riding bridleless!

[suzii]

goodness gracious how much I am coming obsessed!

How do I start pleases? Any ideas?

[brigadier]

Suzii- why do you want to do it? thats the starting point! Rebanna is the person to ask re this ,she has some experience I think.

[suzii]

I just have this image of me galloping cross a feild with no tack at all. Sounds amazing to me!

[suzii]

obv the horse is galloping - not me!!

[spotti]

he he he Suzii that's funny - got this really random image of you running across a field having thrown your tack on the floor and are now 'running free'

I think the place to start would be to work on riding with as little bridle contact as possible i.e. trying to ride more from your seat/legs/voice and then ride with your reins tied in a knot, then maybe bareback, then in a headcollar perhaps? And eventually build up a good enough bond with your horse that you could hop on with no tack at all and just go galloping! (Obviously you'd start off in walk and slowly work your way through the stages at each pace until you could eventually gallop off into the distance with nothing but you and your horsey...ahhh!)

[haffyfan]

From what I've seen this something that tends to go hand in hand with western riding/western trained horses/riders more than ones taught the BHS way. Most well trained reining/western pleasure/working horse can be ridden bridleless at all speeds and it comes down i think to the way they are trained from the outset.


One of the aspects of western horsemanship is the importance of gaining their respect through their eyes, to the feet, in accomplishing the four basic movements - going forward, disengagement of the hindquarters, going backwards, and moving sideways. These are taught at an early age both on the ground and undersaddlke.

Self carriage is also very important in western horses
This is a brilliant article on self carriage! www.gollehon.com/horse_&_rider_self_carriage_article.htm

Leg cues are largely the same as inEnglish, but a good rider/horse team needs less of it. Normally, the western rider doesn't use the legs just to maintain a gait. Weight cues are applied differently by most western trainers. The western reining horse is taught to move away from pressure, including weight. This means that the rider's weight is rmore on the outside of the horse in a turn-around or a circle, pushing the horse in. If it's a well-tuned team, the rider would be sitting pretty much in the middle, but the principle of steering is one of pushing/driving the horse into the direction it is supposed to go, in contrast to putting your weight there and expect the horse to follow.

Of course once all these things are in place and the horse is working consistantly in self carriage listening to the legs/weight reins become suplus to requirements...after all when roping cattle etc they will need both hands free! At this stage riding without a bridle becomes easy ;D

However I am still working on the very very basic stages

Try this little exercise/method. I picked it up at a Bob Mayhew clinic. It is for teaching side pass actually but works equally well for leg yielding. Basically if you wanted to for example step sideways to the right yourself would gently rock your weight to the left thus freeing up your right leg to to take a step. So if you want your horse to move right you need to gently slide your weight left and open your right hand/leg a little allowing him to follow the movement through as soon as the leg is applied and you should find it's the easiest thing in the world for him to make a small movement/adjustment in the direction you wish (depending on his level of training/schooling of course as to the degree of movement you get). (Hope that makes sense!)

[suzii]

haha spotti!

Thanks you two, methinks it will be a while yet then, Sprite thinks legs mean go faster. Maybe we will concentrate on basic English training steps first??

[FirenLady]

If you've got horse and country tv Suzi, I saw the most amazing program the other day called parrelli dreams. It was about a girl called Rachel, who had this really fiery arab and about her journey with him. At the end she was gaolloping bareback, bridless, (without a hat!) across a beach. It just looked amazing.

[suzii]

yeah i got a free dvd with that on. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

[brigadier]

Hey Haffy you are so into the western thing!!! Its great that we have a real balance on this forum- no right and wrong- just different! I love it.

[Becca]

i love this forum! just reading all this stuff in all threads is brill

i love riding bareback, used to hack out with just a bridle all the time, and ride to the fields with a headcollar. We tried with a leadrope round the neck but grass is far more interesting than listening to mummy haha

[suzii]

one day...


and i agree brig!

