ive ridden english for seven years and trained english also. im going to lease a pure western broke quarter horse, because there arent very many stables in my area and i want to try something new. ive met the horse before and im pretty sure he is broke to western pleasure. i asked a few people about it and they said its kind of different becaues you use your legs a lot more. im going to have the owner give me a few lessons before i lease him and the lessons will start in about two weeks so i need some advice.
Answers:
I would find out how trained in pleasure he is. Some pleasure trained horses are trained spur-stop, and that would be a huge thing to find out about. Its when you put your spur into the horse that they push their hip to the inside, and slow down rather than speed up. I would also find out how short or long the horse likes to be ridden. Those are the biggest mistakes I see when people get on pleasure horses, they are either too busy with their hands, or not, or they don't understand why they are applying pressure with their legs and the horse is slowing down; its cause they were trained that way. Just find out what makes the horse tick.
i have riding western for 4 years
well first thing is you hold the reins w/ 1 hand instead of two
yea you do use your legs a lot more
you press your right leg only agenst your horses to go left and your left leg to go right if the horse does not listen then use more force or use your reins
for lope you bring your inside leg back and your out side leg out and forward then, turn your body to the inside and start to squeeze ur upper leg inside tightly and tap with your foot
then start making kissing noise
atleast thats how ive been doing it
i have been riding western all my life which is 13 years my advice to you dont start off with spurs on your boots.
I ride both english and western. It really isn't that different. Expect him to go a lot slower, he won't "move out" when he trots or canters, his trot should almost feel like a walk. You'll hold the rein with one hand (usually the left)and rest the other hand on your leg or stomach. I don't think you use your legs any more riding western, you still cue with your legs to canter and pick the correct lead and probably squeeze to get him to trot, or click with your mouth. You don't post when trotting, you need to have a firm seat. His head set will be lower then you are used to, the reins should be looser. You are doing the right thing taking lessons from the owner, they know the horse the best and will be the best source of information. Western riding is very relaxing and not as much work! Good luck!
Yeah, you use your seat and legs a lot more in western riding, you hardly use the reins. the reins are left very loose, and you barely touch on them to get the horse to do what you want. you mostly use your legs to direct the horse. just get some lessons from a western rider. it's really much simpler than english because you don't have to worry so much about hand and crop cues. (if you use a crop in english)
make sure to take more than 'a few' lessons in western if you plan on doing any showing. they are very different disciplines. i ride western and have since i was three and i like it better. western has a longer leg position than in other disciplines and the horse is more controlled by leg and how you weight is in the seat than off the hand. the reins aren't used so much as a contact with the mouth. they are a little slack until you go to halt the horse and the reins are held in one hand with the other holding the extra length of rein against your thigh and are used mainly to help direct the horse by laying the reins against the horses neck in one direction or another tho again i say the horse is more responsive toward your legs and your shifting in weight. western horses are trained to turn hard for competitions like barrel racing and cattle roping and pole bending so you will learn to use your weight to stay in the saddle. DON'T BE AFRAID TO GRAB THE HORN. even the most experienced western riders use the horn as an aid. in tight turns you can use your free hand to grab the horn and lean in one direction or another and keep yourself in the saddle. where an english dominant horse they are trained to put spring and step in their paces a western horse is meant have nice flat smooth gaits and a main goal is for the horse to be able to turn on a dime. other techniques needed for riding western are the 'rollback' which is a fast 180 turn, the 'spin or pirouette' which is a full 360, the 'slide pass' which is lateral work, the 'rein back', the 'sliding halt', and the flying lead change. western pleasure is the most simple western branch. western also has trail, reining, cutting (cattle) and working with cows, barel racing, steer wrestling and calf roping, and tricks like pole bending and keyhole.
there's some basic beginers info. good luck and have fun! any more questions feel free to ask me!
the foundation of any type of riding is all basically the same as im sure you know. so riding a western horse is actually fairly easy. all you have to know is how to neck rein...and when they told you that you use your legs more...thats not necessarily true. i ride english and i use my legs constantly...so it just depends on the way the horse was trained.
Ok, get the lessons from the horse owner. No matter what anyone else says, the owner knows what cues the horse was taught to respond. I wouldn't try to change any cues right off, because the horse is going to test you first. Especially, because you will be uncomfortable with the change. Once it responds to you and follows through, then you can broaden his/her horizons.
If you have been riding English, you will not have any problem riding Western. Each horse has his own personality and you do too. Horse and rider become one. Just practice. It sounds like you already know how to ride.
western is easy. just make sure to find oout of the horse if neck reined or donkey reined. sit in the saddle and place the balls of your feet in the stirrups. and have fun
Just do it and quit worrying so much
um... you should just practice keeping you butt in the saddle. i rode western and then english so i know what your coming from. the thing that is the hardest thing is you have to use ur legs alot!!
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