...what did I expect, after all these years (I am now 50 years old) of riding in a dressage saddle, when my instructor told me I should ride my horse bareback to give both him and me a break?  It would be relaxing.  Ha.  Relaxing!  Perhaps she would be relaxed, but I had visions of me clinging and bouncing on my 4th level dressage horse.  I figured it would not be pretty, but I was game to try anyway.