by Jennifer Cannon

Created on: July 31, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

Riding bareback is as close as a rider can get to their beloved equine. If you have not yet tried it, I highly recommend it. Some of my favorite memories with my horse as a young person were of our bareback riding adventures. We would go through our usual grooming ritual, don a bridle and away we would go. No cumbersome saddle or girth to tighten, stirrups to adjust and most times, not even a bareback pad.

My horse back then, a little black, half Quarter, half Arabian mare with a blaze on her face, appropriately named, Blaze was my best friend. I met her by accident the year of my fourteenth birthday when my dream was to go to a nearby stable and take a mountain trail ride with my friends. A magical but not unusual thing happened that day in my young girl world I fell in love with a horse.

When it was time to dismount and our horses were led away, I asked a few questions about Blaze and found out she was for sale. She wasn't exactly in the greatest shape. She was skinny, had a dull coat and looked like she had her fair share of scuffles with her fellow stable-mates. I would liken her to the used car on the lot, with more than a few dings and scrapes. I had vision though, and knew that what she needed was a lot of tender loving care (not to mention some serious grooming and beauty treatments), which was clearly lacking at this establishment.

Fast forward to several months later. I saved my own money (five hundred dollars) and Blaze was mine! She was a sweet, eleven year old girl with the longest eyelashes I had ever seen on a horse. I got off the school bus every afternoon at Camp-O-Ongo, her new and much improved home, and spent those days bathing, grooming and applying lots of Bag Balm to her many scars. We rode too, but mostly in the ring at first to get to know each other better. Before the summer was over she was sporting a shiny coat and had a tail that almost touched the ground. She was also back up to a healthy weight she was beautiful and I was so proud. We had a few other things to work on though

I have to admit my discovery of bareback riding was almost an accident. I found out the hard way that horses accustomed to following others in a line day after day are not the most adventurous creatures. After being tossed off more than a few times in my stiff western saddle, I thought I might see if it would be harder for her to buck me off if there were no saddle, which seemed to work in her favor as the perfect launching board. She didn't want to ride out

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