# Trotting bareback?



## corporate pride (Feb 23, 2010)

rise trot! lol problem solved


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## apachewhitesox (Dec 9, 2010)

Haha yes I have been trying that I just cant seem to keep it up for long. I find it easier to sit bareback then rise. I will definitely trying rising more though.


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## corporate pride (Feb 23, 2010)

apachewhitesox said:


> Haha yes I have been trying that I just cant seem to keep it up for long. I find it easier to sit bareback then rise. I will definitely trying rising more though.


think...almost bikini season! if you ride down the beach bareback, don't wanna look like a total twit 
think of the exercise!!! so sit for a bit then start to rise for a bit then sit, don't stiffen your thighs that's when you really bounce!


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## RedTree (Jan 20, 2010)

I find you just have to force all your weight into your feet, but I'm like you sort of, I can sit really well to Buzz slow trot and a nce working trot but as soon as he gets faster I have to really think about it and focus on putting all my weight down, grab on to some mane if you have to 

Quick question, how do you rise bareback?
Is it just when you grip with your thighs to lift your self up?


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## apachewhitesox (Dec 9, 2010)

haha that is a good thought corporate pride.

That is what I do buzz just try to sink all my weight into my heels it really helps. When I rise bareback I don't rise as such I more stop sitting it (if that makes sense) and let the horse bounce me up then I control myself to come down softly. I hope that made some sort of sense I am bad at explaining things.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Move your legs forward, lean back and curl your pelvis until you think you are sitting on your back pockets. Grab a little bit of mane and go. If your back is relaxed your lower back will act like a shock absorber. The faster the horse trots the easier it is to sit. The working trot is the tougher one. We used to have trotting races when riding bareback. The horses were tb's and boy could they go.


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## Endiku (Dec 6, 2010)

I actually had more trouble learning to canter bareback than trot...I don't know how many times I fell off because I couldn't maintain my seat.

What I find helps when trotting (especially with an extra bouncy mount) is rolling your shoulders back a tad, sitting nice and straight, and opening up your hips and stomache to absorb the horse's movement. Let your hips roll with the horse and your stomache act as shocks. Sit deep and push your weight down to your core. Carry as little of yourself in your upper body as possible. Grip with your thighs, not your knees, and allow everything below the knee just sort of 'hang.' you'll develope position later on. If need be, invest in a neck strap and grab that as well as a hunk of mane (or if your horse's mane is too short, as mine's is, just the strap). 

You might want to try trotting bareback in a roundpen a few times, or better yet- on a lungeline. That way someone else can worry about your horse and you can worry about you.


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## apachewhitesox (Dec 9, 2010)

Thanks for all the other tips. That is my other problem too I don't have anything like a round pen and I don't have anyone whho can lunge the horse for me. It would be a great help if I did.


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## apachewhitesox (Dec 9, 2010)

Ok I had another go this afternoon and i think i was doing it right lol. now my stomach and inner thighs a really sore and i have a riding lesson tomorrow. I still had a little trouble because he kept changing pace/ direction or just stopping all together. According to him it was dinner time hehe. I did a fair bit of rising trot and really concentrated on sinking my waeight into my heels.


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## corporate pride (Feb 23, 2010)

good work!
i went on 1 hour trail ride bareback on my boney backed tb because i was wearing steel cap boots when i was servicing my truck, so didn't wanna get stuck. all i can say is OUCH!!!


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## RedTree (Jan 20, 2010)

haha I can relate to the boney back TB, got one of those


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## apachewhitesox (Dec 9, 2010)

I have one of those too but I haven't been game enough to do anything faster than a walk on him bareback lol.


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## corporate pride (Feb 23, 2010)

oh we still walked trotted and jig jogged LOL


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## Stan (Aug 25, 2011)

I would love to be able to sit in the trot, in the saddle, let alone bare back. I have taken advise from other members and also from this thread. This weekend is d day for me. I intend to spend most of my time getting this one sorted. I know once I have mastered trotting there will be a giant leap forward and perhaps I can stay on the horse more.
All of the information I have managed to get from members comes from experence, and not so experenced. But the different methods of applying the information range from hula hoops to wobbly toys in the discription of how to move in the trot western style. A video camera is a must so i can have a laugh at myself later. 
Good luck apachewhitesox.


