Western Riding

[horsemads mum]

Hey
Once again i've hacked the mothers account to write on here as i dont have my own one.

I wanted to know some stuff about Western Riding.. any western riding knowledge would be good please if thats okay.

One thing i did wanna know is do you have to have a certain type of horse like temperment or breed to be able to do western riding ??

okay Thanks

Sue
horsemads mum's daughter xx

[black crow]

What sort of things are you wanting to know about western riding?

No, you dont have to have a certain type or breed of horse to ride western as long as they are trained and used to the saddle. There is a major difference in just slapping on a western saddle for a bit of fun [where the horse will not understand true western aids] to a horse who has been trained in atleast western, who will know the aids given, and will be used to the weight and feel of a western saddle.

Some saddles arent quite suited to horses with high head carriages, the saddles are large and are designed to spread the weight of the rider.

[horsemads mum]

um Anything really i guess im quite fascinated by the whole western riding, i watch someone at my yard who does it but shes not exactly the nicest person to talk to so i didnt really want to ask her any questions about it.

oh cool.. i don't think my horse would be suitable for western riding to be honnest.
ive always wanted to give western riding ago since i went on holiday two years ago, i like english riding but i dont think its for Me (but if i cant do western riding with my horse then i would just stick with english as i wouldnt sell my mare)My friend's riding instructor used to do western riding before she started to do showing, now her mum does western.

my horse is young she is 6-7 and i was thinking about asking my friends riding instructor to give me lessons on western riding but im not too sure really.

[CityLights]

Done the whole western thing and converted back to english, the people are quite snobby and there is too little talent and too much money and improting of horses, so the average rider and horse doesnt stand a chance, the people are also very ignorant, the shows are undersubsribed, too expesnive and a long way away

You do nto need a certain type of horse, to get to some of the higher levels a QH is needed but depends on your ambitions, i did some on my Appy, a firend had a HAffy, another had a section D it doesnt matter what your horse is, the society you want to look up is the western equestiran society, they are an all breeds society, they have alist of instructors as well as organising trainign days and shows

[black crow]

Go somewhere where they have been trained to teach western and can do it themselves - there are plenty of places these days that do western experience riding, which will be really beneficial as you will be riding a horse fully used to western style, etc

Very wise to put your horse first :) You can still do plenty of western riding on other horses, it can be really fun to have something else under your belt :)

I trained my horse Spud to be ridden western as well as english. Compared to english he probably only did western about 10% but he really loved it, something new and fun for him to do too!

I competed my mare a little bit when she was still ridden, however western 8+ years ago was no where near as big as it is in the uk as it is now! Competing is a whole other ball game, and there are many riders who have imports or are from the USA, which can be very hard to compete against as there is a lot of differences in riding style [many quite appauling]
At home western riding can be a lot of fun, just as long as the horse is happy with it :)

[horsemads mum]

okay cool im just having a look on the western equestiran society website.
yeahh My horse means the world to me so i would always put her first no matter what.
okay I'm going to beg my mum to take me on one of these western riding holidays expirence things.. (my godfather who im closed to went on a western riding holiday and i saw the pictures when he got back and i was really jealous) i think that would be good for me as you said something else under my belt.

I went to a Show run by Highsted in the summer and they had a western competition going on and my mum couldn't drag me away from it as she wanted to watch the showing jumping where i didnt haahaa

but yeah im certainly going to look into these western expirences. definatly.
Thanks x

[bella127]

Ooooh I used to do the shows at Highstead all the time with my little mare, it was the only place she'd ever behave properly haha, she loved it there!

You'd be surprised at what types of horses fit the bill! My little mare was an ex harness racer, a complete psycho at times and generally a bit challenging. She took to it like a duck to water. She was never going to be a world-beater but she could often hold her own in novice classes and was a Trail superstar - WHEN she was in the mood. So although the ideal is sometihng calm but responsive (like my Welshie or most QHs), you CAN do it with sometihng that's a little bit neurotic too ;)