Bareback Riding

Last New Year’s I hung up my stirrup irons, then eventually put away my saddle completely, and rode bareback until spring. I’m starting a little earlier this year. I began wishing for a side saddle when I was about 15 or 16. But, I’ve wanted a bareback pad since I want about 10. I finally bought myself one. The 10 year old in me really wanted a green one, but I thought William would look more distinguished in black.

My reason for buying a bareback pad, was not so much to give me traction on the horse, but Mr.W.P. Grey seems to find the feel of my thigh muscles gripping his bare back at the canter either strangely provocative or down right annoying, because eVeRy.TiMe.We.CaNteR: he bucks. If he doesn’t start out crowhopping, he ends crowhopping, and when he gets like that he is not easy to pull up.

He has a big, bold, ground covering canter, and we have worked all summer on a smooth, loose reined transition. If I stay out of his face and leave my legs off him, he will step off quietly and lope along smoothly like a top notch western pleasure horse. If I get a little tense and interfere, he gets chargey and it’s off to the races. Then he might slip or trip on less than perfect footing, which makes him mad, and conditions have been known to disintegrate from there. This is all more likely to happen when I am bareback and clinging for my dear life. If I am ever going to canter aside, we need to work this out.

I feel riding bareback has a lot of comparisons to riding aside. You need core strength and to develop independent balance, and you have to trust your horse. You have to be aware of your seat bones and keeping one on each side of the spine. If you hold tension in your upper body, your shoulders will end up somewhere around your ears and you may be inclined to flap your chicken wings ...ummmm I mean elbows. You cannot rely on stirrups for anything.

I’ve just completed my second ride with the bareback pad. The first ride Grey was very careful of me, jogging along like he was giving a pony ride. This is a little strange considering his frequent delight in seeing if I am truly paying attention and have my heals down.

Today was cool and brisk and I had a snorty horse under me. But, he was obedient and had a lot more impulsion at the trot allowing me to work on keeping my shoulders and chicken wings down …and keeping one seat bone on each side of his spine. Yes, I can feel his spine through the pad, and I was surprised how often my seat bones went astray, twanging on the spine which I sure is not pleasant for the horse either.



I was able to get my calves off his side and let my lower leg hang properly. By the end of the ride, I was stretching my legs down and back and lengthening them along his side instead of perching with my knees too high. He went along at a very nice, straight medium trot, not behind the vertical and generally giving me everything I work so hard for in my dressage lessons and daily ride without my asking. And I haven’t figured out exactly WHY other than I was concentrating on my riding, not him. And we all know the root of all riding problems is the rider, not the horse.

Both rides we cantered on each lead uneventfully with no dolphin moves or pronging like an antelope, and he seemed quite pleased with himself. After 20 minutes or so in the ring, we headed out the driveway and up the road. This was an exercise in trust. He is generally better behaved out of the ring than in it, but the nervous adult re-rider in me says that cantering up the road bareback is a risky endeavor if not plain stupid. We trotted and had a short canter. We are baby stepping our way to more confident and balanced riding in order to ride aside that much more elegantly.

In Reality

It is so amazing to have you all's support and encouragement regarding the show and finding pieces of equipment. It means a lot. After sleeping on it a few nights, and taking my (merely) 5th ride aside, I am at peace with the decision to pass on the county fair this year. Besides the fact that my workload at the office has basically doubled this spring, I think this year has to be the year of the cow pasture. There are only so many directions my mental energies can go. Maybe next year will be the year of the horse show.



If my horse was a seasoned competitor who could hold up his end of the bargain I wouldn't think twice about it. I've had horses who could run through their horse show responsibilites with an untrained monkey strapped to their back, and they wouldn't have given the hog auction or the tractor pull a second glance. Grey has virtually no idea what happens in a show ring and will be high as a kite (he was last time). I can't worry about his manners, and keeping my rein bight on the right so I don't catch my foot in it at the same time. So, either he's going to need to gain a lot of experience in new places, or I am going to have to become proficient riding aside.

So with that in mind, I saddled up for another ride. This was our first trip outside. At first it felt very foreign (it has been months afterall), but I was determined and the longer I sat up there the more comfy I got. Despite obvious flaws in my position, I felt secure and gained confidence by the minute. I did not feel like I was going to slide off, but I have some easily identifiable issues.

