advice needed on riding bareback

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Rosiejazzandpia

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this is my first post :)
after having a little cob on loan up until august when we retired her I now have a different horse on loan.
her owner rarely comes up to check on her (which is fine by me) but horse has 3 saddles, non of which fit. ive tried more saddles recently but none of them feel right. when I spoke to the owner she said that she would do something about this after winter when she had the money.
so decided to ride her bareback and have ridden her about 10 times now and hacked out.
just wondering if anybody else rides out bareback and if anybody has a bareback pad? if so which ones and how much did you pay?
:)
 
This was the very reason I started riding bareback. The lovely cob I shared had a saddle that clearly didn't fit, and in all conscience I couldn't ride her in it. Her owner wasn't to be persuaded in terms of getting fitter out.

So I bought a BestFriend pad :). I rode around the farm and we also "schooled" (neither of us very keen on this) and jumped (both of us enjoyed this) in it.

When I got my own horse, I kept the pad "just in case" - and 6 years on, I find we ride more with the bareback pad than a saddle. It's quite clear he prefers it - I have no way of mounting a 17hh in a bareback pad without his full cooperation, and I can leave him loose in the field with the pad on, stand on a wall and he'll come over and line up for me. I think that's a vote for bareback ;)

I now have a fancyschmancy Christ Lammfelle pad (rather expensive, but I realised I rode bareback so often I might as well treat both of us to something nice), but the BestFriend pad is perfect, nice and sticky and washes in the washing machine ;). Oh, and comes with its own girth (the Christ pad uses a standard dressage girth). A nice one very similar to the Christ pad but in synthetic fabric so much cheaper is the Libra Equestrian one.

ETA I do hack out with the pad. I have additional insurance to cover this, but even so stay away from roads and just ride on the traffic free Sustrans track near the field. I don't much like riding on roads even with saddle/stirrups! Just make sure you have proper public liability insurance that specifies clearly that you are covered riding bareback ;-)
 
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Bright Bay, thanks for the advice. Ive found riding bareback much better and much more enjoyabke for both me and my horse :) hacked out for 2 and a half hours today, and popped over a few little logs without my saddle. Feel guilty even putting saddles on her as i know she hates them and they are obviously not fitting her! a few people have mentioned BestFriend bareback pads so will definatly look into these. Good point about roads- i only ride on roads about once a year anyway as horses are kept 20 feet away from miles of woodland with great tracks and paths :)
 
Rileyboy- prefered it on my cob, was much comfier and we didnt do much:) but new horse is a TBx. High withers mean shes hard to fit a saddle to and her saddles are uncomfortable for both of us!
 
I used to have a purple fluffy bare back pad like this one for my mare -

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It didnt have a brand name though so cant help :( other than to say it slipped all the time! and found myself better off just being normal bareback :)

(edit - the one in the pic looks better as if it woudlnt slip so much tbf lol)
 
Just bareback, or if on a quiet ride where they're not likely to get sweaty, just in a rug still [shock horror].



eta - never used a bareback pad, but have used a roller and polypad on bony TB!
 
Alainax- one in the photo looks like a supreme best friend pad
ChristmasSparkles- ive ridden both mine around the field in their rugs ;) good idea about the roller and polypad- hadnt thought of that :)
 
Ah, if there's any TB in there, don't get a BestFriend pad :). I can still just about use mine, but I need to put something under it to lift it off the withers, which sort of defeats the purpose ;). They're just not cut for horses with withers.

The Libra one I think would be better.

The one in the pic above is a BestFriend Comfort Plus pad. Suprised it slipped if it's the same sticky backing as the basic Bestfriend one :).

I don't use the pad for mooching around the field, just like a bit of extra padding for longer rides (and have used a sheepskin pad held on with a surgingle. Have also done the gallop up the field on top of a turnout rug, but mostly he's not wearing a rug these days).
 
When a lot of saddles, treed and treeless, were tested with Pliance a few years ago bareback, with good riders, came out as the worst for pressure point. 2 great big hotspots under bum bones.

I wouldnt do it all the time and would at least use a sheepskin pad, sheepskin being the best thing for distributing pressure around. However its really good for your core, balance, seat and legs so just keep an eye on the horses back :)
 
TigerTail said:
When a lot of saddles, treed and treeless, were tested with Pliance a few years ago bareback, with good riders, came out as the worst for pressure point. 2 great big hotspots under bum bones.

I wouldnt do it all the time and would at least use a sheepskin pad, sheepskin being the best thing for distributing pressure around. However its really good for your core, balance, seat and legs so just keep an eye on the horses back :)
Click to expand...

This study is trotted out (sorry :o) every time someone mentions riding bareback. It was carried out by Heather Moffet when testing her own treeless saddles. As far as I know it was not intended as a definitive test of the effects of riding bareback. Nor could it be considered independent.

Go on what your horse tells you - if they are happy for you to ride bareback, you will know. If they're not, I hope you have a very sticky seat ;). Mine says he prefers bareback to a variety of saddles (including, as it happens, a Heather Moffat one), so I'll take his suggestion and continue with the bareback riding :D
 
It wasn't carried out by HM but her saddles were some of the ones tested - the bb thing surprised everyone I believe!

I dont have a link to it any more thought it was on my bookmarks :(
 
Don't know why it should surprise people, seems kinda obvious - and remember; ALL horse riding civilisations invented the saddle eventually.
 
Brightbay- thanks for the heads up about bestfriend pads and high withered TBs, just had a look at the libra lads and they look really comfy :) also, my horse really does feel better with no saddle.


Surely her ill fitting saddles must be creating more pressure points than being ridden (at the moment) twice a week with no saddle?
 
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