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Bareback pad
When we start with the riding pillar of Straightness Training, it’s a good idea to ride with a bareback pad for a while.
Why is this advisable?
Well, riding with a bareback pad is an effective way of riding when we are working on our awareness and correcting and improving ourselves.
You see, without a saddle, it’s easier to develop our feeling.
Because we can feel better what is happening underneath us: the movement, the bending, the use of the back, the positioning of the legs, tension, and relaxation.
Now, the pad is meant to ‘ride without saddle’ but enhances comfort for us and our horse.
This is because it gives our buttocks and our horse’s back more protection.
There really are many benefits of riding with a bareback pad:
Benefits
- It is a fun way to ride and it offers variation in your training.
- The feeling ‘without a saddle’ remains, you can exactly feel what the horse does.
- It gives you close contact with the horse.
- You will improve your balance.
- You will develop an independent seat.
- It gives you more confidence.
- The pad keeps you clean, no hairs or dust stick to your riding pants.
- If you want to save time, you can ‘saddle up’ your horse quickly.
- There is a handle for more safety.
- The pad gives more grip than a bare horseback thanks to the rough material.
- The bareback pad can also be used during the preparations of the backing process.