The day before, my riding instructor pointed out that I was sitting on the right side of my saddle (astride) and compensating with my uneven weight distribution by raising my shoulder. Pretty much what you see here. Since I suddenly have similar issues both astride and aside, I'm thinking there is some general gardening fatigue going on in my core and/or lower back. When this photo was taken, we were walking, and I was beginning to turn to the right, so that affects the symmetry of the picture a bit, but I need to get my right seat bone back, and more weight in it.

So much for remembering to keep my pelvis upright... I'm dealing with a bit of an uphill saddle here. I tried my new shims today, and they are not sufficient. I had the saddle much more level before. Not to worry, I have a plan. I am happy to report that my horse is patiently humoring me in what he obviously thinks is the dumbest idea I've ever had. I guess the Magnesium and Vitamin B are kicking in. Not to mention the summer heat. I will remember to wear a spur and bring a crop next time.

My right leg position felt like my strong point. I was suprised that my tall (although not tall enough to be fashionable astride) boots seem to be the best footwear choice yet. For the first time ever, I was happy with their height! I also felt quite secure even at the trot and I'm giving my right leg credit for that. I was able to begin thinking about my left leg position. And what I was thinking was that I had to keep my heel in my horse and that was raising my thigh. I'm also struggling a bit figuring out a comfortable and correct spot for my left hand.

Now this looks OK despite the uphill saddle. I can live with this photo.
(Horse still asleep)

This ride really renewed my enthusiasm and I am eager to continue. It went a heck of a lot better than this poor girl's ride. That video came up on my daily Google search. I was thinking "gee, that pinto horse is a saint to put up with her hands." Then I watched his patience wear thin, and at the end he gives her a really good "screw you".

Critical Situations

No side saddle progress this week. Despite the fact that we had 3 beautiful, warm spring days... the kind where you simply cannot fathom the thought that winter will return... winter is back. Saturday morning's weather was every bit as miserable as last Saturday's. Cold, HIGH winds, blowing snow, slippery roads, poor visibility. Completely demoralised, I dragged myself out of bed and to the barn with as little baggage as possible, leaving the armloads of side saddle and gear on the rack in the living room.




After puttering around the barn for a bit while Grey thundered around the tiny indoor, I finally mustered enough interest to get out a cold bridle, and catch the wild thing for a bareback ride. It was apparent, even before I got him to the mounting block, that this was not going to be a leisurely waddle around on the fuzzy couch. As Mom put it he had "too many bats in his belfry" and she decided to linger in the barn "just in case you fall off". Thanks for the vote of confidence.




The 50 mph winds were howling in the trees outside, creaking the walls, and banging the doors. Even though we have four and a half foot solid gates in the back, the actual sliding door is hopelessly frozen open affording a clear view of fresh-snow phantasms blowing down off the roof. After a monstrous spook which didn't unseat me, but did tweak something in my right side and lower back, I decided this was one of those moments: Give up and get down, or toughen up and ride. I wiggled out of my comfy quilted barn jacket, and traded it over the gate for the dressage whip.




Deciding to avoid going past the back door, we instead did trot figure eights in the safe 2/3rds of the 50x50. Since Grey was channeling his inner park horse and could only be trusted with about 18" of rein, it did not resemble elementary dressage work, but instead a satirical farce based on a saddle seat equitation class... bareback. I tried posting (usually easy) to save my back, but that loosened the all important connection of fanny to horse so I opted instead to concentrate on which seat bone my weight was in. After awhile I finally got him settled, ahead of my leg, and listening well enough to do an elementary leg yield, amd then cantered both ways without incident. So, as it turned out, conditions were not conducive to learning to ride aside. Which, begs the question, what does a lady do when her horse misbehaves?



To bring today’s entry back to a side saddle theme, I went flipping through some pdf copies of the old books to see how ladies were expected to handle naughty horses, and I must say, I wish I had more time to devote to sitting and reading these books cover to cover because there were some real gems.

Principles of Modern Riding for Ladies by John Allen (1825)
The author refers to these as “Critical Situations” and gives the usual advice on rearing and bucking horses but also tackles some indelicate terminology… “Accordingly, when he lifts his forelegs, your breech must be thrust out behind, by which you are prepared if he rears.”

