18 December, 2011

Bareback riding is for everyone!

Saturday I only had time for a quick ride between lessons. So I decided to ride Regal bareback. It was Regal’s first bareback ride and he was not so sure at first, rounded his back a bit like he was going to buck then settled in well. We worked a good 20-30 minutes on our dressage and low and behold, today I am a bit sore! Abs and legs thank you very much. Some things I liked about the experience: You can really feel the horse, especially their back muscles. It was very interesting to feel when Regal was tight and relaxed through his back and how his muscles reacted to my own movements, I know it is the same with the saddle, based on his behavior but it was great to feel so close contact. Bareback made me very focused on my bad habit of lightening my right seat bone too much and low and behold when I had my weight correct we could do just about anything – go figure. When I got Regal really through and his back was up and he was over reaching man oh man, that is not easy to sit, I then really thought about soft elbows and hands so he would not be punished for doing his job. Cantering bareback is fun, probably my favorite part! We even did a bit of hand gallop as well, it felt like a million bucks and because we were both feeling each other better than ever it took only a subtle shift of should to come back. I want that in the saddle. Regal tends to downshift too much when I want to collect, he wants to down shift to the next gear or sometimes two gears, rather than collect, he always tries to be one step ahead of me, it’s not mean or naughty he just tries very hard. His sensitivity is really nice but also makes you have to ride all downwards very forward, while bareback that was ever so slightly less.



So based on my fun, I am going to try and make Saturday my bareback day through the winter and I am very much looking forward to making my students do the same!


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