Posted on April 17, 2022 by Ellen

Tiffany O’Donnell; Extreme Bareback Trail Rider!

Tiffany is an amazing woman, smart and tough and she exudes kindness and integrity. She rides so hard in her Stargazer Equiseat that we have enlisted her as our ultimate challenge customer for quality control and design ….. She lives relatively close to Stargazer’s home base, and communicates clearly and honestly regarding her experiences with our products. She and her tough trail-loving mare April are the inspiration for the Stabilizer Set. The following is an earlier post excerpt from Stargazer’s FB page;

The following is a wonderful description by Tiffany of her experiences as a Bareback rider…..

“I ride almost exclusively bareback. I only ride with a saddle when I am going on a long trip, need to take things with me, and I can’t find someone else to tie it on their saddle for me! It started when, around seven years old, I started riding the neighbor’s fat pony to give it some much needed exercise and had nothing but a bridle as equipment. My parents got me a pony of my own, with a halter, rope and bridle and nothing else because that was all we could afford. I continued to ride bareback until, at age 13, I got a saddle from my mom, but I never took to it.

I now average riding 3 times per week, 10 miles per ride. I live in the Cascades mountains, so my rides are steep and challenging. I like to ride at the trot mostly, with some walking, loping and galloping. The trails I like have lots of hills and tight turns.

I haven’t found much out there about how to ride bareback so I just do what works. I wish there were more resources, but most of the discussion on bareback just talks about using it briefly in an arena to improve your balance in the saddle.

On the flat and easy terrain, my legs lay in the groove between the horse’s front legs and the horse’s barrel. My pelvis is tilted to put me on my pockets, and my legs just dangle comfortably. My knees are bent a bit, so I lit looks a little like a “chair seat.”

I do differ in my seat on different terrain, however.

Steep uphill: I lean forward, grab some mane high on the horse’s neck, and bring my knees up a bit on the shoulder.

Steep downhill: I lean back on my pockets and move my hips side to side in an exaggerated way to the horse’s motion. My feet tend to hang in front of the horse’s shoulder. It also helps on long hills to clench my butt muscles and make padding between my tailbone and the horse’s spine. I also use this position to communicate to my horse that I want her to slow, collect, halt or back up.

Quick changes of direction & speed: I sit up and in a forward seat. My feet hang straight down and it feels like a I am a wishbone on a chopstick, with my body straight up and down and somewhat stiff, pivoting forward and back, and side to side. This allows me to respond to changes in direction and speed while maintaining my balance at the horse’s balance point. It also communicates to my horse that I want to move forward or increase gait. When going from a walk to a gallop or a gallop to a sliding stop, my legs swing forward. When it’s a sudden increase in speed, I swing back and then forward. My body is upright and stiff, to maintain the pivot point. If my horse is high spirited, nervous, or if we are just on a twisty trail, this position works best. I used to worry that this isn’t good riding because I’ve read that your legs should not swing. Now I accept it because it feels right, and it allows me to keep my seat in these situations.

High speed with tight turns: Lifting my knees like a jockey, to use the withers as a stabilizer, and lowering my upper body to the horse’s neck frees my horse to run at top speed.

I used cheap bareback pads most of my life and continued to look for the perfect saddle. I kept thinking that I just needed the right saddle that fit me and my horse. But a saddle does not allow me to pivot like I described above and this especially bothers me when I go from a walk to gallop. I feel trapped between the pommel and the cantle, and I worry about being able to slide off in an emergency. I tried english and australian saddles too, but they make me feel too far away from the horse’s motion and the signals the horse gives me. I finally found a great buckaroo style western saddle with a small twist, and it will do for packing trips where we are mostly at the walk, but I still prefer bareback for speed.

I had been using a Parelli pad for the last 5 years, but it has very little padding and did not protect my lower legs from sweat. I longed for a pad that had more cushioning for my 10-15 mile rides and absorbed sweat to keep me and my horse more comfortable at these longer distances.

I finally found the Stargazer Equestrian Equiseat in March of 2015. This bareback pad is perfect! It has real sheepskin that my very cinchy horse approves of, as well as a design that protects my lower leg from sweat. The cushioning provides me and my horse protection on our long rides & steep trails. I use a breast collar and crupper to help stabilize the pad, but it really does manage to stay put, even at a gallop up a steep hill which is the ultimate test.

To top it all off, Stargazer Equestrian went to great lengths to make my pad fit me and my horse. I have an injury to my right hip, leg and foot that makes me put about 5 more pounds of pressure on the right side, so I needed extra attention. Stargazer Equestrian made multiple modifications and was not satisfied until I was satisfied. I will shamelessly promote this pad because it is of exceptional design and quality, and because the company sets a new standard for customer service.”