Bareback and Bridless!!

Does anyone else just LOVE riding bareback and bridless? Whats your favorite thing about it? Please share some of your favorite moments you have had. Lets see some of those pictures!!!! Sadly I don't have any pictures of Brioche and I riding freestyle but I will get some soon for you!

Before my appy went blind over a year ago I was able to ride him a couple times bareback and bridless. It was very special because when I got him he could be very impulsive and any bit of leg meant GO! So to feel him really tune in and understand what I meant was amazing. Sadly he passed away last month :( I'm working on my freestyle with my warmblood right now, so eventually I'll get there.

I here people talking about this and am curious if this is in an enclosed area, or pasture or out on the trails?

Congrats to you btw.

I haven't yet, but am planning on soon teaching my horse to ride bridleless, with the end goal of hopefully doing a few expo's at shows. When I start out i'll be keeping the saddle on and using my breastplate to apply pressure when he doesn't listen to my seat or legs.

How do you teach a horse to go bridleless? Please tell me.

I like going bareback and bridleless because it really helps me focus on my seat and leg cues and really shows if there are any holes in the training.

You have to do it with a horse you trust and I would highly suggest doing it in an enclosed/fenced in area. There are a lot of videos out there that explain how to train bareback and bridleless for those interested. The biggest thing is to make sure you have a horse that is well trained to leg-cues and stops completely by your seat alone.

Walkamile- When you are first learning and so is the horse I would start in a round pen or small arena, and work you way up from there. Some of the best can do it on trails, in the pasture, or just riding around the farm. I do not sujest you start with this

You definitely start out in a round pen or a small, enclosed area. When I was riding my appy I rode him out in the open, but that's more advanced.

I should point out here that anyone can teach their horse to go bridless HOWEVER a lot of people do this just by making the horse a robot. They just drill a certain pattern until the horse just does it. There is no real mental connection. Some people also tend to still micromanage their horse with their seat and legs, even though they don't have any reins. To truly ride bridless and to have it be how it should be you have to treat it as an art, because that's what it is. I've seen some people ride bridless and I had a hard time watching because the horse's expression was so dull. That's not impressive. It's just sad. It should be as fun for the horse as it is for the rider. Teaching this takes time and a whole lotta patience and understanding.

I love it too. Here are my pictures:

Flickr: Search Cloud's Mystique's photostream

Spirithorse: correct me if I am reading it wrong, but bridleless no madder how you look at it is riding off of your seat and legs. Otherwise it's the horse running around like a crazy while the rider is perched up on top of the horse pretending to be in control which is not truley bridleless. I ride the exact same way I do with and without my bridle- steering with my legs and controlling speed with my seat. I consider bridleless to be a test to show if a horse is truley trained to seat and leg.

I have a few pics:

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...k/100_0199.jpg

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...k/100_0205.jpg

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...e/000_2030.jpg

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...e/000_2036.jpg

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...l/000_3183.jpg

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...l/000_3185.jpg

The rope is more for me then for Winnie, more like a "grab strap" than anything, becuase if I grab mane (as seen in some of the pictures, oh and it gets worse than that I promise you, those are the good pictures...) I tend to pitch forward.