Homeward Bound Animal Care: Bareback!

My eyes look really creepy and it's fuzzy but this is my first day riding bareback. The picture was taken by a tall man on a tall horse so Poco looks small and I look long but it's not quite this exaggerated in reality.

It just wouldn't be my blog if I didn't post about horseback riding. So, I rode bareback for the first time last week and it was amazing!!! I am in love. It is completely organic riding one with the horse, no saddle as a barrier. I feel much more connected to the horse (Poco) because I feel her spine, muscles and back right there with my legs and somehow that feels really primal or instinctive. I had been practicing riding on a saddle outside of the stirrups and that has helped immensely in getting comfortable riding without that support. This helped in easing the transition from riding with a saddle to riding bareback. In fact, as soon as I got on the horse (which was actually the hardest part!!) I knew I was going to love it and feel comfortable doing it. It can also hurt too though because there isn't a shock absorber and you really rely on stability to stay on. One hard bounce off balance and you are landing on your tail bone or pubic bone...ouch! Plus I found that my inner thighs are really worked in order to hold on at times.

I was mostly worried about getting ON the horse because without stirrups to hoist you over you are really reliant on other means. I had no idea of how most people do it so I ended up looking up on YoutTube videos of girls getting on a horse bareback. View this link to see what I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSfDFrv78Bo. This girl makes it look EASY, or maybe I am just s wimp but when I watched it I thought, "Oh yeah I can do that!" Poco is a small horse and it looks simple enough, right? Wrong! I smacked right into the side of her 7 or 8 times before I got my leg up high enough to pull myself up the rest of the way and even then it wasn't nearly as graceful as that girl. Poco was really patient with me and let me try over and over. Eventually I was able to mount almost without having to totally hoist myself over the rest of the way but only after doing it time and time again. Oh and did I mention that I had to ultimately stand about 5 or 7 feet away from Poco and get a running start to actually mount? So I never got to the point that girl in the video did while standing right next to the horse and just hopping on. One day though, I will! But it is interesting because I can always sense when the one jump is the magic one that will get me on. I feel it before I even get over and I somehow need to figure out what happens those times and replicate it. But the experience of pulling myself on is so rewarding, like I have connected more with my primal self somehow.

I went again today and rode bareback for a while. I took some video and tried to post it here, but it is having issues. It's not the most exciting footage anyway because I was alone and couldn't zoom or change angles. But anyway the second time again, the hardest part wasn't riding bareback, but actually getting on Poco. I had to try over and over again and smack into her side until I finally got that momentous leap that I knew would send me over. I got it about 3 different times, which was encouraging

Also, I went on a beautiful trail ride on a trail in Kennecot with Jenny and Gerry (Poco's owners) this November and it was so beautiful! The three of us ended up in this meadow covered in fresh snow and we just started loping together, side by side. It was so impressionable for me because it was something I had never done. The white snow everywhere, running through it together and the cold breeze in my face was exhilarating. I have posted one picture below.