I just looked up “apha hus” on youtube out of curiosity, and wow I have no idea what is going on there 
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I got sidetracked into showing Paints in all-around competition for several years. I thought it might be an interesting adventure in My Life with Horses but wow, it was not at all like I expected. I won a lot of huntseat eq. medals as a junior and ammy adult, but the “equitation” required to win at APHA shows is more akin to western horsemanship in an English saddle with longer stirrups and longer reins with your hands split down alongside the withers. And go slow. Very, very slow. Had I been doing it wrong all those decades at USEF shows? 
In APHA HUS, a pretty mover is still important, but a down and low head carriage is essential. I’d think my gelding’s head was low and my trainer would keep saying, “No, lower!” The HUS canter is faster than WP but still isn’t supposed to go anywhere. But if you want to win, you school your horse to go that way.
My horse wasn’t a WP horse so that was never a consideration. But we did excel in trail. That was the only class where I felt I was using my aids to guide and adjust my horse as we negotiated the obstacles.
Ultimately I realized I was never going to be happy trying to contort my position and my horse’s gaits into something entirely foreign for competitions that didn’t make any real sense to me. Now I have an awesome little mare that I do ranch riding and ranch reining on and I’m having a blast. I’m back to going forward with impulsion and energy instead of slogging around, asking my trainer, “Is this a jog? Am I jogging now?”
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I had a cute little Appaloosa mare and took her in to a Western class - just a local show and I thought her gaits were slow and she was a nice, smooth ride so I thought she may do well in Western. She lapped everyone in the pleasure classes! I was like no, I can’t go slower than this! We are not doing Western!
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Ranch reining?? Is that different from regular reining?
You guys. Now I want to buy a damn western saddle.
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In ranch reining you don’t have to be as exuberant as regular reining. You don’t need big dramatic run downs with splashy sliding stops. One of my friends describes it as “gallop with a scooting stop.” 
Ranch reining isn’t always offered, but usually it’s included if there’s an all-around high point. So there’s ranch reining, ranch pleasure (not to be confused with WP), ranch trail and my favorite class, ranch riding. That’s similar to a reining pattern but with more transitions, collections and extensions, and maybe some logs you walk or trot over.
Get your western saddle. Come. We have donuts.
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So did this used to be called Western Riding back in the day? I vaguely remember when a new class was introduced and it was western, and they rode “fast” in a pattern and it looked awesome. But I was still too entrenched in the toe dragging world to be able to participate.
No. Western Riding is a separate class. Lots of lead changes and a good horse isn’t ridden fast through the cones, though someone might have to get their changes back in the day. Reining has always been Reining as far as I can remember.
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I think Ranch Riding sounds fun if it’s testing the handiness of the horse and rider. Reining has always seemed bizarre, the fast unending spins and gallop-slide gallop-slide.
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As noted, totally different things. I had that pattern memorized for years and don’t anymore, but I think it was something like 11 lead changes plus a jog over a pole. Any change late behind was enough to put you last if your competition had all clean changes, and it was really fun but also seemed to go on forever if you didn’t have a fit enough horse! It was one of around 10-12 classes I’d ride in a day … my horse had dressage worthy changes with less expression, so we had fun with it!
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Western Dressage is your answer.
Now there are a bunch of different patterns and they vary according to which level you’re at. But late changes or changes executed at the wrong spot will definitely kill your score.
In general, you walk or jog over the pole and do a series of long loops around cones, with a “zone” in the middle where you’re expected to change leads on the straight lines. At some point you also lope around cones, usually maintaining one lead so you demonstrate counter-canter (lope).
It’s a fun class and I practice some of the patterns at home. But in the last few years or so, at the bigger shows, the horses are ridden on a draped rein with their head down, a lot like a WP horse that is just loping a little more forward. Hypothetically, western riding is supposed to showcase the horse’s ability to do fluid changes on command and move effortlessly through the pattern. Yet like a lot of classes, it has taken on artificial flourishes.
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Was the shopping you mention at WEG just for an event or all the time? I live a 2 hour drive from there and would drive over for good shopping!!
It was just for WEG unfortunately. There were a couple of “permanent” stores there, a Dovers and what looked like a USEF store.
