Riding bareback WITHOUT bridle or halter

[DJ EndurancE]

Does anyone know anything about riding bareback without a bridle or halter? Does it involve special training or anything?

I'd like some more information on it.

If you know any website links, please post them! Thanks! :D

[galadriel]

The horse must be very trustworthy, and able to understand/respond well to seat and leg aids.

[Yann]

I know some people do it with a neck strap - you have to teach the horse to respond to the neck strap, perhaps by initially using it in tandem with a bridle, but there's still a lot of trust involved.

It can be done with nothing at all, but you'd need a very very well trained horse, I know some Parelli people do ride that way.

I could get on my horse with no tack whatsoever without fear of anything nasty happening, but I know I'd have little or no influence over where we went!:D

[Waikato Valuta]

I've ridden tow friends ponys with no tack, fell off once but got right back on. It was realy my falut i fell becuase the pony was just doing what i asked it to. I started with a lounge whip to direct them and only did it in a small round yard.

I had one very interesting ride when I decided I trusted one of the ponys and took it into the larger rectangle arena, she took of with me and I couldn't stop her, we did about 10 laps before she finally decided she'd had enough and stoped by the gate.

I also tried it with my horse twice, the first time with a saddle but no reins, and everything was fine, the second time I as with nothing and he decided to trot then bouced into canter and I fell off. Both times on my horse was in a 6 acre paddock. (Really really dumb of me!!!)

Parrelli can help with training. and the carrot stick or just a lounge whip can be used for stearing untill you are more confident that your horse will listen.

Good luck.

[Esther.D]

Does anyone know anything about riding bareback without a bridle or halter? Does it involve special training or anything?

Yep, otherwise as the others have said you will have no control whatsoever and it could be extremely dangerous (unless you have a sweetheart like Yann's Rio who would look after you). Parelli is the main system but they do not ride with absolutely no tack until the top end of level 2 in their system and that is approximately 2 years after starting training with the system - so it is not something you learn overnight or in a few weeks. Initially they school the horse to respond to pressure and subtle aids, then you ride in a halter (with rope reins) and saddle, then progress to halter and no saddle, then eventually to a rope round their neck and no saddle and then in the end no tack at all...but as I say this is at least an 18month process at their recommended speed of training, so you and the horse have a long time training up to this stage.

[OlavS]

Echo what Esther said.

I've met a Parelli instructor who can do this, Ingela Sainsbury.

She can probablly ride or jump her horse bareback with no tack. But even she has a rope around the horse's neck. She is among the best trained Parelli instructors in the UK.

Parelli does lead you the way there, although it takes years. For more information go to www.parelli.biz

[Showjumper]

I've ridden Dolly with no tack twice before. The first time I just hopped on in the field and sat there. The second time, I could steer and stop her with voice and seat aids :) But she's totally used to me asking odd things of her :)

[Esther.D]

But as you say showjumpr, you have worked with Dolly a lot and put an awful lot into her training, and riding in bareback pad and bitless you were on the way there already, she already understood weight aids and voice aids. I have ridden a couple of my shetlands years ago with no tack on, but like you and Dolly and Yann and Rio I knew them very well and had worked with them extensively, but like Yann and Rio although I trusted them not to hurt me, and they were responding to voice aids I still couldn't claim to be in total control as they had so much option to ignore me and go where they liked and I would have had no way to back up my aids.

[Showjumper]

Absolutely. Whilst it's a great feeling, I wouldn't suggest anyone try it without first making sure their groundwork was completely in place and the horse understood that lack of tack was not an excuse to play up.

[laura jeanne]

I know that I've seen someone's post on here with a picture of her cantering around with no saddle or bridle. I forgot who it was but she sure looked like she was having fun. Maybe someone else will remember who it was.

[Showjumper]

I think that was Arabmare :D

[DJ EndurancE]

How young are horses usally trained for that kind of riding?

[Showjumper]

It's not a case of age, it's a case of trust :) You have to trust your horse to be sensible, and your horse has to trust you not to scare or rush them.

[leviskipperette]

ive ridden gaby 7 or 8 times without a bridle or saddle. i do, however, use a neck rope if i plan on steering her. we walk and trot, go over poles, do circles, stops, and backing up. i dont canter or jump though because she can get strong, and i think shed ignore me if i asked her to slow down. she doesnt fully understand seat and leg commands though (thinks most leg pressure means go faster), so i made sure she was really good at neck reining before we went for that kind of ride. and i only do this where i know shell behave, in the ring. if i took her out of the ring onto the road (eek!) or into the pasture, shed start playing up and id probably get run away with.

as for the age, it probably varies from horse to horse, my girl is nine, but i think ive seen parelli horses younger (maybe). but you couldnt just hop on an unbroke horse with a neck rope and say ok this is how im gonna train you. you usually have to go from all tack to no tack. so youd have a normally trained horse continue his training and fine tune him to listen to really slight commands.

