The Fountain Of Youth: Your Horse’s Saddle-less Back?
by Eleanor - July 13th, 2009.Filed under: Sage herself.
Riding the first horse in my care, Desi, years ago as a teenager, never came with the necessity of having to have a saddle - or even a bit and bridle.
About three weeks ago Sage had her second session with Dr. Suzan Seeyle. My horse is now healthier and moves freer than I have ever seen in my eight years of knowing her. (I also had my own transformation that day, but I am saving that for the book…)
Part of the aftercare recommended by Dr. Seeyle was no riding for two weeks and then starting out bareback. Bareback?! I had not ridden without the security of a saddle since I was a teenager, and that has, ah-hem, been a few years. I was willing to give it a try, however.
So yesterday I borrowed someone’s bareback pad; I didn’t want to get horse hair and horse sweat on my husband’s car seat on the drive home since he was using my truck that morning. (I personally would buy a horse-scented air freshener for cars, but my husband potentially would find it not so pleasing.) I put on the rope halter for use as a bridle – not having procured my bitless bridle yet – and walked her out to the arena after a good brushing and some bodywork.
Well, I don’t remember any mounting blocks being around when I was a kid, but I didn’t think that I could jump on Sage with any grace after all these years. So I got her as close the mounting block as I could – which wasn’t very – and sort of half-gracefully threw my body across her back. She and I are not used to mounting blocks because I never use them with a saddle. In any case, I made it up and then gently swung my leg over her.
As soon as she started to move, I felt younger, like a teen almost 
. Well, maybe not younger, but at bare minimum rejuvenated by being in that close of contact with her. I felt the powerhouse of muscles beneath that bareback pad and the gentle propulsion that walked us forward. I had a warm, breathing, body of power beneath me. I kept her to a walk and a trot, but I am looking forward to a faster cadence in the future.
All in all it was a lovely, moving experience. It also inspired another gal with whom I was riding in the outdoor arena. She sidled over to the fence, slid off her horse’s saddle, and jumped onto her horse’s bare and sweaty back. And loved it! We both wondered out loud why we hadn’t done this a lot sooner.
I got off of Sage before I ended up walking like John Wayne, but I am looking forward to the next ride together. I am also looking forward to getting my legs and my core in better shape, something for which hippotherapy is excellent.
In researching some bareback articles for this post (which unfortunately came back with too much x-rated material not related to horses), I found a superb article on the horse’s back and saddle fit from Chrisann Ware’s site, Equethy (she also has an informative article on barefoot horses vs shod, by the way).
I am not advocating giving up saddles; I am merely thrilled to be in closer contact with my horse. I am probably going to invest in a different saddle soon. In the meantime, I will be returning to my youth as frequently as possible on the back of my horse!
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:49 am
[...] and the psoas muscleArticle on bareback riding from a trainer’s perspectiveBareback pad comparisonThe Fountain of Youth: Your Horse’s Saddle-less Back – A recent post on the Sage by Nature blogAbout EleanorEleanor Van Natta is a wife, a mother of two [...]