> you're riding for a very short amount of time, > bareback offers no support for the horse from your > seatbones. Even someone with a broad butt like me has > seatbones that would dig into the horse.
i could ride Jas bareback i feel sure, but he has that roach back thing going on, i cant even ride him in a treeless. on the leslie desmond cds, she talks about how your horse needs to know you will be able to handle it if they HAVE to bolt, a herd instinct. Just makes them feel secure. I think with my saddle my horses know I can handle a bolt. I think without a saddle they know I am fragile. I feel them adjust for my wobbling :) Especially with Tivar 's trotting, I will jounce one beat off balance and I notice he compensates, balancing me it seems. I am not anthropomorphism-ing this :) Maybe he is taking care of ME but more likely, face it, it is in his best interest too that I dont fall with him at the trot, might pull HIM off balance. I think Tivar doesnt like me bareback because he is crabby appleton and to him, a saddle means, ok, saddle up, time to do our j-o-b, and bareback to him, means hey, its miller time, not fair not fair, I'm off the clock! Have you ever noticed how they will do things in pasture they might not do ever if you have them under saddle, or at the washrack. Like if you go out and pet and love on them, sometimes they will go yeah yeah ok and walk off. They know they are in their house and when under saddle or on a halter and lead they are in my house and on the clock so to speak. just my suspicions :) janice -- even good horses do bad things sometimes.
