anyone ever trained with nothing

I am working on it!!! What a thrill and honor for me to have my young mustang listen to me when I longe him. I use both body and verbal language. His work space is a 150' x 200' field. I use a whip only to tap the ground. He travels freely in a circle around me. He will walk and trot when asked. He does not wander off or try to stop to eat. He doesn't get distracted by the other horses on the other sides of his work area. When I ask him to whoa he stops and faces me. He stands still as I approach him to touch him all over his body and I walk all around him. I can walk back to the center of the field ask him to turn and repeat the walk, trot exercise. When we are finished I ask him for the whoa. I again walk up to him to pet and praise my good boy. He knows he is released when I do not return to the center of the field. We have been longeing this way for one week. I know I have earned his trust if he works for me this way:)

It might be nice to bring a horse to the same degree of understanding that I have with my dog. But, my dog won't respond to 99% of people in the same way as he will to me.

In my mind my horse becomes more secure in this human dominated world if she understands the standardised aids which are fairly universally used by handlers with horses. If she responds to the recognised instructions of any good handler, which undoubtedly will involve straps and tack, she is more safe should anything happen to me before she dies.

If she were a circus horse , then maybe I might think differently.

As I train her, she must learn to communicate with humans - both ways her to them, them to her.

I must show her how to survive amidst the top predator - man.

PS She now jumps the poles on long reins.

This is my first time reading this interesting thread. I have a question that is totally of topic so I do apologise but BG, a few pages back you say:

May I as what these limitations are? Im rather curious.

Chears,

FF

*ask

**cheers

Outside of the stable yard, it is not common to meet with a bare back rider in Britain. On this tiny island, riding out bareback into the community would be regarded as irresponsible behaviour - especially if something had gone wrong during the ride.

I have never witnessed lessons in riding bareback but I have friends who may from time to time do so when collecting their horses up from the pasture.

In the Welsh valleys it is customary to hold rodeos - that's dropping onto the back of a feral Welch Section C pony - without the help saddle or bridle.
The aim of the game is to stay on for more than 5 seconds merely by holding onto a handfull of mane. The organisers me that it is nowadays becoming difficult to get insurance for such competitions since regularly a discarded rider is driven off to the local hospital with a few broken bones. The ponies, brought to the event straight off the moors maybe short but they make good bucking broncos. Hard drinking Welshmen (and the occasional woman) are a breed apart - they even sit differently on the pony.

Maybe it is why our Welsh cousins sing a lot.

I feel the need to put my two cents in Barry. I rode bareback up until I was 15, that was when I had my first saddle given to me. My first 10 years of horse experience was as a bareback rider. I did everything then that I do now with a saddle, in fact my pony was actually a very good little jumper and I set up a jump course when I was about seven or eight, made of what ever drums and bits of wood I could scab from around the farm. Being bareback in no way inhibited us from flying around the course. The highest jump would have been close to 3ft. My point is that a person can become very proficient as a bare back rider and it is no more unsafe to ride bareback than with tack. In fact when I finally started riding with a saddle I was very nervous about getting my feet stuck in the stirrups if something did go wrong.

Nowadays I am older, heavier and less flexible so riding bareback is not as effortless as it used to be and has less appeal for me. However this summer we have moved to the beach so I will be doing a lot of bareback riding as there is a great swimming river near by. Riding bareback does me no harm at all and there is no more or less chance for things to go wrong on a ride whether I am using my saddle or not.

Oh, if only someone had introduced me to horses when I was a young fit fella.

In the back streets of London, before the time I had to go out and earn a living - (as a bank clerk of all things), there were neither the horses nor the spare money to have riding lessons. It was not until I reached the grand old age of 38, after having moved to the countryside, that I discovered the joy of riding a spirited horse across the commons. In the intervening years I had bent my body by swimming, rowing and scuba diving. But eventully I got the hang of riding. The passion for horses has been with me ever since.

My first tutor sat me abord a horse without a saddle but she was kind and let me occasionally have use of a bridle bit and reins. I fell off regularly. She said the experience was good for me but she was indeed a hard lady.

If course there are no Native Britons in Britain to leave a tradition of riding bareback, unless you include the Welsh Mountain Folks, but they don't actually teach, they just show you to a Welsh Cob and hand you the reins. Then they stand back, watch and laugh.

Nowadays a very capable dressage rider stands in the arena and shouts at me -just in case my countrystyle of riding interferes with my mare's teaching of how to move, Germanic style. The Germans, whom we Brits hope to beat at Olympic dressage in 2012, frown when we don't use a saddle.

In the riding schools falling off these days is not allowed by the Health and Safety Executive, so only a few Brits (excluding the Welsh of course) get to ride bareback.
Anyway my mare DiDi might think I was getting too familiar with her.

Understood.

Although it may be just because I'm from a different country that I view things differently. I believe if you can master things bareback you'll be 100x better with a saddle.

At the moment I don't have a saddle that fits my horse perfectly so I ride bareback at home. My horse and I go out on trail rides bareback, jump, sport, flat work, gallop, you name it we do it. I only use a saddle when I compete. (because of regulations)

I find my horse and my comunication is impaired when riding with a saddle. Bareback I find it were the truth is visible and great results can be achived.

Plus riding bareback does have it's purks in winter, you have your own heater. ;)