Trotting bareback?

Question

I have started riding bareback and trotting on the horse bareback what level am I? am I beginner, advanced????

Answer 1

I really like the answer given by buffy. A good exercise you can do with your horse is take him into the arena, and pick a point to ride across to. Let go of the horse and hold your hands straight out to your sides, with your palms up. Have the horse move only at a walk at first, and you should also only do this with a saddle at first. With your hands outstretched you will not be able to use your arms to hold on to the horse and will develop better balance in your seat.

What buffy said about your body being fluid is also good advice. Let your body get in tune with your horse. As he walks his butt will sway back and forth. Your butt should be swaying along with his in a back and forth motion. I see too many riders that are stiff as boards, and that is not a sign you're a good rider.

If you really get this down, and can move with the horse, then you can ride a trot smoothly without posting. But I have been told by good instructors that it takes 500 hours of riding time for most people to move from "novice" to good rider. Also, you will find that if you start swaying your hips faster, the horse will start to do it with you. So you will be able to get him to move from a walk to a trot by communicating with your hips.

Being able to trot without falling off, bareback or not, is not in itself a sign you're a good rider. I see lots of people riding their horses at a trot and they are bouncing all over the place and pulling back on the reins-clearly not communicating with their horses.

Cheers,

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 2

You cant say if your a beginner or not if you can gallop bareback/ jump bareback htan that would be classified as an advanced rider. Depends really how long and how well you can ride :)

Answer 3

Riding Bareback isn't a level. Some people train bareback at first to help out with balance.

I started riding bareback to help with my canter seat. I have been riding for 6 years.  But my horse is stupid with out and saddle.

Just trooting would be begginer

Answer 4

well my trainer claims im a begginer even though i've been riding for 6 years and i can canter bareback and jump bareback with no hands(even though she doesnt know i do that lol) But most of it is my pony b/c hes awesome with that kind of stuff.

I would say your an advanced begginer

Answer 5

Beginner or advanced level has not as much to do with whether you're able to ride bareback as it does with your ability to control your body, communicate with the horse  and be successful at your discipline.

A nocie rider can ride bareback very poorly - while a professional rides with a saddle.

You must focus on how you use your body to communicate.  You should not be sitting on your butt bouncing - you should be using the inside thigh muscles to balance up on your pelvis, not sitting on your butt.  You should be using your back muscles to allow your body to move fluidly with the horse, not a stiff back - almost as if you're a rubber-man with your butt stuck to the horse, the spine must be flexible and you know how to use your muscles and the proper part of your legs to communicate.

Those at high levels of riding expertise, use the muscles properly whether in a saddle or not.  These people at the top of their game are in peak physical condition because they use the muscles properly and consistently.  One cannot be overweight or out of shape and ride nearly as well as one in peak condition.

So - if you're riding bareback and not falling off and trotting for long periods, I have to assume you can keep your muscles of the spine flexible enough to stay with the horse, so you've got to be progressing in your ability.

You are asking us all a question to give you feedback to heighten your sense of accomplishment.  

I would suggest that you need to learn to gain that sense of accomplishment from within yourself rather than from others.  Here's how:

Each day, when you gear up to go ride, set a goal.  What do you want to do with your horse someday - next year, in five years, etc?  From there, what steps will it take to get there?  Break those steps down as far as you can - then set goals to reach each one - building one upon the other.

Maybe your goal when you ride today is to ride bareback and focus on the "feeling" - you see, very successful horsemen/women have gained a sense of "feel" - this is hard to put into words, but basically they feel what the horse senses and know without doubt what his next movement will be.  They can become part of the horse while on it because they've gained such a strong sense of one-ness with the horse, they actually appear to be connected to it.

Feel your horse's movements - identify when he's picking up each individual foot and putting it down.  Get to where you know when he's lifting each foot and when he's placing it down - without looking at his feet.

You see, the best horsemen know exactly when to cue a horse to allow it to perform at it's peak.  They ask for a stop when the feet are at certain positions at certain gaits.  They ask for gait transitions when the feet are at certain positions and they ask for changes in directions as just the right moment because they know how the horses' body works and exactly where all 4 of his feet are at any given time.

