Bareback: yay or neigh?

[Indy]

I rode bareback as a kid all the time. Mostly because I had a fat, wide pony that was like sitting on a comfy couch. On cold winter days I used to ride him bareback on top of his blankets.

My current mare has sneakily pointy withers and a backbone that will go right up your butt. Maybe with the right bareback pad she’d be okay but just plain it’s awful even at the walk. I tried a few trot steps once and yeah…ow. A few weeks ago when it was miserably cold out, I decided to relive my youth and hop on her on top of her blankets and ride her around. Turns out that two blankets are still not enough padding to make trotting a good idea. I am far too old for that nonsense!

[phantomhorse]

I enjoy a bareback jaunt periodically. Good to change things up and great to check on my balance.

[cattywampus]

I love riding bareback, especially in the winter… However, Josie is absolutely cylindrical. There are no withers. There is no girth groove. Her barrel IS a barrel. When she’s hairy and slippery, it’s like balancing on an exercise ball or rolling log going down a river. I use a bareback pad just to have some purchase.

[quietann]

Oh my, that would NOT be easy to sit.

Feronia was super comfy bareback; she was broad-backed but had nice withers to help keep me in place. In my last 6-8 months of riding her before I retired her, this included short trail rides.

I love this one because it’s classic Feronia at the end: “Do you really want me to go into the river? Because I think that would be a very bad idea.” So polite. She was correct; she would have been swimming if we’d gone to the middle.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RGQXbPfYXFW6GwZS9

[Bluey]

I grew up riding bareback in the mountains without a saddle because we didn’t have one.
I started many race bred youngsters bareback the first couple of rides, around the shed row and out in the yard.
I weighed barely 100 lbs then.
Never had one buck initially and I thought it was because there was no cinch there, maybe.
Some after the first dozen rides may have crow hopped a bit on a cool morning.
This filly’s first ride she was a star, a really sweet and accommodating filly:

[SinMiedo]

My guy enjoys poking around bareback with a halter, so I use a thick Western wool pad to help cushion things and distribute the weight a bit. He has a shark fin situation, but it’s forward enough that I can nestle right behind it fairly comfortably.
It’s also nice in the winter, you can’t beat the body heat aspect, lol

[AllTheCarrots]

I loved riding bareback as a teen — after years of being a structured lesson kid, it was such a treat to do this on my own (OK, leased) pony. I felt real.

I took him everywhere — into the lake, over logs, flat out across the pasture. And of course, with a halter and lead to bring him in from the back 40. I remember an adult kindly and gently scolding me that I should wear a helmet if I was going to do that, because accidents can happen anywhere, any time. (She was right, of course. I didn’t listen, of course.) Thirty years later, I kindly and gently scolded a teen at my own barn for the same thing. (Same result, of course.)

These days, I’ll do bareback rides in the ring or around the pasture if it’s really hot or cold, or if I’m pressed for time. I’m not nearly as brave, but it definitely helps my position and balance.

I also found it a great tool when teaching my guy shoulder in. He was better able to feel my leg and seat saying “OK, put now this foot there,” and I was better able to feel the resulting movement of his legs and back. We’d been struggling before, but 10 minutes of bareback noodling and a light went on.

[sophie]

@Indy

My current mare has sneakily pointy withers and a backbone that will go right up your butt. Maybe with the right bareback pad she’d be okay but just plain it’s awful even at the walk. I tried a few trot steps once and yeah…ow. A few weeks ago when it was miserably cold out, I decided to relive my youth and hop on her on top of her blankets and ride her around. Turns out that two blankets are still not enough padding to make trotting a good idea. I am far too old for that nonsense!

That made me laugh because that is exactly how my late Tb mare was. Sure, I could have put a bareback pad on, but that’s not really riding bareback since there is a girth…So, I used a thick sheepskin 1/2 back pad on her. I was ok for about a 1/2 hour. And it kept me very centered, because…no girth!

As a kid / teen I rode bareback a lot. Also without a helmet. Sometimes with a friend, riding double. Doing gymnastics on the horse. Went swimming with my little Morgan mare, who was comfy bareback and very patient about it.

When I was younger I almost always got on a horse that I was getting from their field paddock. could be hairy at times, doing that…especially when the rest of the herd decided to catch up with us and we ended up racing together toward the gate, jumping the creek…bareback, halter with lead rope as reins, no helmet…
Good times

[MHM]

@sophie

Sure, I could have put a bareback pad on, but that’s not really riding bareback since there is a girth

My mother, who was a very good horse person, always forbade the use of a bareback pad for safety reasons. She said it was not stable enough to stay in place, so it would be easier to get hung up on it if something went wrong.

I did sometimes ride bareback with just a saddle pad, but only to stay a little bit cleaner instead of having the telltale dusty patch on my pants. Lol.

Riding with just the saddle pad is actually a little harder, in my opinion, since it’s one more thing to slide around on the horse.

Once in a while, I will see somebody riding bareback at a horse show, which always makes me smile.

I even saw somebody at a show a year or two ago who was riding one horse bareback while leading another one. And I think she was only using one lead rope to steer the horse she was on.

I don’t know that I would do that, but I have to give her full props for being so optimistic. Lol.

[Edre]

My old fellow was gloriously comfortable bareback: wideish, but slab sided and your leg just settled in on him gorgeously. My girl now? Refer to “I am riding a beer keg” thread for imagery - I’m a long legged rider (tall naturally but disproportionately leg, on top of it) and based on how round she is, my leg doesn’t sit on her from about the knee on down.

