Cantering bareback in the school

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CobsGalore

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I enjoy schooling bareback, and do it often - however, I only walk and trot, I have never dared to canter...

Partly because my 6year old is still pretty unbalanced when it comes to cantering in the school, but also because I feel like I would just fall off!

Should I put my brave pants on and just do it, with the expectation that I will most likely just slide off the slide, or wait until he is more balanced!? Any tips for staying on!? :D :D
 
If you can sit his canter with a saddle, it should be easier without ;) That's my experience anyway!
 
Go for it, just hang on tight when you come back to trot. Canter is very easy to sit bareback, its just those pesky transitions
 
Love said:
Ive always found it fine - much nicer than trot - it's the transition back to trot you have to watch out for ;)
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This ^^. I cannot so trot for long so often go walk to canter it's much much easier. As others said just watch the transition down.lol
 
Bear9 said:
Go for it, just hang on tight when you come back to trot. Canter is very easy to sit bareback, its just those pesky transitions
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Great tip thanks!

Although it might be difficult to hang on in the transition back to trot if I'm already slumped in the corner of the school...!
 
Walk-canter canter-walk transitions are essential in bareback riding :p(for me ! ) put a neck strap on for security? then again, I swivelled off with mine when I tried that :o I can only trot bareback if I really slow my horse down to a gentle shuffle , he has a massive trot by choice ! As long as you have good breaks and balance you should be ok!

ETA do you have a lunging roller? they can be useful to grip on to instead of a slippery coat
 
That might be a bit difficult as my cob hasn't quite mastered walk to canter yet! He's almost there...but not quite!!

Lunging roller is a good idea though, thanks!
 
Canter without a saddle is so comfy!! The transitions to trot are the difficult bits :)

I recommend a neck strap or a good handful of mane to start with.
 
I hope to be this brave one day haha, I have barely got out of walk! It's all about the big manes for security, a neckstrap just goes with me!
 
I ride bareback a lot so am used to riding all gaits without tack. I'd say if you can trot bareback then you won't have any trouble cantering bareback. I teach my horses to come down from canter to walk very quickly so if you can teach your horse this then you'll miss out the bumpy trot part when coming out of canter.
 
If you're worried, why don't you pick up a good bareback pad? I have one that I use when I'm riding in shorts so don't want my butt and legs to get all sweaty and hairy and they're great for giving extra stickiness. Take the stirrups off though, they are the work of the devil imo!
 
Spring Feather said:
If you're worried, why don't you pick up a good bareback pad? I have one that I use when I'm riding in shorts so don't want my butt and legs to get all sweaty and hairy and they're great for giving extra stickiness. Take the stirrups off though, they are the work of the devil imo!
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Good idea! Think I will get one of these, thank you :)

Going to put my brave pants on tonight... I'll let you know how it goes!
 
Have fun and if you can remember,..try to relax and breathe nice and calmly when you ask for canter,..it's amazing what tension will ebb away if you can keep yourself nice and balanced and relaxed in your mind!

As other have said, you should find canter is the easier and more comfortable of the trot/canter gaits. I too have taught my boy the walk canter transtion over time, but don't use it all the time as i never wanted him thinking that is what we do all the time. So, I mix them up and sometimes i ask for canter to walk,...and sometimes i'd like a canter to trot! Keeps him guessing so he doesn't think it's aways back down to a walk after a period of canter. :)

I love bareback and have ridden like this for a long time now, especially during the winter when time is of the essence and i wanted to get a schooling session in as well as all the other chores that come with winter time!

Enjoy and i'm sure that in time, when you and your boy are more balanced, you'll really enjoy the 'closeness' you get when you ride bareback...i know i do.

xx
 
I agree that you should pop on a neckstrap, and I teach mine to stop on pressure from a strap, practise makes perfect!
 
I ride bareback all the time due to being too lazy to actually saddle up ... as everyone has said - neck strap and master the walk-canter-walk transitions!

I have jumped natives bareback but by heck I wouldn't do it on my tb's! Ouch springs to mind lol!
 
I find cantering a lot easier to sit to then trot etc, Tessy is also rather unbalanced in canter due to coming to us only aware of walk and trot aids. The difficult bit for me is slowing from a canter into the trot and have gone out the side door a few time ( slowly and ungracefully) .
 
This thread took me back to the early days in the riding school when we were sent out to catch the horses in. We would ride them bareback in headcollers and race them back to the yard. All the other girls were scared to canter bareback so only wanted to trot. I always got lumbered with the bony backed Arab as noone wanted to trot him bareback ;) I always used to win the race as I'd gallop him down the field. Hault-Gallop-Hault :P canter is far easyer to sit to bareback than trot is :D
 
Well I did it!

I don't know what I was fussing about, cantering is far easier than trotting, and I ended up doing way more canter work than trot!

Sooo much fun, thank you to everyone who told me to put my brave pants (or bra and pants :p) on!!
 
My mare took the pee out of me when I cantered her bareback! At the time she was in a hackamore and she is very slippery with razor sharp withers, so when we were cantering I took a pull to ask for trot (and then walk very quickly after!) but Ethel leant on my hands big style, pulling me forwards and when I sat up and tried to sit against her like I would in a saddle, I slid up onto her withers and just stayed there. Not comfy!! Eventually managed to stop by shortening my reins and sticking my hands on her withers and just not letting go until she stopped! Little moo bag had just carried on steadily cantering round with her ears pricked and her head down by her knees! I haven't ridden her bareback since :p
 
CobsGalore said:
Well I did it!

I don't know what I was fussing about, cantering is far easier than trotting, and I ended up doing way more canter work than trot!

Sooo much fun, thank you to everyone who told me to put my brave pants (or bra and pants :p) on!!
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Well done :D I often ride bareback even out hacking as i'm to lazy to put the saddle on :P
 
Woohooo....Well Done You :). Long may you enjoy your bareback sessions in the future.

I'll be having a session tonight, just as long as i have a 'dry' little horse to sit on as i believe we're due an amount of rain at some stage today. Hopefully though he'll be dry enough to climb on board tonight and have a play!

I like to pop the odd fence too when they're up in the arena and like you,..i'm grateful for having a good length of mane to grab hold of sometimes when it's needed!
 
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