Belle Beach must have been quite the gutsy rider, as she was a professional, and certainly was put in all sorts of hairy situations. “Many claim that the cross-saddle is safer than the side saddle in case of a rearing horse falling over backward. I do not agree with this (of course she wouldn’t)for, in the first place, many good men have suffered shocking accidents in this way and, when riding in the cross-saddle, unless the rider succeeds in throwing himself clear from the horse, he is almost sure to have one leg broken. On the other hand, with a side-saddle, if the horse comes down on his off side, there is no danger of a broken leg, and when the horse starts to rear a woman can usually make him fall on the off side by pulling his head to that side with all her strength, so that on this point the ease of clearing oneself from a cross-saddle is more that offset by the ability to throw the horse with safety and make him fall on the off side.” Now, I’ve thrown a few horses over, in my rougher youth, and you should actually pull the horse’s head left, not to the off side, but I think this method falls squarely in the “do not try this at home” category.






I didn’t take the time to relate all of William Alexander Kerr’s advice in Practical Horsemanship and Riding for Ladies (1891) but I did spot this interesting illustration. The trainer looks pretty determined doesn’t he? If I ever got my legs in that position… I don’t think I’d be getting off on my own.






Ladies on Horseback by Mrs. (Nannie) Power O’Donoghue (1881) provides not only the most exhaustive advice on bad actors, but by far the most amusing. She starts with very practical advice, then ventures off into wonderful stories of personal experiences.

"You must not lose sight of the fact that a bird flitting suddenly across, a donkey’s head laid without warning against a gate, a goat’s horns appearing over a wall, or even a piece of paper blown along the ground, may cause your horse to shy, and if you are not sitting close at the time, woe betide you! "

"Should your horse show temper and attempt to back with you, leave him rein, touch him lightly with your heel, and speak encouragingly to him; should he persist, your attendant must look into the matter; but a horse who possesses this dangerous vice should never be ridden by a lady. "

"Should your horse at anytime rear with you, throw the reins loose, sit close, and bring your whip sharply across his flank. If this is not effectual, you may give him the butt end of it between the ears, which will be pretty sure to bring him down. " Oh my. How unladylike.

She then goes on to relate a runaway situation that rather amused her, but not so much as the fact that a gentleman “actually attacked my servant in the most irate manner because he had not clattered after me during the progress of the mare’s wild career. ‘How dare you sir,’ cried this irascible old gentleman, ‘how dare you attempt to neglect your young lady in this cowardly manner?’ Nor was his anger at all appeased when informed that I, as a matron was my own caretaker, and that my attendant had strict injunctions not to follow me in the event of my horse being startled or running away.”

She then goes on to relate a story of being runaway with in a hunt and of jumping a 6’ 6” wall (which she set her horse at to stop him) and landing in the middle of a farm yard, creating a “considerable disturbance”!

“Such a commotion amongst fowl was surely never witnessed.” Finding the gate locked, she did the only thing she could… led her defeated horse out through the kitchen, startling an old woman who was knitting in the chimney corner. “And she was still shrieking long after I had mounted the big bay and ridden him back to inform his owner of how charmingly he had behaved.” Who could think a lady could have such adventures?

She must have been quite the character. I'll have to spend the time to read that book more thoroughly, as well as the Riding for Ladies published in 1887. All the above books are available in their entirety in Google Books.

Take Two: Success!

Okay, I guess this IS doable! Hooray! I am NOT a side saddle failure. The past two weeks, I have been carefully scheming and preparing for my next ride. I am happy to report the fixes worked. Very well in fact. It took a lot of thinking, shopping and adjusting. My husband even got in on the act bending leaping heads, and beveling shim pads with his die grinder.

So, the list of fixes are:

Longer reins: Perfect! Gives me a lot of bight which I am used to, after decades of heavy maned Saddlebreds, keeping on the left. I caught myself several times chanting "bight on the right" over and over. That's one thing you don't want wrapped around your ankle.

Shim Pad: Gives me half an inch of rise to the cantle, and magically seems to have fixed the tight spot right behind his shoulder blade. There are a LOT of shim options, and some challenges to properly shimming a side saddle. More on that later in the week.

