you
improve your sitting trot! Most of all, riding
bareback can be a fun challenge!
Always make sure that there is someone with you
when you are riding bareback. If you have never ridden
bareback before, make sure your instructor assists you
by lunging or walking with you!
Before attempting to ride bareback, you should be
able to ride balanced at a walk, trot and canter in a
saddle without using stirrups. For your first bareback
ride, you may want to ask a friend or instructor to
lunge you, this will allow you to concentrate more on
keeping your balance and less on controlling the
horse.
GETTING STARTED:
One of the most important things to remember when
riding bareback is NEVER clench your heels or calves
into the horse's side to keep your balance...if you
haven't experienced this, then you probably will! If
you start to lose your balance and use your legs to
'hang on', that is the cue to tell your horse to pick
up the pace...which may make you lose your balance
even worse!
Always keep a solid, soft contact on the horse's
back from your seat down to your knee. Your lower leg
(calf, heel) should rest very lightly (if at all) on
your horse's side. The best way to help you gain this
type of contact is to ride with NO calf contact for
your first several bareback rides, which will teach
you to use your seat and body balance to keep your
weight equal on both sides - without clenching with
your lower legs!
First, you can try riding bareback using a
**bareback pad with stirrups. This will eliminate the
more familiar feeling of a saddle, but will still give
you the support of stirrups to help you keep your
balance.
If you decide to use a bareback pad that has stirrups,
be very careful when choosing one. I have tried
several types of bareback pads, and they all make the
stirrups and girth too far forward. It's like riding
in a chair, and it makes it extremely difficult to
keep your leg under you. In addition, there's an
on-going debate on whether bareback pads that have
stirrups are safe or not. In my opinion, nothing is
completely safe when you're working with horses, but
it does help to have the safest equipment available.
So, if you plan to use a bareback pad that has
stirrups, be sure to use ONLY quick-release or peacock
stirrups.
I have included a picture (above) of a bareback
pad that was poorly designed. It places the rider in a
position that is not desirable. You should be able to
draw a straight vertical line from the rider's ear
through her hip to her heel...but you can't!
An extremely helpful tool to use when riding
bareback is the stirrup leather: use a plain english
stirrup leather (without the stirrup attached!) and
strap it around the base of your horse's neck. Should
you ever feel like you are about to lose it, you can
take hold of this strap to help regain your balance.
If there is no stirrup leather available, the
horse's mane will do just fine. Don't worry, you won't
hurt him by holding onto his mane! It is very, very
common for riders to grab a hold of their horse's mane
to regain their balance. For the most part, though,
you should try your hardest to hold onto nothing but
the reins...but don't use them to get your balance!
Using the reins to gain balance may upset your horse
and/or teach him bad habits such as running away,
pulling on the bit or head shaking.
-------------------
Judy
http://iceryder.net
http://clickryder.com
