Hiya! has anyone out there galloped bareback?

I've done just about everything stupid you can possibly do bareback. Raced, jumped, barrel raced, bridless, chased cows, the list goes on :P Mostly because I'm lazy and can ride my horses in halters, so no need for much tack.

It is definitely fun! Your legs will probably be super sore the next day when you first do it, but its worth it! They only hard part is stopping like someone else said, it gets super bumpy. But again, maybe that's just my horse

Yes I have, on the biggest pasture we have out here on the 400 acres we live on and about half way over the pasture as we were really gaining speed it dawned on me...................... omg, if I need to stop I am screwed! There is a fine line between having fun and being OC (outta control) bareback at that speed. Don't think I ever did it again! That was about two years ago.

Edit: some peoples definition of a gallop may be different than mine...........
1. To ride a horse at a gallop; ride at full speed:

I used to when I was your age. I would go swim the horses in canals, ride in the foothills, it was a blast. My sister and I taught ourselves how to jump on from behind like in the old westerns (be careful, hind feet in the belly hurt )
Ended up with lots of bruises but many memories of fun times.
Just keep in mind, what you do to your body today, will come back and be 3 times of painful when you get to age 50. So have fun and be careful .

All the time!! ...with my hands in the air! Lol Just remember to hang on! (...until you're good at it. lol) Just remember that safety ALWAYS comes first. Don't do anything that you or your horse don't feel comfortable doing. I always think that if I don't feel comfortable doing it in a saddle, then I probably shouldn't be doing it bareback. Good luck!!

My sis and I ride bareback all through the winter, because one its easier and quicker to just hop on, and two its SO MUCH WARMER!!!

When we first started doing it, we went lightly up hill at the gallop, that way we could lean slightly forward and still be in the right position for it.

My sis likes to have a hold of mane, and I do sometimes, but mostly just less reins than normal. Usually I have them pretty loose, but I like them slightly tighter so I can go with the movement of the horse's head easier, note i'm not tugging on her mouth or anything. Plus we just use halters :)

But like when my horse had a hip and rip out last year and I didn't know, she reared up, almost flipped, and I immediately grabbed mane until I could get off safely.

Manes are there for a reason

Even though we just roached my sis's big gelding's mane

I actually did this today! Unintentionally, and I can say with certainty I will not be trying again until I practice my balance. I canter on my boy with no saddle fairly regularly with no problem. Today he decided cantering away from the group was a bad idea (he can be a tad herd sour on trails. Work in progress) so he threw his head up, rushed to the side (trying to turn himself) and gave an itty bitty buck. Normally with a saddle I would have been able to run him in circles (since he wanted to turn anyways :) ) but his jump to the side unbalanced me, the buck had me slip even more to the side and once I was able to collect myself we were already tearing across the hay field. I dismounted (ok..I crashed and burned) when we were about 15 or so yards from the group and to my boy's credit he slammed on the breaks and trotted back to me (with a sheepish look I think lol).

Anyways the point is I would love to gallop bareback again when I feel like I am able to better control my position and balance and that's awesome that you're up for it! My boy also has a long mane, so I tend to grab it if I'm feeling myself slipping at a faster gait, because I figure he would rather grip that than get in his mouth

Id suggest a monkey stap but go for it! Up hill is easier!
Posted via Mobile Device

Yes definitely!! One of my favorite things to do, you just feel like you are free and flying. Feeling the movement of the gallop underneath you with no leather in between is also a very humbling experience. You really feel every ounce of the power you are riding.

Like one person said, I didn't really ride my horses in tack. It was just hop on and go.
Another said they were lazy to put tack on, yup, that was me.
I use to work at a horse camp/ranch and I'd saddle and unsaddle horses all day long. The last thing I wanted to do was saddle my horse and go for a ride.
Like another, I've done a lot of stupid things on horses. I should probably have more broken bones then I've had, but I was fortunate. I didn't always wear my helmet. Infact, I think I rarely wore a helmet.

It's quite fun, very exciting. It gets your heart racing, your adrenaline pumping. Grab mane, that's all I can say.
It's hard to stop, once you get going full speed. I suggest check and release to slow down, instead of dead stoping.

If you have a helmet, wear it. If you don't wear one, well you know what could happen if you fall and aren't wearing one.