If someone had asked me a few years ago to get up on a 17hh equine without a saddle, I would have thought they were blimin’ barmy! ‘No thanks mam, this is definitely not my sort of thing’. In my head, this sort of semi tack-less activity was only for the very experienced rider or the brave, fearless stuntman. Definitely not for little old me.
Until one day I decided to join an adult riding camp (possibly persuaded) and it became very apparent that my worst fear was looming in the distance. A bareback riding lesson to finish off the day (yay!). Hmmm……so rather than making myself look like a complete pansy, I decided to put on my big girl pants and give it a jolly good go. It turned out to be an awesome riding experience, one that I have continued to regularly take part in after camp and the rest they say is history. I was a complete convert!
I discovered going bareback regularly can do absolute wonders for your riding and can also be a whole heap of fun at the same time. Have I convinced you yet? No?
Then check out some of these great benefits of going saddle free.
Confidence
If you are a rider that struggles with their confidence then riding without a saddle will literally change your life! Granted, it can all be a bit scary at first, but I can guarantee, once you manage to put mind over matter you will be strutting your stuff like you’ve been riding this way your whole life.
Going bareback can give you that ‘yes I can’ mentality that maybe you have been searching for in your riding. You discover trust and confidence in yourself that you never knew you had and it gives you a much needed independence from the trusty saddle. You go girl!
Balance
If you rely on knee gripping for balance, this is going to be a big eye opener for you. Without a saddle being present, you have no knee rolls anymore to keep you in place and if you try to grip on, trust me’ you will bounce! I’m talking Tigger from Winnie the Pooh ‘Wanna see me bounce’ type antics.
Riding bareback teaches you so much about using your core strength and relaxation of the leg. It also encourages you to sit evenly on your horses back and you are likely to notice how balanced you feel when you eventually do take back your saddle. You might not even want to take your saddle back, who knows?!
Feel
You will never feel so close to your horse as you do when you ride without a saddle. It is a huge milestone to reach in any rider’s development. When you can feel every single muscle move one by one and really experience the footfall sequence of each gait. It teaches you to ride with an elastic, supple seat that moves effortlessly with your horse’s movement.
Bareback riding naturally opens up your hips, which gives you the feeling of sitting ‘in’ the horse as one unit, as opposed to on top of the horse.
Communication
Communication becomes amplified without a saddle. Every little move you make, every minor adjustment, can be felt so clearly by your horse. We’ve all been a poor victim at one point or another of nagging a lazy horse who just can’t seem to feel our aids. Or are they lazy? Are your aids not clear or defined enough?
Riding bareback teaches us that we don’t need to rely on heavy aids to be heard by our horse, we just have to ensure those aids are clear and precise in order to get the best out of our trusty stead.
Strength
If you’ve ever fancied legs of steel, riding without a saddle is definitely the way to go. You will experience a complete body workout, that is not only intense, but will leave you feeling fatigued pretty quickly. You may be ok doing rising trot for an hour with your comfy stirrup irons aiding you, but things aren’t quite so rosy without a saddle.
Your thigh muscles will probably be hit the hardest as you stretch for your non-existent stirrup irons and work your core muscles like never before, but who doesn’t feel great after a good workout right? It will all be worth it in the end.
Are you ready to ditch that saddle yet?
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