this is still a while in the future, but i am planning to try bareback riding during the summer (i plan to take a few classes with someone who can give me a the bare bones of it before trying it with my horse) but i am trying to get as much info on this as possible, and the one thing i have not seen is if the horses ever get upset/ annoyed when they are ridden bareback. do you think they prefer bareback to the heavy saddle? also, are there things i should try to do with a saddle that would help me when i (hopefully) ride bareback, like trying to ride without stirrups? (i ride western) and how in the world do you get on?! i have a 15.2 paint, and i am 5'8", so it is not impossible, but it looks hard.......like REALLY hard.

Texas, a couple things...

1. I feel you pain about getting on! my gelding is 16.2 and im 5'6". not really do-able from the ground for me (mainly b/c im also out of shape) but my girls (i give lessons) get on their trail ponies no problem. The way they do it is to stand beside their horse, grab mane (wolfgang suggests the clump right above their withers to make them stand still) and jump across their horses back so that their head and shoulders are on the right and both legs are on the left. then, they twist so that their shoulders are forward and swing their right leg over the horse. Me being the ripe 'ol dignified age of 22 (BAHA) prefer a bucket or leg up.

2. Your horse: how broke is your horse and where do you plan to ride him bareback? if him spooking is something you are worried about i would work on him a little more in a saddle before i got rid of my support. Also, is he boney? My gelding has a freggin high withers (like special riser pad high) and is not very comfy if your a rider that sits forward on a horse. if you have one of these, might i suggest a bareback pad? it adds cushion and you can get them fairly cheap (statelinetack.com) with stirrups.

3. You: how experienced are you as a rider/ how strong are you? Bareback is a great exercise in balance and inner-leg strength but, if you are weak in these areas (which we as western riders notoriously are) then i'd practice in the ring first sans stirrups then with out a saddle before i took him out. you would be surprised how easy it is to just kinda slip off the side of your pony.

4. Awesome Idea!!!! bareback is not only more challenging, its alot of fun both for you and the horse! Your horse gets out of lugging a heavy saddle around and no saddle (at least for my horses) usually means light work days. Also, they are better able to feel subtle body cues bc of all that leather not separating them from your leg. Also, no saddle means fun stuff like swimming through ponds and playing cow-boys and indians and hind-and-seek in the woods and circus horsey!! (sorry my friends and i train professionally so when we get time to pleasure ride, we have fun with it!)

Bottom Line..... prepare your horse, prepare yourself, be safe (i know they're retarded looking but wear a helmet the first couple times) and HAVE FUN!!!

[/quote]

One of the US Olympic riders is in a Coma-EVERY TIME-EVERY RIDE

Now, To ride bareback.
Is your horse safe= Yes
Get on and go.
To get on usually a mounting block/stool/stump/bucket etc...
To grab and jump-With you facing the tail if the horse is moving forward when you grab mane his forward momentum will help to swing you up.

Then as long as the horse is flat enough across their back, sit down and relax.

Riding should never be about strength-it is about balance. And yes, be prepared to fall off.
Remember, if you feel like your going to fall-then do- try not to stabilize yourself with the reins.

You should not need to prep your horse-if he rides/drives it should not make any difference what tack or lack of you use.

If your horse is thin, you will need to maintain some of your weight into your thighs, just enough to not sit heavy.

It is fun, Enjoy.

BAHA LTc4H...
Im going to start posting random things just to see what you have to say about them. Lets start with this one.... Wow, the sky is really blue today. :P

Ok ok, i rephrase always wear a helmet (although they are retarded looking)

Oh, and you are deff gonna have to show me that whole swing over thing, it has never worked for me. (prolly bc this white girl cant jump!). i always end up slamming into the side of my poor horse.

circlekinstructor :

my family would have a heart attack if i rode bareback for the first time without a helmet , so a helmet i shall wear. and i have pretty good balance. and i will not take him out in the pasture bareback for a while after i start riding him bareback. he is very attached to his herd (cows) and will do anything to get back to them if he sees them. very sweet, but frustrating when someone is riding. and i plan to ride him barebcak this summer, so almost exactly 2 months. any trotting bareback will take place after getting an instructor to give some pointers (including getting up......) and my horse is not bony, and i have never seen him spook. not even when the gates sqealed or when a dog ran up to us barking(he just sniffed noses with the dog, then the dog followed us for 5 min.)

just wondering, but can you post on a horse bareback? i am taught western, but i have learned to post and plough-rein. (i only say i ride western because i use a western saddle and hold my reins much loser then english) my instructor had me post because she thinks it is more comfterable, and the reining style because.........to tell the truth, i don't know why i plough rein. i think because my instructor doesn't have a really responsive neck-reined horse, but i am not sure.

and a bareback pad sounds like a good idea. i might try using one before summer is here.

and one more thing. my horse was taught by a mexican trainer who taught him tricks. aome of them was bowing, rearing and lieing down, but know one knew the signals. i figured out the one for rearing (hold the reins 3-4" above horn and pull back and slightly up like you where asking him to stop.) could i use the bow/laying down tricks to get on?

BTW he is a paint horse, not a pony. not offended that you thought he was a pony, just making sure it was a mistake and you didn't think i was having trouble getting on a PONY.

Texas...

LOL so sorry, i did not mean to insult you paint. I call horses ponies as a term of endearment, like some poeple call horses babies, etc. Theres actually no horse in our barn under 15.3 so i take it a little for granted that pony is actually a classification term.

Good about the helmet, i still hate them but wear them when jumping or riding colts. Great about having a good, broke horse too.

