A saddle is used for the protection and support of the horse rider for a fresh ride throughout the journey. Removing the saddle is a personal choice of the rider.
But are there any advantages of removing saddle without riding?
Bareback riding is a fantastic thing to do with your horse to practice your riding skills. But saddle-less riding requires a lot of training, so never ride a horse without a saddle unless you are confident and expertise.
In this article, I will discuss the basic working of the saddle and how to train yourself to ride a horse without any saddle. Let’s dive into the article without wasting any time.
How To Ride A Horse Without A Saddle (Complete Guide)
Before initiating a guide on riding a horse without a saddle, be sure you are mentally and physically prepared to endure all the possible uncertainties of bareback riding.
Note that it requires mastery in riding before removing the saddle, as horses may get overwhelmed at any time, so as a beginner, proper practice is required so that no one’s hurt and your balance is improved on a horse.
Now, let’s start the guide to ride a horse without a saddle.
Beginner’s Guide For Bareback Riding
Bareback riding is all about maintaining your balance. There are no shortcuts that can help a person learn saddle-less riding, but as every famous and successful person says, practice makes a man perfect, so you can probably become a master by trying again and again.
Use These Two Muscles To Stabilize Your Balance While Bareback Riding
While bareback is just a game of practice, it must be noted that a person’s physical health is also a factor that matters.
There are particularly two muscles in the human body associated with a stable motion and balance of a human during any motion. The first muscles are the Thigh muscles, and the second ones are the abs or the core.
So, if a person is riding bareback, the thigh muscles hold and maintain the upright position on the horse, and the abs will help reduce the jolts and jumps.
Any person who has developed abs and thigh muscles will find it much easier to ride on the horse as he will experience a stabilized and peaceful riding experience.
Well, the struggle is never complete till you are successful. When a person starts riding bareback, these muscles may get sore, and that’s why he might be thinking of giving up. But maintaining a diet while getting soreness of these muscles will heal them faster and efficiently.
Tips to have a Safe Ride without a Saddle
Bareback riding will not be easy, but you can put in your effort and turn it into an enjoyable experience. Safety and precautions are essential requirements before start riding.
Following tips will make your day by and help you be better at riding a horse without a saddle:
Take A Relax Start And Don’t Push It Quickly
Bareback riding is not something people learn quickly with the first ride. There are some difficulties with people, and you can get better only if you keep trying harder and harder.
Start with a relaxed state, and don’t stretch the halter too much as it only makes the horse run faster. So, keep it slow, and you will build your confidence without saddles.
Press Your Heals Against All Of Your Weight
The second step is to put all the weight of your body on the heels. Previously, when there were stirrups with the saddle, the weight was easily maintained.
But now you have to maintain the balance by making your weight downwards on your heels. This way, you will have more faith and confidence.
Another thing you can practice is to ride slowly with your eyes closed and then keep up your balance. It helps keep up the upright position.
Stick With A Lean And Balanced Riding Position
Not all riders need to do practice all the time without a good technique. I want to suggest lean your back straight and then keep up in the best possible upright position.
A balanced upright position will help do bareback riding easily and be amazing.
Use The Rhythms To Adjust Your Position And Seat
One of my favorite techniques of bareback riding is to use the old-school game of rhythms.
Remember when we used to learn any spellings or a long question and a teacher asked us to spell it with rhythms?
Rhythms make everything better, and you can maintain your position with it easily by using rhymes.
Never Go Beyond Your Speed
Not everyone is experienced at the very first time when they start doing bareback riding.
Stick with your normal speed, gradually increase when comfortable with the current speed, and maintain your balance without losing control of the horse.
Keep On Practicing With Hands To Side
Last but not least, try harder and harder until you get successfully mastered in riding a horse without saddles.
If you aren’t successfully riding a horse without saddles, don’t lose heart and ask your seniors or an experienced horseman to help you get physical training. Never stop learning and always keep on trying.
8 Benefits Of Horses Riding Without A Saddle
Bareback riding may be uncomfortable for some people, but it has numerous advantages. You can never stop admiring its benefits.
So, What benefits does horse riding have?
Horse riding has several benefits, but bareback riding will be very good for a sound mind and body. The following benefits make your riding experience more comfortable.
1. Balanced Position
When riding a horse makes several positive changes in your body. Still, one of the best benefits you will ever enjoy from riding bareback is taking an extra balance for every uneven surface you might walk.
Bareback riding is excellent for getting a stable and balanced position. Hence, persistent and continuous practice will bore fruit and help you gain total balance in every position or speed.
2. Strength And Muscle Growth
While it is not just about balance, which is the game of your mind, bareback riding aims to improve your physical strengths and endurance.
Bareback riding increases swelling in muscles in the first few days. Still, once you get used to the soreness, it will be an active exercise for your muscles, mainly targeting the thigh and abs, increasing the endurance and stamina simultaneously.
3. Good For Posture
Struggle for the balanced position makes the probability of another thing. Posture is essentially associated with a balanced position.
Maintaining proper balance will increase your body’s health, ultimately shaping you into the best posture.
4. Flexibility Increased In Body
A horse ride has several benefits which we are not aware of. One of these benefits is flexibility produced in your body due to resisting the jumps and jolts.
Resisting the jumps and jolts while marinating the balance and straitening your posture increases flexibility in your body.
5. Communication With Horse
Saddle-less riding is one of the essential and promising techniques to build a healthy relationship with your horse.
When a person is riding without a saddle, it is a great appreciative step for the horse, and the horse’s faith in the owner increases. Hence, the owner will better learn what the horse demands, and the horse itself better try to communicate with its owner.
6. Preparation For Fight Or Flight Responses In Any Crisis
The best gift bareback riding gives to a person is to learn to cope with extreme emergencies.
So, it would be very good to learn to ride without using a saddle.
7. Confidence And Speed Up Your Ride
When a person starts riding his horse without a saddle, his confidence increases and his speed to ride the horses also increases with time and practice.
8. No Saddle : Happy Horse
The last thing I want to mention here is that using no saddle will make your horse happier!
A horse is more comfortable without a saddle, and it will make your overall health better, as you have seen what it does for position and muscles.
Bareback Riding: Is It Comfortable For Your Horse?
Bareback riding may or may not be comfortable for the horses. There are two options, and those are:
A horse riding without a saddle is comfortable for all the horses as long as the horse does not have any pain, damage on the part on which the seat or saddle is placed.
So, one can easily put the saddle on the horses regardless of whether that would be hurting a horse or not!
Final Verdicts
A saddle is primarily used for the support and protection of a rider. Still, experienced riders would prefer bareback riding because it is more comfortable and helps the body get in shape in several ways.
Take precautionary steps while learning to ride without a saddle, and practice as much as you can unless you become a guru of bareback riding.
This would conclude the topic on how to ride a horse without a saddle. If you have any questions, comment down and share this piece of helpful information if you like it.
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