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## corporate pride (Feb 23, 2010)

Stan said:


> I would love to be able to sit in the trot, in the saddle, let alone bare back. I have taken advise from other members and also from this thread. This weekend is d day for me. I intend to spend most of my time getting this one sorted. I know once I have mastered trotting there will be a giant leap forward and perhaps I can stay on the horse more.
> All of the information I have managed to get from members comes from experence, and not so experenced. But the different methods of applying the information range from hula hoops to wobbly toys in the discription of how to move in the trot western style. A video camera is a must so i can have a laugh at myself later.
> Good luck apachewhitesox.


PMSL! can you PLEASE post the video!! LOL


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## apachewhitesox (Dec 9, 2010)

Thanks and I want to see that video too. I would post one too if I had one!!


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## xxBarry Godden (Jul 17, 2009)

*Trotting bareback*

Riding bareback at the trot is a significant skill of an advanced rider. 
My wife asked: “why would you want to do that - it is bad for the horse’s back?”

It is intriguing subject to consider and one difficult to explain es theory in writing. There is no invisible glue sticking the rider to the horse. What is available are the forces of gravity, the forces of motion and friction. Perhaps to better understand what is involved, is a task for a physicist, a mathematician, a physiotherapist and a riding instructor.

The trot was a pace used on hard surfaces by unit of cavalry wanting to maintain formation. Invariably the cavalryman would be sitting on a saddle, which would provide a stable seat and from which were suspended stirrups to give leverage. The rider could choose to sit in to the trot or to rise in order to give relief to the horse’s back. 

For reasons of conformation the horse must always first lift its front end in order to allow the hind legs to propel the total weight forwards. It is the nature of the beast.

In two beat trot, the offside hind leg and the nearside fore leg work in tandem and similarly the nearside hind and the offside front leg work in tandem. At one stage the total weight of horse and rider is supported on two legs only. To cope the horse throws the load of its own body and the rider up into the air and catches it as it drops back to earth. To aid the horse in rising trot, the compassionate rider alleviates over the spine his/her weight to match exactly the thrust of the horse. Whereas in sitting trot the rider’s seat maintains contact with the horse’s back at all times. 

A slow trot can be easy to sit into whereas a fast active trot is better coped with by the rider rising. It is a fact that the human spine cannot compress but the forces involved in trotting must be absorbed somehow.
For the novice rider, this movement is easier talked about than acheived. The rider’s brain may understand the principles but the body might not have the reflex reaction to achieve the movement especially over an extended period of trotting. Typically the skill is acquired by the rider by constant repetition - by rote or, very occasionally, by some natural ability.

If the saddle is taken away, all the rider has to keep him/her on the back of the horse is:
gravity ie the weight of the body pressing down, 
the pendulum effect of the legs and friction induced by the weight of the body pressing onto the seat of the rider onto the back of the horse or as friction as an outcome of opposing force such as when going round a bend. 

To sit to the trot ideally the rider should be sitting upright for if he/she leans forwards and into the forces of forward motion there will be a reduction in ‘bum’print and hence a loss of friction. 
So to maximise the downward pressure created by weight the rider must open the crutch so as to sit in as deeply as possible on the horse‘s back. A narrow backed horse with a high wither will provide more purchase than a broad flat backed horse. 

At all times the rider’s lower body must sense and move correspondingly with the horse‘s movement. Any fear in the rider’s mind will cause the rider to stiffen and he/she will lose the flexibility needed to stay in exact tune with the horse’s rhythm. 

The bareback rider uses the weight of the feet in the similar way as the pendelum on a clock.
To rise at trot the rider must utilise the upward thrust generated by the horse’s movement in trot. 

Some horses, according to their confirmation, generate more upward thrust than others.
Some horse have shorter legs but move them faster to compensate - ponies for example.
Some horses have a more consistent and regular beat to their trot.
Some horses are more sensitive to the rider’s weight at trot
Some riders learn the knack of using the bend of their knees as points off which to pivot.

Some riders can use their calves on the lower leg to pivot. Much depends upon the muscle development of the rider.
But whatever the conscious brain, the part of the rider’s brain which controls the reflexes and keeps the rider in the saddle at all times ,is thinking - “*OI, Missus you are going to fall off“ *and the rider’s instinctive response will be to tense up and stiffen. The subconscious brain will be getting ready to hit the ground and it will instruct the muscles and tendons to brace for a fall.

