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 Expert
Posts: 1631
   
Location: Somewhere around here | So I sold my saddle and I *should* be getting my new one next week if everything goes well, but in the meantime I'll be riding bareback. I haven't ridden bareback much, mainly because my horse has prominent withers... I don't think I have to say more. And tips for riding bareback and getting better at it? |
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 The One
Posts: 7998
 
Location: South Georgia | I suck at it! I was bored the other day at the barn, so I hopped on and walked around. My balance was so horrible! I was tipping side to side. As a kid, I never had that problem. At 33, I suck! LOL There was definitely no trotting or loping.
Edited by horsegirl 2017-11-01 1:47 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Ohio girl moved to PA | The more you ride bareback the better you'll get at it. Its all about balance when it comes to bareback. I try to ride bareback atleast twice a week and it really helps my seat and balance so much |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 915
Location: SE KS | I have 2 mares I ride bareback when I'm being lazy & want to ride!!! Usually just at a walk, I find my legs don't agree with it like they used to though!!!!! I rode bareback as a kid bc I didn't have a saddle. But I love it!!!
Edited by lhighquality 2017-11-01 2:40 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| I try to ride bareback once a week for only like 10 minutes, and I try to jog the entire time...it's rough the first few times! But I was amazed how much stronger my legs/groin muscles got! I'm not very good at it either, so I always just ride in a halter and lead rope so that if I do get off balance, me pulling on his face doesn't rip his mouth out as I'm coming off haha =] I give MAJOR props to those girls that can do the bareback barrel races!! I do not have that kind of balance! |
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Duct Tape Bikini Girl
Posts: 2554
| Bareback was the way to go when I was a lazy kid, but now that I'm 50 plus it sounds like a death wish!! Afraid I would have to condition from the ground. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| I’m too lazy most of the time to saddle. Usually about the only time I do Saddle, I’m at a race. I ride around at the races bareback if I’m not doing something in the arena. I use a thick bareback pad on my old guy with withers. It doesn’t have stirrups.
My mom is 60 in a couple weeks and she rides bareback with me on her horse a lot of the time. Just do it. She’s not as solid as she was when she was younger but she can sure W/T/L just fine!
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4641
Location: Texas | The only way to get better at it is to do it! |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | I use a bareback pad, for 2 reasons: I don't like to get my butt dirty, LOL, and my mare has a really choppy stride and riding her bareback at a trot is like riding a jack hammer, so I need the nylon loop/handle the bareback pad has. I like to ride bareback, but I don't do it very often. Mostly I'm "out" riding and typically I pony another horse, so I need a saddle. I used to be way better at it too. I could go up and down hills. I still try to trot and lope bareback some, but without that handle my legs aren't strong enough.
Edited by mtcanchazer 2017-11-01 10:52 PM
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Expert
Posts: 1586
Location: west of East Texas | I like to ride bareback, just don't do it often enough. I even impress my daughter by swinging up on my horse while she's standing on a tub to get on. She's 15, I'm 55! LOL, my horse is 14.2, hers is 16.0! :) We either use the bareback pad or just throw a beach towel on there. The BBpad has stirrups but those things are useless so I took them off. We w/t/l and really try to make it an exercising ride. I think riding 15 minutes bareback does more good for the rider than 2 hourse of riding in a saddle. Chase was blowing a lot of stirrups this summer. She's growing and just wasn't riding right. She was losing her stirrups (with rubberbands) and then flopping around and hitting. After a few times of this we just started riding bareback for about a month. Worked wonders! She hasn't gotten 'blown out' since. The high withers will certainly make you use your thighs! |
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 BHW New Catch of the Day
Posts: 9884
Location: Missouri | Wasn't ever very good at it, even in my younger days, but when I rode english, I used to ride my 17 hand jumper bareback, walk, trot, lope. The older I got the more fear of falling I have. I used one of those bareback pads with the stirrups ONCE. Lord have mercy they give you a false sense of security, LOL made an unconsious weight shift and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. That was about 4 years ago and I've maybe rode bareback twice since then and only at a walk/trot IN the arena.
My daughter got good at it because when she'd go to a friends house, they had so many horses to work, they ALL rode that way, including mom, who still rides that way to this day. My daughter can run bareback in an open field and is totally comfortable doing it.
I guess it depends on how comfortable you are pushing yourself. I say if your not over 50, go for it, lol |
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 Too Skinny
Posts: 8009
Location: LA Lower Alabama | The horse makes ALL of the difference in the world. Their shape and gate and cruise control can help or hurt. Before I sold one of my horses I got brave and loped her in circles but she was smooth as glass and steady. The one I have now swaps speeds and looks around a heck of a lot more and makes it pretty rough. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | cecollins0811 - 2017-11-01 1:43 PM
So I sold my saddle and I *should* be getting my new one next week if everything goes well, but in the meantime I'll be riding bareback. I haven't ridden bareback much, mainly because my horse has prominent withers... I don't think I have to say more. And tips for riding bareback and getting better at it?
Just do it is the easiest way to get better! Also a grippy bareback pad with an "oh sh!t" handle helps lol. I rode bareback exclusively all summer and I got so much better! I never had the opportunity to ride bareback as a kid, so I improved my trot as cantered bareback for the first time ever! |
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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | Go to the roundpen and start loping circles!! |
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| I try to sit back on my pockets more, and let my legs relax from my hips, which ends up putting me just a tad farther back behind my mare's withers than I think I need to be (she also has really prominent withers). It helps me maintain my seat and allows her to really open up in her shoulders (kind of like putting your saddle back a tad further to allow their shoulders room to move). Then I just focus on the timing of my body with hers as we are walking, trotting, loping, and focus on riding forward in my body to keep her momentum going. |
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