RE: drop those stirrups!

["Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>]

Hey, why not ride bareback?  I have found that there
are dressage instructors that would work with endurance
riders with endurance saddles.  I would still take
lessons from a dressage trainer with the saddle and
leave bareback riding for non-lesson time.

Kathy

-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Kurtzhall [mailto:jkurtzhall@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 8:26 AM
To: amandaperez@ureach.com
Cc: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: RC: drop those stirrups!


I try to ride bareback at least once a week, usually
in the arena.I have found that riding bareback not
only helps me with my balance, my horse responds much
better, and with a better attitude bareback. My saddle
fits him, but lets face it, it's an endurance saddle,
not a dressage saddle. I've often thought about taking
lessons from a dressage trainer but I'm afraid of what
they would say if I insisted on doing it bareback!!
Does anybody  out there do that?
Jennifer





--- Amanda Perez <amandaperez@ureach.com> wrote:
>   Cy is barefoot, so while waiting for his feet to
> grow, I am 
> limited to pasture-riding.  The farm I keep him at
> has an un-
> used pasure that kind-sorta serves OK for a ring. 
> This was the 
> first time I have done any 'ring work' on the
> 'Cyco-horse'.  
> After some brain-farts and seeing what he could get
> away with, 
> he settled down and was pretty good.  I did circles,
> figure 
> eights and serpentines at a walk, and
> halting/standing, working 
> on steady, even pace and responsiveness.  Did a
> little work at 
> a running-walk - he really needs alot of work at
> maintaining an 
> even, steady pace when gaiting.  The real
> eye-opener, though,  
> came when I decided to drop my stirrups for a while:
> WOW does 
> that make any balance issues you have obvious - the
> first 
> circle I did I nearly fell off, I was so imbalanced!
>  I really 
> had to work at lengthening my inside leg and not
> 'folding' to 
> the inside (I tend to ride turns with my inside hip
> up, inside 
> shoulder down).  Of course it's no big news-flash
> that riding 
> without stirrups is a good exercise - but as a
> non-competitive  
> rider it's easy to give schooling exercises
> short-shrift (plus 
> middle age makes the security of stirrups
> increasingly 
> appealing!).  It's amazing how out-of-kilter you can
> get and 
> not even realize it when you can compensate using
> the 
> stirrups.  I used to ride bareback as a kid alot and
> it's does 
> wonders for seat and balance.  I'm not sure I'm
> ready for 
> bareback on Cy yet: he still has his moments of
> idiocy and I am 
> still rusty, but I will try to do some stirrup-less
> riding on 
> each ride now.
> 
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