# Bareback. Good or bad?



## OctoberArabian (Feb 17, 2012)

Hey all <3 So I've read a tonne of controversial things about bareback riding. I've heard that it hurts your horse, the bones in your butt dig into their spine, I've heard that its very uncomfortable and should be avoided.

But I've also heard there is nothing wrong with bareback and in all the videos I've seen of riding "naturally" the horses look so happy, and not uncomfortable at all. I've heard that it can be much better than riding with a saddle, because of the freedom and flexion the back has without a saddle confining on it.

The first barn I rode at, the one where I learned to ride, saddles were _forbidden_ in the arena, until you could confidently ride bareback. I found it was an amazing way to learn, as I didn't have a saddle or stirrups to use as crutches. So whats the skippy on bareback? Whats your opinion?


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Bareback is an excellent way to develop a seat and balance. I try to take time out of my ride towards the end to ditch the saddle and work bareback (I say at the end because I have fresh horses who sometimes aren't fun to ride at first :lol: )

It really doesn't hurt your horse. I personally find my horse likes to be ridden bareback because I think she feels like it's a playtime for the both of us. It's a great way to learn how your horse moves too.


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## happy123 (Jan 4, 2012)

I think that's an awesome rule lol. If you are new and your stirrup falls off, are you going to too?

I plan on doing only bareback in the simmered on the old mare I lease


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## attackships (Jan 12, 2012)

most of my horses are old timers and i prefer to ride with a well fitting saddle and a decent saddle pad, just because it takes the pressure off their spine and distributes the rider's weight more evenly. i don't think riding bareback will necessarily hurt a horse though. I have never ridden bareback consistently enough to cause any soreness so i have no idea. Theres nothing wrong with hopping on a horse bareback, at least for a gentle ride here or there.


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## Tianimalz (Jan 6, 2009)

I ride my mare almost exclusively bareback on our daily hour rides... the only one who is sore is me :lol: That darn bony spine of hers. Riding bareback will really make you learn how to balance and hold yourself better if you don't rush it... trying too much at one time will sometimes make you want to ride hunch backed from clinging to the horse. Keep your back straight, heels down, and butt on the horse and take it as slowly as you need too.

That said, some horses like it and others don't. Indie seems to really enjoy not having the extra burden of the saddle, but I've met some horses (specially older ones who got sore easier) who would pin their ears and sometimes even buck if you got on them without a saddle.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Do it often enough you'll get a seat like this:


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## happy123 (Jan 4, 2012)

Can you post a youtube link to the bids? My kindle wont let me watch them from here


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

^ That's what happens when you post youtube links here, happy.


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## attackships (Jan 12, 2012)

happy123 said:


> Can you post a youtube link to the bids? My kindle wont let me watch them from here


try clicking on the green box with the name of the video, it is the link and should take you to the page. Hope that helps


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

I will comment that allowing a young rider to ride Shay-las pony for a couple years almost always bareback absolutely RUINED the ponies gaits and attitude. Her back was thumped for so long, it's taken over a year to get her canter back to some semblence of normal without her panicking and just trying to run away from the pain. Shay-la still two points in canter because she gets so erratic when you sit on her back.

Bareback can be beneficial, I've ridden bareback for years and it's really helped my skills and I've never yet found a horse who really minded it. But if you AREN'T a good bareback rider, you can mess a horse up mighty fast from it. Granted, you CAN do the same thing with a saddle of course, it's just a lot more likely when you ride bareback.

It's easier to sore a horse up bareback because all your weight is on their back if you don't have skilled legs. Then again, it's probably better then a poor fitting saddle which I swear half the world has!


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## OctoberArabian (Feb 17, 2012)

Omg Sorrell, my jaw hit the floor at the clip with the bareback barrels! And increxotty is such an incredible rider, definitely had her subbed on youtube for a while! Shes a huge inspiration. Thanks guys <3 

Yea like, I always get conflicted information haha. MacabreMikolaj's story about her mare makes me all nervous again. At that barn, thats how you LEARNED to ride, and none of the horses suffered from it. That actually came in really handy for me down the road because, I went out riding with the girl I shared a lease with. She was really late coming back from her ride and it was due to be my turn soon... then the horse came back with no rider, and a missing stirrup. I tell you I was sure glad I knew how to ride bareback when I had to race into the woods to find her. But thats a whole different story lol

I think I might just play it safe and use a bareback pad...


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## Tianimalz (Jan 6, 2009)

I don't think bareback pads really help a whole lot... at least not unless you're buying a really expensive one. Unless someone knows otherwise, all the ones I've ever ridden in (Idk the brands, but they were of all different makes and types) were really only there for the purpose of keeping yourself from getting covered in horse sweat! Really nice during the summertime  Even with the bareback pad, you're still MUCH closer to the horse, and the shock absorption isn't as wide spread as it is with a saddle that spreads the weight over the back; 
tl;dr: You still need to learn to keep your butt down. :lol:


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## yourcolorfuladdiction (Feb 19, 2012)

I LOVE riding my pony bareback. I've never gotten better results from my pony than when she's bareback. My pony gets very upset about ill fitting saddles and I've found that bareback tends to make her feel much more comfortable and allows her to lift up her back easier. I'm also very capable of sitting still with a strong seat but you'll also find that you'll naturally have a tighter seat when you ride bareback (simply because you don't want to fall off).