-meg

[notpoodle]

a friend of mine sometimes rides her icelandic in a neckstrap-like contraption and nothing else. BUT only in an enclosed arena AND she's had the horse for a long time and he is trained to be ridden like that.

julia
x

[FreedomStar]

Every year at the red barn festival there is this lady who shows her horse in dressage. She comes and does a demo, then takes off the bridle, puts a loop around his neck, and rides him around like that, and he does flying changes, half passes, whatever she asks. it's amazing.

[Yann]

It doesn't sound like many people who do ride without a bridle actually ride their horse with nothing at all, which is a bit disappointing! Using a neck strap is just moving the point of influence from the head to the chest. Obviously doing this requires more cooperation from the horse and gives the rider less direct control, but it's not the same as a human getting on a horse as nature made it and riding it using nothing but wieght and seat aids. That really is the ultimate in partnership:)

[intouch]

Tried that once - got bucked off and dislocated my shoulder. I trusted him!

[galadriel]

Originally posted by Yann
It doesn't sound like many people who do ride without a bridle actually ride their horse with nothing at all, which is a bit disappointing!

I have.

It is much harder to communicate that way. Among the things that rein aids do is give you a larger "vocabulary" for communicating with the horse; with just seat and legs, sometimes signals may get a bit confused. But it's certainly possible to ride with nothing on the horse's head, and still be able to communicate with him fairly well.

Have to admit that the times I've ridden with absolutely nothing, I cheated a bit. If the horse wasn't quite "hearing" me, I've leaned forward & grabbed a bit of mane behind the ears, to manually get things across to the horse. (left, right, back) Puts you in an insecure position and is a real kludge of a technique ;) and I don't recommend it.

[Waikato Valuta]

Originally posted by Yann
but it's not the same as a human getting on a horse as nature made it and riding it using nothing but wieght and seat aids.

I dont think nature intended anything, Horses were not made to be ridden so the fact were on there backs is totaly unnatural anyway.

[OlavS]

Presumably if your horse if fully voice trained it's much easier? And very sensitive to weight and leg aids?

Yann, I don't see the neck strap or headcollar and lead rope used actively. It's more a form of back-up in case things are getting out of hand (losing balance etc).

Have a look at the picture of Ingela jumping below. It doesn't look as she's using the rope much, does it ;) (The picture is taken from her web site but it's down at the moment.... http://www.parelli.biz/PNH/Groups/Groups/Instructors/3Star/isainsbury/homepage.isainsbury/ )

[galadriel]

Originally posted by OlavS
It doesn't look as she's using the rope much, does it ;)

Umm...you usually release over a jump, no matter what you're using :P

It looks like she's got a whip, too (off side).

[janet hakeney]

Olav......Inglea does often ride that mare without any tack on it at all and without a training stick. I spend a fair amount of time with her and I have seen for myself how great the communication is between them. However this has been built up over many years. It will be interesting to see how she gets on trying to do it with my horse at demos this year as he is a lot more impulsive than Hope !!

[OlavS]

I'm sure she does ride with absolutely no tack, Janet - only that I haven't seen it :) I was gobsmacked at seeing her student ride with the kite string, though, (but I won't explain it here as people might get the wrong idea. I just can't describe the level of training in words...)

My point eariler was that even though all the "no tack" riders I've seen have had *something* in the form of a rope that doesn't mean they'll use it. I don't think for a minute that Inga used the rope or stick on her mare leading up to that jump...but then I've seen a bit more than this picture alone ;)

[DJ EndurancE]

Originally posted by Yann It's not the same as a human getting on a horse as nature made it and riding it using nothing but wieght and seat aids. That really is the ultimate in partnership.

You've got it. That's what I hope to do some day!


Originally posted by Waikato Valuta
I dont think nature intended anything, Horses were not made to be ridden so the fact we're on their backs is totaly unnatural anyway.

Are you sure?? I find that hard to believe. I think God intended for us to ride. Like Yann said, that really is the ultimate in partnership. Many people can tell you that first hand.