Mohair Girth: In a proper size 52". I was using a saddle seat "humane" girth, but it was at only 48 inches and longer ones are very rare to find and much more expensive than the string girths. I have eliminated the sketchy girth extender, and I love the mohair. It has a nice amount of give to it and is not at all slippery. Two thumbs up!

Non Slip Rug Pad (from Home Depot): I have a regular "non slip" saddle pad, but it isn't anywhere near as sticky as a cheap-o rug pad. I put one square beneath the quilted pad, and one square between the quilted pad and the shim pad.

Seat Stikum: This is a three pronged approach. Not only did I remember my full seat breeches today (20 degrees warmer incidentally) but I also put some Sadl-Tite on my seat, and wrapped the upright head with some Vet Wrap for good measure.

Time to ride. The last two times I have taken the saddle to the barn, I have been nervous and jumpy. I didn't even sleep well the nights before. This morning I woke up excited and eager, one might even say confident, with a plan of attack. Another thing Robin has said in her blog brought back old memories. When I was a kid, I used to ride "aside" in western saddles. This is pretty much impractical, even painful, likely unsafe. But almost anyone who trail rides a lot has done it at one point or another. Putting one, or both legs up on a western pommel will rest your back. Swinging one leg around the horn is a convenient way to sit and talk with your companions. It isn't very easy to do while walking or trotting, as the horse's neck rises and falls with it's stride, pinching your leg, but if I could do that without a problem, certainly I can ride in a proper side saddle.

Today I clamoured aboard astride (there are a lot of horns in the way) and went for a little stroll. Why not get used to this saddle one leg at a time? It's actually not bad this way. I was able to fiddle with my left leg, and enjoy the new fit of the leaping head. I got myself settled in, my butt in a comfy balanced place, and then I just swung my right leg up and over, and pretty much forgot about it.




Grey did not. My right leg appearing on his near side again got the equine equivalent of raised eyebrows. "Really? You're going to try this again?"

"Do you realise your legs are both over here?"

He studied the situation and thought about it. For those of you who know William Pendleton Grey Esq. from his blog, you will know that he is quick, powerful, and smart. And like most Saddlebreds, he has a very active fantasy life. If there is nothing going on, he pretends story lines about monsters and pirates. I don't make that stuff up. I just try to write down what's really going on in his head. He doesn't dump me on purpose. In the six years we've owned him, we've parted company three times. Once I fell off, once I was thrown off, and once I went down with the ship. Each time he has been very ashamed afterwards. I haven't decided yet if he's ashamed of his poor behavior, or ashamed of my lousy riding skills. He takes a lot for granted when it comes to my sticking with him. In light of that, he has been very careful and conscientious about this whole side saddle thing.


Of course, we are in the small, dusty indoor. And he finds that pretty boring. In fact, he generally turns into a western pleasure horse. You can see from all the dust in the air that showed up in the pictures, that by the time I had longed him enough to get all the pirates out of him, we had pretty well ruined the air quality. But, the mere fact that we are able to ride at all in a western NY winter is pretty amazing, so I can over look the fact that every time I ride I have to clean all my tack, and launder all my clothes.

This time I had very little trouble staying in the middle. In fact, I found the root of the sliding off the left side is actually me leaning my torso to the right. Shoulder goes right, bum goes left. Amazing and immediate cause and effect. I could feel Grey wobbling a bit under me. Remember, he's never had a side saddle on before. He's not sure how to react or if he's supposed to compensate for me when I do something awkward. This doesn't surprise me as it took us several rides to get used to the new feel of riding bareback. I think he is doing very well with side saddle.

I had Mom shoot a lot of photos. I tried to crop this one using the sliding door track on the wall as the level horizon. Not too bad for a second ride. I think I lean a smidge to the off side though.








Grey was almost impossible to get unrooted to start with. I had to send Mom for a dressage whip just to get him to step forward. There is only one near side shot that shows it, but I guarantee my left heel was up most of the time encouraging my reluctant and overly cautious horse.