[scattymare]

He he. Me ad my friend used to take the neds for 'gallopy gallopy' as we called it. Basically jump on in the field, no tack and just have a burn up round the field. The horses loved it. We loved it (though I wouldn't consider it now - I was far braver (or foolish!) in those days).

[spotti]

Inspired by this thread I gave riding bareback and bridleless a go and it was sooooo fun!

Don't know if I mentioned about Faith doing something to her shoulder and how she currently resents a saddle begin put on, but just to keep her interested and to get a better feel for how her shoulder is getting on, we've been having a little bareback ride in the school. Anyway, today I figured we'd have a go at the bridleless malarky and it was so fun! I had her bridle on and just tied up my reins (just in case lol) and then wandered around the school with my arms out and no saddle just practising walk-halt transitions and turning from my seat and she was really good! We actually managed to halt square which we've never done before and I feel much more relaxed and secure now and generally it was just amazing so thanks suzii for bringing this up because its so much fun!

[suzii]

ooo wow!!!

Thats inspired me millions! A 'normal' person going bridleless (well saddle and reinless!), I thought you would have to train the horse for aages etc. Can't wait till Sprite moves and we have a proper school! Can't wait to give it a go!!

[cazza]

i know what that feels like when i was little i jumped my horse over a barrel fence with no saddle and just a headcollar it was so much fun, i think you should give it a go suzii, but just be carefull

[duckles]

last year my sister had the loan of a 14'2' pony and i used to often ride him bareback and in a headcollar or with just a lead rope around his neck. It was such fun, I am quite small (5"2') so it was easier for me on her pony than on my own horses. Bareback is so comfortable- well it is if the horse has a nice back! I used to ride my own horses bareback but only at end of lesson or for a walk around the place - JB was so boney that is was uncomfortable to go out of walk plus he is quite sharp so I wasn't 100% confident that i could cope with a sudden jump to the side in canter. I would trot with Cori, whose back was more comfy - really showed me how bad my seat was as I moved quite a bit in the trot. I used to ride both frequently in head collars- jumping and all. its really good for your legs and in fact it made me realise how much i use my hands although i never thought i did. Both horses behaved really well- and there was no control issues. But I guess it wouldn't be good to try until you totally trust your horse. Sadly, I don't seem to be riding at all these days for various reasons so I haven't done any of this recently!! Anyway, you'll get your wish Suzi and be riding bareback etc in no time. I don't see anything wrong with bridles and saddles but its really good to do without from time to time as its fun, great for the seat and balance and for communication.
A girl who taught at my old yard said her dad learnt to ride bareback and never was comfortable with a saddle and preferred to ride without even though he was in his 50's at that time- for jumping and everything.

[racaille]

There's a girl on the SJ circuit here who competes her horse bareback and bridleless, just a rope around its neck

[suzii]

goodness me!! Any ideas of a name racaille? Might be on youtube!! I will start rding bareback more to begin with when we have a proper school and he is settled in his new home!

[myhorselizzie]

lol i ride my coloured in a headcollar and leadrope.. comes in handy when bringing in horses
I ride mary, lead my mates horse tika, and my mum leads my big palomino D
xx

[rebanna]

FirenLady Rachel is realy nice she came and did a demo at my mates yard her horse is cute he quite old now i think, suzii i just saw this thread i will post some stuff on how to do it on monday the most important thing is to hve a nice inderpendant seat

[rebanna]

Right ok first thing is to ride in a enclosed area, knot the rains so you can grab them but they wont catch on the floor i cross my arm's on my chest or put them on my knees you must then ride just with your seat not with ur leg's you could ask your riding instructore to help you with this i will write more when i have time

[suzii]

I don't know if you guys saw my post about me joining up with sprite and then riding with no stirrups and a knot in my reins. I really felt much more free and even cantered without my stirrups! I managed to get him to go from trot to walk without so much as touching the reins and today I got him to halt without reins! The only problem was when I asked him to move onto a circle etc, he would try to canter. Next time I'll take the saddle aswell