[SwiftwindSpirit]

Sorry, I don't have any advice or tips to give you on riding bareback, but I just wanted to say that when I went to my first horse camp (I think I was about 10 at the time) we had races where we'd ride the horses bareback with no bridle, saddle or special aids. It was a lot of fun, but I don't think I'd even attempt it now! :D The horse I rode a lot was really trustworthy and I felt very safe riding him.

[Yann]

Originally posted by Waikato Valuta
I dont think nature intended anything, Horses were not made to be ridden so the fact were on there backs is totaly unnatural anyway.

I don't think nature intended anything either, but the horse has been a happy accident for mankind. You maybe misunderstood my point, I used the phrase 'as nature made it' to make the point about riding without the use of any additional equipment of any kind:)

Thanks for the pics Olav, what she does is clearly very impressive and she must have a level of relationship and communication with that horse that most of us couldn't even begin to conceive of. Even if long sticks and neck straps are used in this way of riding, they can only be used to suggest to the horse rather than tell it to do anything.

[colouredcrazy]

I used to ride my pony with no tack, but id schooled and ridden him for years and years, so we both trusted each other. It was a mad thing I tried after loose schooling one day, and after that I used to ride quite often like that. I could jump a little cross pole and canter, so long as he was in an obliging mood.

[JOJOBA]

The instructor at our yard who does parelli rides with just the neck ring thing (sorry, Im not up on parelli at all) in our 60x30 grass paddock. Ive seen him do it on a fair few horses, although he doesnt tend to ride so much any more. He brought some youngsters up on parelli, and also taught some older horses about it and started riding them like that. It didnt seem to take him very long at all. Having looked at the website I see he calls the technique he uses 'Equestrain'. Anyone know it?
He's a braver person than me. I will ride Hec bareback but Im yet to relinquish my bit, let alone bridle.
It would be something I might be interested in though...
xxx

[Skib]

I agree absolutely about all that has been posted, especially about Parelli and the level of time, training and communication with the horse. BUT.
At the other end of the riding sprectrum. In 2002 I was taught to ride with no contact and making minimal use of the reins. Not for stopping, nor turning. I was told just to look in the direction I wanted to go.
Anyone can hold the reins at the buckle (or drop them altogether)and try it out. Ride circles, ride squares. And you may see why I spent so long failing. This year I found a great new teacher and learned about contact which has been a revelation!
But, in theory, riding without reins was an excellent , minimalist style in which to learn. I recently hacked in a bitless bridle and having pressure across a horse's nose didn't seem a lot different for the horse from having a bit in her mouth. Like Yann says, a neck strap (if you touch it) would communicate the same.
Don't you think any rider who has learned to ride their horse with no reins (and no stirrups), and who has ALSO learned to ride bareback safely could then combine these two things. Not aspiring to jump like the picture on this thread or to do advanced Parelli. But at their own level?

[Arabmare]

Yeah was me lol! Me and jaz used to do it all the time! I trained her with my own ways lol! Using her long mane to steer with my legs! Though sometimes steering was a prob if she decided to go where she wanted! She is good to do this one as she is very safe i.e she doesnt buck or rear but runs very very fast as long as u have a sticky seat u will be fine lol!!!!

Heres the pics but please everyone wear your hat!!!!!!! I remember this day my hat wasnt in my car so I rode 4 a very short while but anything can happen!!!!! I am always a het wearer so bit ashamed of these pics!!!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/james.greenfield/parelli2.JPG

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/james.greenfield/parelli5.JPG

[cvb]

re "as nature intended" - well nature intended me to have short legs :mad:

So I'm never going to be/look quite so "elegant" as Arabmare whatever I do..

even if I hunchyed my body up and rode a very short horse :rolleyes:

[DJ EndurancE]

Originally posted by cvb
re "as nature intended" - well nature intended me to have short legs :mad:

So I'm never going to be/look quite so "elegant" as Arabmare whatever I do.

I have the opposite problem! I'm 6 feet tall, and most of that is in my legs. :mad: When I take my riding lessons, I use the biggest horse in the barn. And she's STILL not big enough! Maybe that's why I get so uncomfortable when I ride for a long time; I'm all squeezed in, lol! I defenetly do better riding bareback! :)

[cvb]

Shire Lover JoE

I don't think its just height - its proportions as well. I have proportionately short legs (endomorph I think its called).

I'm lucky to be that sort of middle-ish height which means I can get away with big ponies OR horses. And thank my lucky stars for that ! But centre of gravity etc is all affected by your "confirmation".

Ho hum - I guess thats just life :D