I rode for almost a half hour, and only twice felt like I was going to slide myself off. As soon as I realised the correlation between that and my upper body weight, it was quite easily solved. I am having some difficulty figuring out how to increase my weight in my right seat bone. When I unsaddled, I studied Grey's back, and I did ruffle some hair under my left seat bone, so I obviously am a little off balance. I think I did better with the balance strap this time. I had it two fingers tight, then when I mounted, I took it up another notch or two to compensate for me squishing everything down.

I even worked up the nerve to trot. No good photos of that. Just funny pictures of intense concentration. It wasn't hard though, and I didn't feel insecure. My right toe did come up, and my left heel a bit. Luckily Grey has an easy trot which I have never found hard to sit. He was a bit shocked when I asked him to trot. His initial reaction was "For a minute there I thought you said 'Trot!" But after a few times he evidently decided I wasn't going to fall off, or send him careening into a wall, and he actually relaxed and started looking for boogers out the door again. In fact, I'm pretty sure I am more likely to get my self in a pickle wobbling around at a walk worrying about my saddle than I am at a brisk trot thinking about keeping my horse in front of my leg and on the bit.

A happy end to our second ride.

Saddle Fits Horse... Hooray!

So the saddle arrived in excellent condition, and has been sitting on it's rack in the living room looking oh so inviting and sittable. I've been getting to know it and investigating things such as how much pressure it takes to raise the off side flap hinge (quite a bit), and how the stirrup release works. It came with a nice side saddle stirrup, but I put the safety stirrup I bought two years ago on it instead. Hey look! I now have side saddle "spare parts"!

It came with a balance strap, but no girth. I wanted to get it on the horse first before deciding what length girth to order. In fact, I think I will order two different lengths of string girths for everyday use and decide which length works best before investing in a three fold leather girth.


All week I have been dreaming at night that I was riding side saddle. I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking the saddle won't fit the horse and I will have to go through reflocking hassles. You see, coming from a Saddle Seat background, I am not accustomed to all the saddle fit fuss. Saddle Seat saddles come in one tree. Flat. In fact, they pretty darn near come in one size. Adult. I've never had back problems with any horse using your standard Lane Fox saddle made by a good saddle company.



So all I've heard about side saddle fit and flocking has me pretty anxious. And since there are no saddlers around here, unless you count Amish harness makers, I'll have to send it out if I want an adjustment. And if I'm going to send it out, I may as well send it to Lillian since she reconditioned and repaired it and knows it well. And I'm not too keen on the idea of sending this saddle all the way back across the country now that I finally have it.


Today is one of those bleary, damp, snowy, blowy, greasy, yucky days. I had butterflies in my stomach the whole drive to the barn. I was finally going to put MY side saddle on MY horse. Oh the agony! When I got to the barn, I found my horse soaking wet from playing in the snow. It's 25 degrees outside! What is he doing soaking wet? It makes me cold just thinking about it. So I brought him in and toweled him until he was merely damp (and stinky).



I had already sorted out a non-elastic saddle seat girth, a girth extender, and a martingale loop to keep the balance strap in place. I saddled him up and was relieved to find that the saddle fits him pretty much the same as my hunt seat saddle. To my amateur saddle fitter's eye, the gullet looks fine, the tree is a good width, and the saddle is not bridging. Lillian has done a lovely job balancing it, and it sits level left to right. If anything, it sits a bit up hill, but it could be that I have it a touch too far forward.



Mr. William Pendleton is unimpressed with this new piece of equipment. It's uniqueness is lost on him.

"Woo Hoo. A saddle."

"Just Kidding"

I removed the stirrup, and put his bridle on for longeing. I want him to get used to the balance strap (which I've left loose) and I want to watch how the saddle behaves on his back. I longe him first one way, then stop to tighten the balance strap a notch or two. It seems much looser than I intended.

I reversed him and let him trot, then asked him to canter. He offers to buck and play as usual and I tell him not too. He feels the balance strap, but doesn't seem to mind much. I stop him and take it up two more notches. It is now snug but I can easily slip my fingers under.

After about 10 minutes I brought him back in and check the saddle from every angle. It hasn't moved one bit. I had the girth tight, and tightened it twice while longing him, but I did not have it REALLY tight as I might if I were going to ride. I'll do this again next weekend, to let us both get familiar with the saddle, and then we'll try actual riding.