Why I ride bareback (warning: long and not too interesting)

I started learning to ride when I was 16. I borrowed other people's horses and rode quite a few different horses in my "career." I rode several times a week during school semesters. Each and every horse I rode bareback. The summer I was 17, I really learned to ride. I rode a 16+ hand horse. I taught him to be ridden and he taught me to ride. I rode every day with my best friend (who had her own horse and had brought me into the world of horses when we became friends). We rode for hours and miles. We were both 17 and carefree. No jobs, no responsibilities other than feeding our horses and having lots of fun. (While Nikko wasn't mine, I borrowed him for the entire summer....rather like a free lease situation, but nothing in writing.) I rode lots of other horses, too. And I fell off a lot. Had some fairly serious injuries many times. But I love horses and nothing has kept me away for very long. The longest was after I broke several ribs and my left wrist from a bad spill. I didn't go near a horse for 1 1/2 years. When I finally did go back, my confidence was so shaken I tensed up if the horse I was on went faster than a slow walk. But I plugged at it and finally overcame my fears. That's when I became an even better rider. I
had overcome a large barrier in my mind and I hadn't given up. All of this was bareback. I didn't own a saddle, didn't even know how to put one on.

I bought my saddle about 2 months ago. I had borrowed it for Apache (who is my first horse). He was a handful when I first bought him and would try to get away with anything and everything. The only gaits he knew were a fast extended bouncy trot and a bucking canter. That was it. No nice smooth canter, no easy trot, even no walking (he'd do a dance or something to avoid doing what I asked). Hard to ride, bareback or otherwise. So I borrowed the saddle. Used it every now and again until we could understand each other (interspersed it with plenty of barebacking). I don't believe he was ridden bareback much, if any, before I bought him and I think he wasn't used to the close contact of a rider with no saddle. To top it all off, he hadn't been ridden at all in 8 months.

So, that's my background. The reason I still ride bareback is that I feel more comfortable bareback than in the saddle. I trust my own balance and his. I like knowing what Apache will do before he does it. I can feel the muscles move before he actually starts to move. I feel removed from him when I'm in the saddle. I also don't like stirrup leathers breaking at a canter (has happened), or girths slipping, or the hundred other little problems that come with saddles. I don't see the point of putting up with it for an extended period of time if I don't have to. The main reason I consider using a saddle at all is for his comfort. I also consider it for my comfort in a way. Sometimes I just like to use my saddle, but that happens much less than wanting to ride bareback. But, while his back is not sore, I don't see the point in using the saddle if we don't need it.

I do think that using the saddle every now and again helps. (1) it keeps him guessing [he bores easily], (2) it uses different muscles in my body to ride saddle rather than bareback and I can use the toning on those muscles, and (3) it DOES put the pressure on different areas of his back and that gives him a rest, too.

I don't trust stirrups. I do like to sink down into them when I ride in a saddle, though. It's a very comfortable feeling, but that is offset by the nagging fear that the stirrups will break. Last time one broke at a
canter and I just about ended up under Apache instead of on him. Makes me wary. Also, if I ride in a saddle too much, I begin to depend on it more for my balance, and I don't want to depend on it for my balance. It's much easier to depend on myself for balance. Not to mention much safer.

So, you can see, I'm not anti-saddle. Just don't feel as safe in a saddle. Which is sometimes hard for people to understand, but that's a big reason for me to ride bareback. It's just safer for me. And when I feel as safe in a saddle as I do bareback? I'll probably still chose barebacking, just because I like it.

As for jumping, I do jump bareback. Used to do it all the time, but Apache is a poor jumper (and I'm a poor teacher for a non-jumper), so we don't jump very much. I used to jump Nikko over everything. He was a natural jumper. What a rush! To be a short person flying through the air on a 16 hand horse. Ah, those were the days! :)

I've also been very wary of jumping since my last accident. Had nothing to do with jumping, but still! :)

BTW, I'm learning to post bareback. I've never done it before, but I started doing it naturally on our ride yesterday. When I noticed, I started to concentrate on it. I can't post going up hill or down hill yet, but I
can post on a straightaway. It's very interesting to post bareback and takes some definite thigh strength, not to mention an untouchy horse. I have to put my legs in almost an entirely different position than normal. More stiff, but not too stiff. I'm still analyzing. :) I'm sure I'll change my riding style many times, as I already have. It's so nice to learn something new sometimes.

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