Reminder for myself:
Started riding in August 2013.
Started riding bareback in March 2015
Started Aikido in March 2015
Now that we (I and 'Mr F') have working hoof boots again we go out more and for longer distances.
Since changing to the bareback bad I had to restart my riding as it is quite different to riding with stirrups. I am very pleased that I made this decission and I doubt (never say never) I will go back to riding with a saddle again with 'Mr F'.
Although physcially much more demanding from the core down it is a much more intimate way of riding. Any tiny move of my seat results in a reaction from 'Mr F' - although a fair amount of which is him saying 'Oh just sit still.' - 'NO, that is NOT comfortable for me!' etc etc.
But as the time progresses I am becoming more sensitive to feeling what is going on underneath me. Even his breathing I can feel. We rode past some pigs the other evening (most horses seem to HATE pigs - I guess it's an old memory of the wild boar?) and even before I could see the pigs I could feel 'Mr F's breathing change just very slightly; more sharp and short, just a few seconds before the rest of him would react.
I discover all these little things which make bareback riding so very beautiful and uniting. 'Mr F' is also becoming more sensitive, I require less and less effort with my aids (unless of course he fancies spooking about something, which is rare nowadays). Much of the directional aids I can do with my seat, rarely needing the reins and the list of improvements goes on.
'Mr F' is clearly much happier since we started riding without saddle. Partly because it is more comfortable for him too now, but also because I am becoming a rider that he finds easier to understand. Not even 2 years ago, when I started riding, I couldn't even get him to turn left or right in the menage! Going trough all the different stages on our journey together we both have also developed together.
But of course not everything about the bareback riding smells of roses ...
My main troubles still lie with the sitting trott. Although I am now able to do it at slow speed without bouncing, it is an entirely different thing all together when trotting at high speed in groups of others when out on a hack.
It becomes a problem if I tense up. For example: in transition from walk to trott, if I do not get the timing right I bounce straight away and of course then tense up; which makes it even worse. And because everything happens so fast there is no time to think my way out of it. The only way I can overcome the bouncing is by letting go completely (be loose, be free, be without fear of any kind) feel and learning which parts of the body I need to move. It is without doubt the most uncomfortable gait. We did a tiny bit of canter on a ride the other day and boy, what a difference!
But most of all I am wanting to concentrate on being free, mentally and therefore physically. Free from my mind, to just be in the moment. Forgetting about the day, about things that annoyed me, forget about not doing it right, don't even think 'I should do this and that' ... if I think I am already behind. Its so difficult to explain. But if I can reach this mental state, the body will know what to do while riding.
Just like Aikido. In the short time since I began to practise Aikido, it has already helped me a HUGE amount, not necessarily physically, but mentally. It is really a matter of mind, or to be more precise, a matter o NO MIND.
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