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## farley (May 23, 2010)

I love to ride bareback! It helps keep me from getting lazy, its fun and easy. Like tonight my boyfriend and I went out to see the horses and I rode bareback because I didnt want to take the extra time to saddle up, We had a blast and so did the horses!


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I adore riding bareback.

However, in consideration for Lacey's old bones, I don't ride BB as much as I would like. Whenever I/anyone rides BB for "too long" (in her mind) on her, she'll nicker and raise her back quickly while you get off like "here! Let me help you off!". She behaves the same if she's had al ill-fitting saddle on her back for any length of time. 
She's fine with 15 minutes of bareback but 30-45 is toooooo much. Interestingly, she'll put up with an hour's worth of consecutive 10-15 minute BB rides without getting overly cranky (she'll get crankier as the rides progress though) but an hour straight through is thoroughly unacceptable. 
That leads me to believe that while bareback does have it's place, maybe that place isn't among older horses with cranky backs... But then again, Lacey is kind of passing the usual set of older horses at 27 years old...maybe stating that BB possibly doesn't have much of a place among the 25+ set is more accurate. :lol:

In any case, my lesson kids ride Lacey bareback pretty regularly (the less advanced ones with a bareback pad, the more advanced ones without a pad, I find the pad holds the rider on a bit better). The ones who ride BB more often do tend to have better seats than the ones who rarely ride BB, but I'm not sure if that's due to the BB loving riders being more dedicated or what.


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## yadlim (Feb 2, 2012)

My two cents.... it depends!

I had one mare, a draft mare (18.3 hands of pure beauty and nasty disposition) who HATED to be ridden bareback. We did a 25 mile ride once and she actually grew white hairs in the shape of my butt!! When we finaly got a saddle that fit her well, she was so much nicer to ride!

That said, when I was a teen, my endurance horse hated saddles. She was always ridden bareback. We would do up to 30 miles in a day, several times a month. I did all day cattle drives with her, and yes, we even had to cut some ornery calfs out of the herd. She never had a sore back - but I had a very good seat back then too.

My current gelding prefers to go bareback.

All in all, I woudl say that for MOST horses, bareback is fine, even for long rides. Others need the weight distribution of the saddle to be comfortable.


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## OctoberArabian (Feb 17, 2012)

that makes sense ^^ seems natural that some would like it and some would not, I was curious to know if there was actually any real physical damage that could be done by riding bareback, but I guess its the same as saddle fit with saddles and how you ride with bareback.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Just curious if people have a different opinion if a horse is swaybacked and typically padded up under saddle?


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

egrogan said:


> Just curious if people have a different opinion if a horse is swaybacked and typically padded up under saddle?


I'm of the opinion that horses with a swayback really shouldn't be ridden bareback. 
The sway is a sign that the back is weak and it just seems inappropriate, to me, to put unevenly distributed excess weight on an demonstrably weak "bridge". It just seems like asking for more pain and soreness on the horse's part.

I can see riding a horse with a light sway, briefly, bareback but if the horse is so swayed that they need extra padding to be comfortable undersaddle, I think that's "too" swayed.


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## pintophile (May 18, 2011)

I agree with MM. Bareback, if you're not great at it, can really be detrimental to a horse's training.

I ride bareback quite a lot, I enjoy it, and it really does make you a better and stronger rider. 

However, I always intersperse my bareback rides with saddled rides - just to keep the horses tuned up. I know I ask a lot less of them and am a lot less particular about things when I ride bareback simply because I don't have the control to _make_ them do it. 

I know they'd get pretty messed up pretty fast if I exclusively rode bareback.


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## Tonipony (Oct 4, 2009)

I used to run poles and barrels bareback, have rode bareback most of my life. These days I usually use a bareback pad with another pad under it. As a kid I didn't own a saddle or a bareback pad for many years. I used to do all my jumping bareback too, the highest I went was 4 foot totally bareback. Last week I had my Icelandic gaiting at 20 MPR and all I had on her was a bareback pad. I am getting a little older now, but still enjoy bareback.


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## its lbs not miles (Sep 1, 2011)

Depends on how much you ride. Short time frames aren't likely to make much difference with a fit horse. Would recomment a pad usually just to give some buffer between the spine. I've ridden bareback to catch cattle that got out. 20, 30 minutes of bareback never seemed to have much negative effect.
If you plan to ride all day I'd stick with a well fitting saddle that has significant weight displacement. There is a reason endurance and long distance riders use saddles with trees or frames that are fitted to the horse. Poorly fitting saddles and bare back can both give a horse a sore back after awhile. I would never recommend riding 100 miles over a few days bare back. But few people do that amount of riding


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