How Bareback Pads Can Improve Your Riding

How Bareback Pads Can Improve Your Riding

One of the main keys to excellent riding is excellent balance. Excellent balance comes from practice and upper leg strength. One of the best ways to improve your upper leg strength is to ride bareback or without stirrups.

Although it is possible to ride your horse without a bareback pad, not all horses have enough cushy back fat for your comfort. Also, depending on the season, you may end up with more horsehair attached to your rear than you would care for. Bareback pads are not only ideal for reducing the amount of horsehair you’ll end up covered in (after all, you’re not going to be able to avoid it entirely) and they can also make riding a bony horse a lot more comfortable.

Before you ride any horse bareback, with a bareback pad or not, consider safety. Some horses are spooky, so the extra stability of being able to quickly slip your feet back into your stirrups may be a necessity for you. If your horse is very relaxed and easy going, then you can likely ride bareback without any problems, but do keep in mind that horses can be unpredictable.

Remember that bareback riding will feel different to your horse. They won’t be use to you sitting directly on their back without some sort of buffer, like a saddle. This is another benefit to the bareback pad. They can create a buffer zone similar to that of the saddle pad, so your horse won’t become completely distracted with the new feeling of you directly on their back. The girth of the bareback pad will also give them the illusion that you’re in a saddle, which may also help some horses who have not been ridden bareback frequently – if ever.

Bareback riding allows you to feel the true movement of your horse. As your horse moves you will be able to feel his muscles working. You will feel each and every footfall more than you would while in a saddle. This is excellent for getting into a rhythm with your horse and learning how he moves. This also helps you loosen your hips and become more flexible, allowing you to improve your core strength, which also improves your balance.

While riding bareback, keep in mind that you should not be clenching the horse with your knees or calves. You should use your entire leg and keep your heels down, just as if you were in the saddle. You will find that while riding bareback, there is a tendency to let your toes drop.

As you get more comfortable riding bareback and using a bareback pad, you can challenge yourself by trotting seated and posting. Don’t be surprised if you feel it in your legs the next day! You will likely be using muscles you’ve never felt before!

Horse Bridles and Reins: For Pleasure and Show

Horse Bridles and Reins: For Pleasure and Show

There’s no doubt that one of the most important pieces of equipment are horse bridles and reins. After all, they offer direct communication to your horse. Although a very well trained horse can be ridden without either, it’s vital to your safety that you have reliable horse bridles and reins while training and showing.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to horse bridles and reins is having a set for pleasure and a set for show, but never really using their show set. The show set is stored away in a safe place where it won’t get too dirty or worn looking so that it looks great on show day. Unfortunately, this can actually be a bad thing. You should always take time to not only regularly condition the leather of your show bridle, but also use it while training. A supple training bridle that gets more use will most definitely feel different to your horse on show day and may inadvertently affect his performance.

When it comes to your training bridle set, you want a good and reliable set. There are a variety of options and styles to choose from, but it’s wise to choose one that is the same style as the bridle that you will perform your horse in. This way you can be sure that when you change equipment, your equipment shouldn’t affect your performance. Obviously it’s important to keep your tack cleaned, but even more so with your practice tack. Your horse will sweat much more in this tack and this can cause grime to build up that can cause your leather to become weak and breakdown.

Aside from your daily training and riding, you have a variety of other bridle options, as well as rein options. These can be combo bridles that include a built in halter. These are excellent if you are going camping or trail riding with your horse. You also have various rein options including colored and rubberized reins for training and riding lessons. These help you get a better grip on the reins and also allow you to learn proper hand position. Nylon reins are great for riding in rough weather to avoid getting your leather tack too wet.

No matter if you plan to ride for pleasure or show, you have a variety of options available. Be sure to always clean your tack on a regular basis with a good leather conditioner and always check for any inconsistencies, cracking or breakage in your tack to ensure your safety each time you ride.

Horse Bits: They’re Simpler than You Think

Horse Bits: They’re Simpler than You Think

After using horse bits for centuries, you would think people would have it down by now, but still to this day the right bit can be elusive to many horsemen and women. There’s training advice everywhere. This bit will make your horse collected; this bit will help give your horse more “stop”; this bit is for soft mouths; this bit is for hard mouths and on and on.

The fact of the matter is that at the core of the bits, they all tend to fall into two types – snaffle and curb type. They all have different names and the rings and shanks may be designed differently, but they all fall into these two categories. Some bits even use both types in combination. The one exception is the hackamore, which is technically considered a bit, although nothing is actually inserted into the horse’s mouth. It works off of pressure around the nose and jaw.

Snaffle bits come in a variety of styles. These include:

• O-rings
• D-rings
• Eggbutt
• Full-cheek
• Kimberwick
• Loose ring
• Gag bit (Some styles are snaffle, while others are curb)

All of these bits use action in the mouth. Even the “French-link” bits are snaffle style bits, only they include a small link in the middle rather than the two mouth pieces joining together in the middle. These bits put pressure on the bars of the mouth depending on which rein is being pulled as well as pressure on the opposite side of the face. If you pull the right rein, then the horse will feel pressure on the right side of his mouth and the left side of his face from the ring. These bits are commonly used on young horses, but can be used on all horses throughout their training and performance career depending on what the horse is used for.

Curb bits also come in a variety of different styles depending on whether you ride English or Western. English curb style bits are styled much more differently than western curb bits, but they function in the same way.

English styles include:
• Mullen Mouth Bit (Ring styles vary, including Pelham, Eggbutt, Kimberwick, etc.)
• Weymouth (Port styles vary)

Western style curb bits are typically referred to as curb bits although the shank styles and height of the port. Curb bits work on the bars of the mouth and apply pressure to both sides equally. The curb chain beneath that goes under the jaw of the mouth applying pressure evenly as well. The port of the bit applies pressure on the horse’s tongue. These bits are typically used in neck reining situations, since they do not apply direct pressure to each side of the mouth.

There are also bits designed for different breeds of horses. This is due to the fact that many breeds have smaller mouths and different configurations. Miniature horse bits are obviously for miniature horses because they are smaller and fit their mouths. The same is true for Paso Fino horses as well.

The fact of the matter is that bit choice can be based on the experience level of the horse, training, as well as personal preference. Sometimes the best bit is the simplest bit and horses can be trained to work well with nearly any type of bit.