Bareback & Bitless

We’ve been confined to the indoor arena since winter started, and boredom was starting to settle in. Turns out, even a huge, well-maintained indoor with mirrors is still just an indoor. Bleh.

With nowhere to go and not much to do after determining that Sofie, for whatever reason, was not physically okay with cantering, I started to notice some disturbing trends in my riding. I was getting too easily frustrated, too critical. I was getting sucked into the “gotta-be-perfect” dressage mindset that surrounds me at this barn. I regularly ride at the same time as an FEI-seeking rider who expects a lot of their horse, and it’s hard not to be influenced by that. It’s something I will need to continually work on, I think. My corrections were occasionally overreactions, and while I was okay much of the time, I’d have pissy moments and later regret it.

I decided it was time to change it up. I’ve been riding bareback on and off, and I noticed I was always more obnoxious when I rode with a saddle. Without one, I was more easily pleased. It really brought everything down to a simple partnership.

I'd been wanting to try riding Sofie in a halter again, something I hadn't done in a very long time. One day when I brought her in, nobody was riding, and I decided it was time to test her out in just a halter. I had avoided doing it with other people in the ring, just in case the steering went out. So I "tacked her up", which involved merely tightening the halter by one hole, fastening reins to the noseband and putting on my helmet. I left on my snowboots and my blue fuzzy gloves, completing the rednecky ensemble.

Slightly nervous, I mounted up and immediately asked the question "Do we have brakes?" Yup, brakes were there, just as much as usual in fact. Comforted, I let Sofie warm up as usual, working in some turns and changes of direction. Steering was a little wonky, but not too bad. We went up to a trot, and she transitioned right back down without a problem! I think it's helpful that I use a lot of seat in my down transitions, because I've never had a problem going bitless. We finished up the ride just fine, and I was quite pleased at our stripped-down approach to dressage.

I've left the saddle and bridle behind since then, and we've had a couple more good rides. One thing about not saddling up - it saves a ton of time. I could get used to not messing with girth straps, sliders and keepers! I've always wanted to be better at bareback riding, and now that I've finally gotten comfortable enough to do it I hope to continue practicing this winter. I of course don't have a classic dressage position when riding bareback, but it's got to be good for balance and such. As far as bitless goes, I've never been against using a bitted bridle, provided the horse was comfortable with it. However, I think it is good to practice riding with fewer artificial aids sometimes. I may return to using a bit at some point, if I want a little more flexibility with my rein aids. A nylon halter doesn't allow for too much subtlety, and it's sometimes tough to get flexion. An actual bitless bridle might work better, but I don't feel the need to upgrade at this point.

As far as "frame" goes, Sofie maintains a pretty nice, natural frame, even without contact on the reins. She doesn't tend to really hollow out too much, except if something makes her nervous or I sit too heavily in a transition (can't blame her for that one). It is possible to "put her together" a little more in just the halter, and she will stretch into the contact, but she does get a little heavy at times. I tend to alternate between self-carriage work, where I let the reins get floaty and just follow her movement along unless I really need to do a correction, and more "precise" (with air quotes) "dressage-type" work where I attempt to get an actual connection and do circles, leg-yield, rein-back and connected transitions, etc. She does rein-back well in just a halter (actually, that's how she learned it), and while circles can be reeeeally tricky (I often feel like we're fishtailing a little bit, just because of the limited steering capabilities of the halter), we can actually manage some nice, connected transitions in the halter just the same as with a bit.

It's interesting, also, to feel the crookedness in her that I always felt when using a bitted bridle. Sofie has always been "hard" on her right side, and she often needs to be "held" more on the right rein, especially when tracking left. I always assumed it was "deadness" in her actual mouth, but she feels just the same in a halter, so it has to be more of a body issue than just a mouth issue.

Anyway, while I'm going to be working toward hopefully being able to do our nice, vaguely-respectable-looking dressagey type work bitless and bareback, it should still be beneficial as a change-up, and helpful for my seat and fitness. Last time I managed a full hour ride, which is a first!

And it just makes me happy when I set my hands down and she goes trotting down the long side in her relaxed, Sofa-round way with floaty reins and I just post along with her trot even as it quickens, because I'm not afraid anymore.