That said, I will ride her bareback. I see a lot of value in it: it’s a great masterclass for me in isolating the use of my seat as we develop lateral movements (curse you, travers). It also can help me isolate my bad habits (figuring out what I’m doing with what seat/leg/hip that’s causing issues) as, as someone mentioned above, the margin for error is so much less. Did this around Thanksgiving and nearly chucked myself over horse’s shoulders at the trot due to said bad habit. (Horse, a saint, just went “you seem awfully unstable up there. I am going to halt until you sort your **** out.”)

At the end of the day, I am also a lazy human and especially if I know it’s just a walk ride (too cold to work, or she’s just getting her legs stretched) why bother with a saddle? Bareback works for me.

That said, I respect that it’s not going to be an answer everyone comes to, and that’s fine too. You couldn’t pay me enough to get on some of those sharkfinned types without a saddle, and it’s easy for me to keep doing it because I’m riding a sweetheart of a horse who grows roots the instant you feel even slightly unstable on her back, so you’re not going to get into too much trouble.

[MHM]

I will say that when I went to get on bareback for the first time after not doing it for several years, I did stand there at the top of the ladder and think about it for a little bit before I actually put my leg over. But it was fine. Lol.

[LilRanger]

Of the rider has a well muscled butt, and the horse a well- muscled back, it’s delightful.
But when the ischeral tuberosities meet the spinous processes, it’s game over, man.

[PaddockWood]

I grew up riding bareback and we flew through fields and swam our horses in the neighbors pond. And I did gymnastics and all that balance training really helps. At that time I was truly riding bareback. I too feel blocked by a saddle at canter especially and ride better bareback. I don’t know what that is about and don’t like it. Wish I felt better in a saddle.

As I adult I now ride with a Toklat wool bareback pad and girth (NO stirrups) and usually a Mattes pad on top. I like that combo better for grip AND the horses back. Riding with those goodies has helped me several times work through if the saddle was bothering my horse. They move so much better in that bareback system and have always enjoyed our time doing it.

They must also have a healthy back muscle, round barrel and something to wrap your legs around. And the horse has to enjoy it too - you have to be relaxed. I really believe they will work to stay under you if it feels better to them too.

I’ve yet to have one of my horses not like my bareback system of the pad and Mattes. AND that bit of grip really helps you relax if you’re going to trot and canter otherwise you are vulnerable and gripping and then the horse can’t relax.

My profile pic is from a riding excursion in Mexico some 25 yrs ago. I knew as we rode out to the beach that the horse I’d picked was really nice. Adjustable, not spooky, listening and when they said you could ride bareback and go in the ocean I shot my hand up. ***Do apologize for being in his mouth and wish my husband had said “LET go of his mouth” - I had adrenaline flowing and not thinking.

[paintedpennypony]

These are beautiful pictures, thank you so much for sharing!

[paintedpennypony]

Loved reading everyone’s responses. Will think of this thread when I need justification for when I’m too lazy to put the saddle on.

[MHM]

Plus it saves time on cleaning tack!

[2DogsFarm]

What @MHM said & it’s the warmest seat in the house in cold weather

ETA:
I’ve also ridden & jumped my TB in a rope halter.
Another revelation on how your hands affect your riding.

[B-burg_Dressage]

Grew up riding bareback a lot because I wasn’t strong enough to throw the big western saddle over my horse. I think it gave me confidence and balance.

I loved riding my OTTB bareback in the winter or our lazy Friday hacks in the summer. He never complained and seemed to do our dressage just as well as with a saddle (though I was less bold in the trot work).

I started my filly bareback, though we have now switched to a saddle more often. I’m sure when I trust her a bit more I’ll ride bareback in the winter or when I’m lazy like I did with my other guy.

My old gelding doesn’t seem to love it for long periods, but he has a really poor topline, so I imagine that is why. (So we don’t do more than a hack around the pasture looking for his grazing muzzle without a saddle.)

[f0rf31t]

When I was a kid I spent a whole summer riding bareback during lessons to improve. And I mean no saddle, no bareback pad.

When I was like, 18-19 and still had my first horse (OTTB, started riding him when I was 16, officially became his owner at 18, then he colicked and didn’t make it one day in 2013 about two years after he officially became mine) there were times riding him when I’d just get frustrated with how it was going - the barn I rode at from age 10 into my early 20s wasn’t great for a lot of reasons and it wasn’t until after I lost my OTTB and some other events over the next year-ish that followed that I started wising up to how not-good the place was - anyway, I’d hop off, take the saddle off, put it over the gate for the arena, then hop back on and just ride bareback to at least finish the ride but not take myself so dang seriously.

I was possibly the only person nuts enough to ride a horse like this with no saddle or a bareback pad. He was 16.3 (for all I know he might’ve grown an inch at some point and been 17 hands as I don’t ever remember measuring him, 16.3 was just what we all rolled with for some reason. He was born in '04 so he was probably 5 when I started riding him and 9 when he died), skinny (not in a starving way, in a tall, lanky, TB way) no matter what he was fed (think he just had high metabolism) and thus had a rather bony back (prob didn’t have the best topline but I was younger and dumb and not in the best environment re. learning about that stuff at that time so, again, hindsight). I’m 5’8 and to get up there with no saddle, I’d line him up next to a plastic barrel that was usually left in the arena from a lesson, set the mounting block next to the barrel so I could get on it and then once on the barrel I was up high enough to actually get on. (The mounting block was two steps but I’m an awkward klutz who couldn’t get my own leg up high enough from that level to get it over his back lol and the horse was fortunately a patient good boy who’d wait it all out)

[Bluey]

As for getting on bareback, as a kid we watched TV only on Saturdays in a neighbor’s house that had one, black and white and those were westerns where some ran with the horse and jumped on.
I watched that and tried it and found how to do it, later in formal vaulting classes it was the same go with the horse and swing where the movement gets you up there.
Also works from standing by the horse, but is better to learn with the horse cantering on the longe line, makes it effortless, from both sides.