REPLY: Since you are an experienced bareback rider, I see nothing wrong with it if your horse is also comfortable with it. I'm sure your horse would let you know one way or another if it were making him uncomfortable. If you think about it, this is now Native Americans rode horses most of the time, for centuries, and they were probably the best riders known to mankind! So....maybe that's your defense you can pass along if you get unsolicited negative comments.

The only time I feel it's unsafe to ride a horse bareback is if they are past or potential buckers. It's a lot harder to stay on a bucking horse when riding bareback than having a saddle to help there. I know a lot of natural horsemanship trainers who like to start their beginning riders bareback so they can gain balancing skills first and that's a great concept, and indeed it teaches a lot. I myself don't do that in my own program simply because I want my student clients to feel safe first, then work on riding skills, in that order, and most beginners (which often times are middle aged or older folks: the fastest growing new horse owner population out there today!) feel better having a saddle under them and perhaps a horn to grab onto in first rides, as they build confidence. I put safety and client comfort (fear) level first over riding principles for a start, and prefer to baby step them there, slowly and compassionately, just like I do when training a horse itself. Having a middle aged person ("not as limber as we used to be") ride bareback first is too "A to N" a leap for most of them, I feel. I'd rather A-B-C baby step them there, using saddle for a start. In this way, they feel safer and more emotionally and physically supported. But that's just my own opinion. I do think beginners are far more likely to fall off a horse when riding bareback than when riding in saddle, so...for this reason, I personally, don't start beginners bareback. The last thing I want is a client (or anyone following my program) to fall off a horse! I'm very much into baby stepping in my teaching methods. Long way is the short way, I feel. The time I take up front to get them comfortable in the first place, gets them there faster and more confidently--and more safely.

But all that said, riding bareback indeed can give you a better feel for the horse's movement for all the reasons you stated there, and when in correct form, can teach you better balance. My former horse, Gabe (who died last year of old age, after many years as my partner), I rode bareback more than half the time, with my natural horsemanship halter/lead rope tied into reins. But he was also an advanced-trained (by me) horse I trusted implicitly, and he trusted me completely as well. We watched out for each other always.

But I pick and choose carefully now myself what horses I ride bareback. I'm 53 (and climbing!) and my middle-aged body has body parts that aren't as limber as they used to be (some from past injuries), so, I ride most horses usually in saddle, and am careful what horses I get on bareback. As you get into middle age, you start realizing (and sometimes experiencing first hand) that bones and joints, etc., break more easily and don't mend as easily or as quickly as they did when we were younger, so you naturally (and I call: more wisely) start to protect your body more as you get older. We take less chances. Riding a horse bareback, for most people, is taking more risk chances, especially the older we are.

But back to you. Clearly you're an excellent bareback rider, your horse is comfortable with it (he would let you know if it put him in pain or discomfort, I'm sure). Even though you're short, you can still vault onto the tall horse from the ground. You've never fallen off. You have every bareback riding base covered there, sounds like! I see no reason why your continuing to ride bareback should be an issue at all. It's actually: admirable. And maybe people are making negative comments, or giving you negative looks out of: jealousy? Perhaps they are feeling that they spent a fortune on tack themselves and still don't have the connected partnership that you seem to have with your horse, with little to no tack, so that feels inner threatening to them maybe? And maybe it's easier for them to mentally (even silently) lash out at you than to take a deeper look at themselves and what partnership abilities they may be lacking themselves with their own horse? It is always easier to lash out and judge others than to be more introspective about ourselves and see where we might improve. Take the high road and ignore.

Sometimes, when you look around you at what other people are doing with horses, especially in group situations, you have to stay focused on (and only on): what works best for you and your horse. Everyone's different. And even every horse is different. You know your horse partner better than anyone else possibly can. Stick to your inner convictions, even if you sometimes are the "maverick" out there when you know in your heart of hearts that what you are doing is right for you and is fine with your horse. And the truth is: you owe no one an explanation or self defense-argument. A simple, "this works best for me and my horse!" is all that is needed if someone asks. :-)