First Bareback Ride

I recently bought a bareback pad (http://autonomousdressage.blogspot.ca/2016/04/bareback-pad.html).

I had my first ride on it last Friday. EventingSaddlebredStyle made a good comment on my last post where she suggested I start small and try my first ride bareback in the arena, after I had already worked Kachina. That's a good suggestion, but it's not what I did.

I've talked about how I've been building up my trust bank balance with Kachina. Even though bareback scares me a bit, I decided I trusted Kachina enough and I would just go for it. Meaning, after not riding Kachina for a few days, I threw on my bareback pad and went for a 75 minute trail ride down the road with my friend S.

Short story: I survived! =D

That smile says "I'm still alive!"

Longer story:

Getting on was a challenge. I was pretty happy with how the bareback pad fit and the girth was nice and grippy, but I don't think you can ever stop something without a tree from rolling sideways on the horse if you put too much weight on one side. My first time mounting actually worked pretty well, the stirrups helped just enough. Unfortunately, once I was on, I discovered that the stirrups at their shortest hole were still too long for me and I had to get off to wrap them.

Let me repeat that, my bareback pad which very much comes as a one-size fits all deal, and presumably is designed for at least some use by children, has stirrups that are too long for me. I wasn't even wanting jumper length stirrups or anything, I ride western and dressage so I am used to riding with a long leg, but my toes could barely reach the stirrup on their shortest hole. Sadly, I think the problem is more to do with my height (or lack thereof) than it does with the pad's design. My friend's 11 year old daughter is the same height as me now. (For the record, while I'm occasionally jealous of other riders and their long long legs, I'm generally fine with my shortness, I just think it's funny). My SO is a full foot taller than me and regularly jokes about me and my family being hobbits haha (I counter back that he's a giant).

After wrapping the stirrup leathers (stirrup nylons?) around the stirrup, I got back on. And then found that the stirrups were a bit too short. I really didn't want to dismount and mount again so I decided they were good enough and off we went.

To start it felt weird. I did not feel comfortable, and was sitting tense and awkwardly. I couldn't help myself from perching forward a bit. Kachina must have thought it felt weird too, she was a bit tight and unwilling to move forward to start, but she adjusted fairly quickly. I wouldn't say I ever completely relaxed, but through the course of the ride I was able to let a lot of tension out of my body, sit straighter, and move with Kachina more.

This was during the first half of the ride,
I was still leaning forward too much, got better later

I was a little too aware of how hard the ground looked, and how if I fell off, I'd never be able to mount from the ground so I'd be in for a long walk home. It sure made me keep my heels down and sit evenly on Kachina's back! One thing I'm really proud of though is that I didn't keep a death hold on the reins. I sure wanted to, but I think I was pretty successful in keeping loose contact with Kachina's mouth and not transmitting 100% of my tension to her.

We mostly just walked, but I did survive 3 small spooks (truck, pheasant, and.. nothing?), going up and down ditches, and a few times where she started trotting when the wind picked up at the end.

Overall, Kachina was super well behaved for me though. I was so so happy with her. She got a ton of pats, "good girl"s, and a whole pocket full of treats when we were done. I may have given myself a pat on the back too.

I'm looking forward to doing some more bareback rides throughout the spring and summer!