Bareback v. Stirrupless

The other day I rode Hemie bareback. We started with a bit-up and then did what I call a property tour: going into various arenas, working for a few minutes, then hacking around to the next arena, and adding in some work in the open spaces, etc. I kept it mostly walk-trot since Mr. Withers is not the most comfortable pony. At the end of the ride I watched a friend get a lesson and leisurely strolled around the arena. My trainer said she got a hoot out of our barebackness, to which I replied: "I pay too much money in board for him to just be a show horse!"

And while riding bareback is my telltale sign of a personal pleasure horse, to be honest I think bareback riding makes Hemie a better mount overall.

A day or two later I came across this article about riding stirrup-less. I'd read it before, but it struck home with me more this time. My gut is telling me that I really need to drop my stirrups more often, but I keep chickening out. Stirrup-less is so much harder than bareback for some reason. Maybe I need to print out some George Morris inspiration.

See more GM memes at Horse Nation & Eventing Nation

In the meantime we have the 2 Point Challenge to work on!