Looks like no golf today. But we need the rain. It'll keep the horses from starving to death. I want to show you my bareback pad that I use most of the time. You can't buy 'em this good. It was originally a Natural Ride by Colorado Saddlery.

But it was not natural at all. The purpose of the plastic pommel was to keep it from slipping. I guess it could have worked, but I like to have extra padding under the pad, so it couldn't. Also it put me too far back on the horse's back. And the stirrups, yeah, it's just unnatural to have stirrups while riding bareback. I took those off right away. But then I fell off. And Lou laughed at me. And something had to be done.

As you can see, I took off the plastic thing and replaced it with another cinch on the top. It works well on all the horses. I have to use a breast collar with Apache to keep it in place, but it's pretty much perfect on the others. Oh, and I also added an O.S. handle - just a leather loop - on the front for holding onto in O.S. situations.

I dunno why I stuck my hand in that picture. Anyway, mom gave me this bareback pad, and I think she's sad that it needed so much changing, but I really do appreciate it. Ranger does, too. When I put a saddle on him, you can see him getting grumpy. He doesn't do that with the bareback pad. I suppose it doesn't help that the saddle is 50 lbs heavier. But I still use a saddle when we ride in public with strange horses. Maybe someday I'll be good enough to gallop around bareback like a wild Indian, but I think maybe I'm just too old for that.