bareback in the dark

Haha. Hellloooo interesting google hits... ahem, Annnyways... 

This week has been a bust due to weather. I'm sure that statement comes as a shock to you - and that it's the first time you've ever heard that, ever. 

But the skies cleared on Wednesday night and I decided to venture forth to the barn and rescue Isabel from the mud of her pasture - only to subject her to the sandy arena depths. 

can you feel the excitement?

It felt like the perfect opportunity to break out the bareback pad I bought on consignment almost a month ago... I figured - the arena is going to be trashed, per usual, so any speed work is out of the question. Therefore, why not have a ride that's focused on my own muscles instead of Isabel's? She'll at least be mentally engaged, if nothing else. 

I was further bolstered by the many bloggers who ride bareback on the regular like nbd. Tho one cautionary tale stood out to me - Jen from Cob Jockey recently wrote about some friction-related issues with her bareback pad. A lot of comments on that post described at length how bareback pads rub and slide and generally misbehave. 

My new (to me) bareback pad is pretty stiff and felt kind of rough, so I opted to add my no-slip half pad underneath. The idea is that this will add an extra layer of padding, help keep everything in place, and reduce any potential friction. One day I'll have to do a proper review of this half pad too... one day. 

Anyways, the bareback pad sat nice and snug on top of the half pad, and off we went! 

there are four horses in this picture

The arena lights are on the fritz again. Seriously. It's driving me fucking nuts because there are only two lights - and one simply does not work (it pops on then buzzes off into a sad death every few minutes...), and the other works only sometimes. Plus - if they've been on for any length of time, then are turned off - good luck getting them back on again any time soon... Ugh. /rant

But the lights magically came on tonight (I say magically bc they only worked hours after the poor trainers gave up and cancelled their lessons on the first dry day in a week) and riders were out to capitalize. This included three kids (all also bareback bc why not?) and one boarder doing a ground work training session. 

 obligatory pommel shot

No big deal tho. Isabel went a couple laps to check everything out and decide if there were any monsters, and where they might be hiding. I just worried about situating myself on the bareback pad (after nearly eating it just trying to get on... #adultproblems). 

But the pad was shockingly sticky. Like, I seriously felt GLUED to it - and the pad itself was anchored in place on Isabel's back. This may seem like an exaggeration - but I felt more secure on that pad (in knee patch breeches) than I do riding in a saddle with out stirrups. Crazy. 

'what was that noise?'

This meant that I actually felt secure enough to try and get some real trot work out of Isabel. Usually when I'm bareback I don't really try for 'work' from the horse, bc I feel so insecure that I'm too likely to balance and/or pull on my reins - not ideal for helping the horse move out correctly. But with this pad? No problemo! 

So off we went, just trot trot trotting around every which way. It was kinda awesome! I could really feel my hips and seat relax, and my thighs could actually really lengthen and act as part of my seat. In a saddle I usually end up pinched in my knees or braced in my stirrups (or both!) - so it was really cool to completely change that, while still feeling secure. 

I also noticed that my upper body was seriously collapsing on me tho. Every few steps I had to remind myself to sit up and back, and to pick my hands up.  

'eh nvm, it's probably fine'

(also - yes that's isabel's winter coat and no, she's not clipped)

So I'm thrilled with how well the bareback pad worked for me - and definitely plan to do this more often. (I know I've said that before, but I mean it this time, I swear!) 

Our ride was cut a tad short tho bc the kiddos left the arena and - even tho another horse was still present - the monsters started coming out. Isabel had been working pretty well to this point, so I just aimed at restablishing calm forward niceness at walk and trot after some spooks turned into canters that turned into llama jigs... 

'what do you have against llamas???'

Once I felt like we could get back to work in earnest (if I had wanted to), we chilled in the middle for a while snapping photos and chatting with the boarder working on groundwork, then called it a night.