The key factors in bare back riding are the tension in the muscles of the under thighs and the riding posture. But those reflexes are controlled by a part of the brain over which the rider has little control - either the brain has been taught by rote (repetition) or it hasn’t yet developed the instinctive responses called for. Only practice will perfect the bare back trot but beware that an incorrect posture or response adopted in error at the beginning of training will be absorbed by the brain and memorised. 
To remove that memorised response and to replace it by the correct posture or response , as Dr Alexander says, is easier said than done. 

Walking and slow cantering/loping bareback is much easier than coping with the trot either sitting or rising. 

Bareback riders should ride their horse collected on shortened reins- so as to better control the length of stride and speed of the horse’s pace. The enemy of bareback riders is irregular rhythm and changes of direction which are mostly controlled by the hand and reins.

In the olden days, we used to be taught to sit bareback to the trot. The horse used in the schooling arena would be a narrow backed sensible cob with a regular action. The teacher controlled the horse on the lunge from the centre of the arena; the rider rode, without reins, with hands on hips. But in those days, learner riders were allowed to fall off . Indeed hitting the ground was seen as being part of the training. Nowadays Health & Safety inspectors aren’t so understanding.

The pace of the horse’s trot will be very important. Trot, trot, trot ,trot. Head up, regular beat, constant length of stride, forward direction, flat surface. The rider’s brain has to absorb the rhythm and match the beat in the same way as when dancing to music with a strong beat. Playing beat music helps in training to bareback ride.

Riding bareback is one of those abilities which nowadays many riders in Europe never acquire - because we don’t practice. Many riders will say: “well if the saddle has been invented what’s the point?

If one does watch a horse being ridden bareback, then one can see the posture and shape of the rider is very different from that utilised by the saddled rider. A well fitting dressage saddle keeps the rider in a constant place on the horse’s back whereas the bareback rider has to cope from an insecure seating position with forces coming from side to side and from front to rear. To watch a competent bareback rider is for me a delight indeed.

Sorry Ladies that this article is so complicated - but it is truly a difficult issue to define in writing. But I have tried.

BG


PS College girls, use the theory of bareback riding as the subject for a physics lesson!

PPS, I am led to believe by numerous films created in Hollywood, that Apaches were very good at bareback riding - was this tru?


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## xxBarry Godden (Jul 17, 2009)

Ladies
Having sat for an hour or so , trying to define what it meant to trot bareback on a horse I thought about trying it with my Irish Draught dressage trained mare.

Both I and my wife agreed, we would be on the floor in an instant.

First would be the undoubted problem of getting up on her back.
Then she would say - "Oi haven't you forgotten something?"
Her broad flat back might be comfortable but my difference would undoubtedly be split.
And Oh, for a male of the species, it would be distinctliy uncomfortable.

Then, after I ahd somehow managed to climb aboard without the use of stirrups, DiDi would move off, feeling her way, with me sitting flat and heavy.

I am sure she'd take off and I'd have no purchase on the reins with which to hold her back and at the first right angled bend, I'd tip over and fall to the ground. 

My sub concious brain would say : "Silly Old Fart - act your age".

DiDi would mosey back, look down at me and say: 
"Well, you are not going to do that again at your age - are you?"

The following day my back would ache where I had hit the ground.
My crutch would ache where I had stretched my difference
and 
My pride would be hurt.

So sorry Ladies, I am not going to try to trot my horse bareback.

Tell me how YOU get on.

B G


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## hillree (Dec 30, 2010)

I trotted Blissey bareback for the first time today (on accident I might add)! :lol: I just hopped on her and planned on walking the rest of the way back to the pasture since I'm too lazy to walk back myself, but she was pretty excitable because of the wind. She jumped into a trot as soon as I was settled on her back... lucky for me, her trot was a slow one. :wink: I am proud to say I stayed balanced most of the time! However, if she had been doing her usual speed demon trot, I would have been on the ground in a second.


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## apachewhitesox (Dec 9, 2010)

Haha that is great Hillree 

Also I understood that article and it is quite interesting Barry thank you


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## Stan (Aug 25, 2011)

Barry Godden, 
You have clearly described why I should not try to ride bare back. and age has nothing to do with it.


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