As far as posting, yes you can deff post bareback. Do you post from your toe or do you post from your knee? If you post from your knee, great, just rock your hips forward and back with the beat. Dont try to go up at all, try to just rock forward and back. If you post from your toe, this is going to be harder. Close your knees, stabalize your lower leg and rock forward and back. Really try not to post up at all, if you do your are gonna lose balance and land on a withers. (ouch)

Thats so cool about the tricks! For kneeling, i teach tapping on his front left leg to pick it up then gently encouraging a lean back by pressure on the halter. I have also seen people teach it by putting a treat between their legs. You could try those.

Let us know how it works out. What part of Texas are you in? Im comming to visit friends this summer, we can meet up and ride bareback together!

making progress with my horse. cantered for a long time (i am getting much better at cantering!) but then i fell off. just a bruised pride and a sore back. should be fine by in a few days. i tried walking my horse around with no sturrips, and found it is alot more comfertable than with sturrips. i could strech my legs after 2 hours of riding. my dad tried to ride my horse (Reeses) and got taken in the middle of a herd of cows. i told him that he some lessons on controling a horse, but he was a little bit offended. plus, he can't stop Reeses when Reeses sees me(he starts trotting over to me like he knows my dad can't stop him. needless to say, he is a smart horse.)

and my sister's friend/ my sister rode Reeses for the first time. trying to teach my sister how to post. no progress.

and when i cantered with Reeses, he had a really smooth canter, but when we were about 1/2 across the pasture, the canter started to get bouncy and not that fun to ride. i think it was because he started to go faster, but not sure.

great about the progress. May I ask why you fell off? Did something happen or did you just lose your balance?

Do you have a ring you can ride reese in? this may help with some of dependancy issues and getting his attention.

Does reese know how to lunge on a line? if so this is usually a good way to start teaching posting. that way, the rider just has to concentrate on posting and not steering or speed.

Good luck, keep us posted.

well, you know that little piece of leather that hold the strap that attaches to the girth? that was loose, and the saddle slipped to the left. it is fixed now. and Reeses knows how to lunge, but only in a roundpen. which we don't have.(we plan to build a one before summer) but there is an empty hay barn that i plan to try lunging him in. not round, but i think he might get the idea. and my sis won't be riding him much. she doesn't go out there very often, but i will teach her to post if she wants to (i learned to post on a line.) and i should be able to go out there not this weekend, but the one after that. i plan to try some bareback riding in the hay barn. i have discovered that Reeses doesn't like going through gates. he might follow someone in, but turn really quickly and leave. i know he doesn't mind enclosed places, because he loves to go into the barn , which is a small as most of the gates around there. and i can post from the knee. not as good as posting from the toe, put i have done it some.

hmmm please be careful riding or lunging in the barn. he could possibly step on something hidden in the hay (like an old rusted nail) or run himself in a corner.

what happens when you lunge him on a line out in the open? is he fearful and tries to run away, is un-responsive or just dosnt get what you are asking?

Yea posting correctly sucks if ur not used to it. thats part of the reason i make students who think listening to their instructor isn't important post bareback or without stirrups for a while (hehe)

Keep us posted....

he seems to not understand that well. i can get him to go around at a walk, but as soon as i ask him to trot, him trots for about 1/3 of the circle, then contiues to trot. straight. i can almost hear his think"wait....we are supposed to do this in a roundpen crazy girl, not in a field with a rope! i'm off to find myself a SANE owner!" he was never taught to lunge on a line, only in a roundpen that was too small. when he cantered in the old owner's roundpen, his shoulder would bang against the side. he didn't seem to be councerned about it (the horse i mean. well, the owner also, now that i think about it.) and didn't have any reluctancy in lunging. the owner waved her arms and he would go. to stop, she made the "stop" motion with her hand and pointed the other way, and off he was again. i might just need to spend some time with him and gain more trust/respect from him.

BTW the time i tried to lunge him was when it was snowing and it was only his 2nd full day at his new home. and no worries, i plan to use an old rake to clean out the barn. there is sand on the bottom (which is good) and i have about 2/3 of summer befroe the farmers start to fill it up with hay. (not taking Reeses in there after that,he would eat all the hay before winter is half over! and i would have some mad farmers on my tail )

another BTW, it is a pretty new barn. like a riding aren, about 2/3-3/4 the size, and is open on the short ends. nothing has ever been stored in there except hay. but i will check the ground just as carefully if it had been used to stored broken glass.

and i won't have any more news for about a week, unless you want a repeat of what i have already said.

lol that ok, thanks though.

as far as the barn and lunging... the barn sounds really cool. If you should try lunging him again, try it in a rope halter (with the knots) to discourage him from pulling out of the circle. Most likely, he is troting straigh cuz he is not used to troting a circle by hisself. Ask him to trot then use small jerks on the leadline to keep him oriented to the circle. If he is pulling so hard he pulls you off your feet, you may need the aid of a chain to keep him from running out of the circle. Just untill he gets it though, im fundementally against chains unless they are absolutly necessary.

have fun.

i got to lung him this weekend, and i found out that he is much more dolice in the barn. he knows a enclosure when he sees one. personally, it is more fun to ride him in a field, when he has a bit more energy, but i think the barn will be a good place to introduce him to new items, or me to learn how to bareback ride. i didn't get to it this weekend, Reeses had his first foor trim with us, and the farrier was singing praise about Reeses afterwards. he was pretty good, just one time when he pulled away slightly when his back leg was hiked up. and it was raining the second day. also, we had to leave that afternoon, so not much to do.