Work toward this - today you want to be able to do this at the walk.  If you also focus on how you're using your body - by using the inner thigh muscles to balance and keeping your spine supple, these things will all work together - within a session or two, you'll notice a difference in how it feels to you - focus on this and people will naturally see a difference in your abilities without you having to tell them your accomplishments.

A truly successful horseman will get compliments without panning for them.  If you have to pan to get someone to tell you what a good rider you are, you need to work harder.

Success brought from within you is MUCH sweeter than that given by outside people.  You learn you can do anything for yourself when you need to - if you rely on others to give you success, you'll fall short.

Have fun.

Answer 6

Ummm...that would just depend on how well you do it. I learned to ride bareback, do you think I started out advanced? They put me on a 18 hand, 2500 lbs. stallion bare back in an open ring of 1 1/2 acres and told me "trust the horse & ride"! I was thinking they were insane but I see now, if I couldn't trust horses I had no buisness on them!

Answer 7

I learned along time ago to use the term "advanced beginner" after you've ridden a few years.

If you go around telling people you are an intermediate rider it comes across as being boastful.  Watching you ride they'll say, she's intermediate?  No way!

It's better for them to be pleasantly surprised and so "wow!  you ride better than you give yourself credit for".

See wht I mean?  Stay humble...there is ALWAYS someone who rides better than you do.

Answer 8

Lots of good perspectives here, but I'll throw out one more.

I took my first ride over 40 years ago.  

But put me on a dressage horse, and I'm a complete beginner.  Don't even know the terminology.  There's a big difference in being able to stay in the saddle and looking good doing it.

Answer 9

depends how well you do it, if you bounce around all the time and your legs wobble and dont stay fixed then naturally you are still learning and therefore a beginner.

However, somebody that is advanced will have a secure legs and seat through riding and training at an advanced level.

Answer 10

it depends what else u know how to do if all u can do is trot and walk then u r a beginnner.

Answer 11

if thats it then yes you are but dont stop there keep going!

Answer 12

i would say beginner, from the info given. it really depends on the level of your horse, too. i can walk, trot, canter, flying lead change, jump, and barrel race, all bareback. but as for just trotting, i would say you are a beginner. sorryy:\\

Answer 13

This amount of information is completely pointless when trying to tell what level of rider you are.

I show my horse, and in the class i walk trot and canter bareback. What level of rider does that make me?

as you can tell, there is so much more to tell, just because you don't have enough balance enough to canter bareback, doesn't make you a beginner or intermediate, nor does it make you advanced. if you KNOW everything about riding, then you're an advanced rider, just because you can grip onto a horse and squeeze it into a trot, doesn't ensure that you are an advanced/beginner.

Good luck.

Answer 14

It depends on you and your horse greatly.

If your horse is a smooth trotter and all you are doing is sitting on the horse, you arent going to be considered "advanced" b/c your horse is doing the work.

If your horse was a very bumpy, hard to control horse, and you made yourself look like he was the easiest horse to ride, then you did a good job.

It doesnt really matter whether or not you have done this or done that. It matters about how well you handled it and how you felt about it.

What judges in shows look for is to see how easily you ride your horse. You want to make them feel like you have everything under control, and that your horse is like a perfectly trained, calm horse. Make them want to ride your horse b/c it looks easy and fun.

I ride bareback all the time, trotting, cantering, cantering 2 ft jumps bareback, and riding w/o stirrups and jumping without stirrups and reins, etc...And they are all instructor approved (I do these things in riding lessons, unlike the other answerer who enjoys living outside the box and doing it secretly hehe)

In shows, I ride english, jumping 2 ft, and although people say that I am pretty experienced, I think I have a lot of work to do, compared to all the other riders who are doing 2'6'' and doing championship jumping...etc....

It really doesnt matter what other people think of you. What matters is what you think of yourself. :)

Most importantly...

Dont die trying to do stunts you arent ready for b/c you want to be a better rider =)

Just kidding, have fun!