A Horse Named Milo

I rode Milo last week on the trail with one of my friends on Middy, and threw a couple of lead changes in when we were loping along. Milo didnt change so well...and I could tell it was from me not being able to switch with seat bone I was on. I could shift my weight to one side or another but not actually the seat bone.

So today I hopped on bareback, since that is my go-to to get to the root of a problem. My what a good ride it was. For the first time in a long time he really lifted his back up and worked. Ive been pretty open about how slack I have been with training this last winter, so its not really either of our fault that we need a little work. So there we were loping along nicely and I came across the diagonal for a lead change. Beautiful lead change each direction - I was able to shift my seatbones.

So what in the heck is the problem when Im in the saddle?! This happens to me a lot - being able to have great rides bareback but I lose my riding finesse when in the saddle. I guess I still have some of those holding patterns from yester-years that I just cant shake. Cant I just compete and do everything bareback and skip this whole dissection of everything that I always end up having to do? Sigh.