That sounds like fun (all but the jelly legs! ;). I took lessons one summer at a saddle seat barn and absolutely loved it. Unfortunately they did not have gaited lesson horses, but those lessons came in handy when I later started riding gaited horses.
I agree about the saddle slamming. It hurts me every time I see someone do that. I’ve been looking at some sale horse videos recently and I’m appalled at the people who just throw the saddles on their horses’ backs and then have to walk around to fish out the stirrups and cinches from underneath the saddle. Why don’t they just do it properly to begin with I wonder? You’d think they’d never had any training in their lives.
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I agree. But I see more people using western tack incorrectly than I see people using English tack incorrectly.
Most of the people I know who ride in English tack have had some lessons in how to tack up and how to ride a horse. To see many people who use western tack you’d think they’d never had a lesson in their lives.
Of course, I’ve also seen some terrible riding in English tack by people who have had lessons and still take them. Rollkur is just one example … 
I guess what I don’t understand is that IME there have been more people who knew nothing about proper riding, buying and horse and some western tack and heading out onto the trails, like some trail-riding guides tell them, “Kick him to make him go and pull on the reins to make him stop” and doing that pulling with big old curb bits.
The people I’ve known who ride in English tack usually wait to buy a horse till they’ve taken some lessons and learned what sort of horse suits their particular discipline and plans, and what sort of tack, including bits of course. I’m talking about adults, not children.
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There are several very good books on the lineage of current “western” riding. And yes, it pretty much all comes down to style(s) descending from the Spanish, with the vaquero and then the buckaroos and californios being the foundation groups of what most people consider “western” riding these days. So it stands to reason that the farther you are geographically from where these styles originated within the US, i.e the southwest, the less likely you are to grow up indoctrinated in this style.
But I otherwise see several problems with your question, the number one being “what is ‘western’ riding?” Because honestly, the word doesn’t mean much. It’s a fantastic example of the lack of specificity of the English language. Do we understand “western” to mean “in the western half of the country” (versus the eastern half)? Or does it reference a style of tack regardless of what you are doing when you ride? Does it constitute those disciplines that focus on developing horses in the traditional aspects of ranching and cattle work (the functional reason for the existence of the western-style saddle)? Or does it extend to purely aesthetic disciplines like WP, etc? Ask the question, and you’ll get several different answers. I am not sure any one in particular is correct, to be honest.
Tack is often highly functional and culturally connected to the particular uses of horses in a given region. Large scale ranching and cattle operations do not exist in Europe the same way they did/do in the midwestern US, so their tack needs are different. You also see many smaller, heavier breeds in the UK and much of Europe: a large, heavy, highly utilitarian saddle A) doesn’t work for these types of horses, and B) isn’t practical for those horse’s main use(s).
Either way, OP, you present a lot of anecdotal evidence about your experiences with “english” versus “western” riding, most of which doesn’t paint “western” riding in a very generous light. That is perhaps what paulosey was getting at re: “harping”. It reads less like you want an educated discussion and more like you want to lament about all the ways in which you’ve seen “western” riders exhibit abysmal horsemanship. I don’t think that’s ultimately your intent, but it is sort of presenting that way.
My two cents: go overseas and ask your average non-US citizen about horses in the states and you’d think everyone was raised on a ranch, wore cowboy boots and goes to the ro-day-o on the weekends. It’s the aspect of iconic American culture that has been romanticized throughout the last hundred years or so. That has happened within the US, as well, and I have no doubt it’s played into the tendency towards seeing cheap “western” tack in recreational riding throughout the US. Same with those shanked bits you refer to: such a bit is designed for a highly educated horse that works primarily off of seat and leg, but it functions just as well for an amateur rider that uses a “bigger hammer”, so to speak, to fill in for lack of training for themselves or their mounts.
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Your underlying assumption is flawed. “Western” type saddles have long been used in the eastern US. For example, the Hope saddle was widely used during the Civil War by both sides, but especially by the Confederate cavalry. Similarly, there was a “Spanish style” military saddle produced and used in many areas in the US, including the east, in the 1800s. So, your ancestors may well have ridden in a Spanish/western-type saddle and not a plantation or English saddle.
Here is a snip from the web site of a guy who has written a book called “American Riding and Work Saddles and Horse Culture (1790-1920)”:
So, Easterners have been using western-type saddles since long before any of us were born. I don’t think that’s at all surprising. Form follows function and there are many features of a Spanish/western-style saddle that make them functional and attractive to the average horseman, even back in the 1800s. Western riding is, much more than English riding, something that is done all across the US.
And the answer to your question of why any of us Easterners ride western is both simple and obvious: access, opportunity, and whatever catches your fancy. And I think most people in the US, east or west, start out riding western because that’s what they have access to. English riders are in the minority across the US, so not as many people have access to English riding programs. Plus, IMO, the bar for starting out riding English is set a lot higher than for getting started riding western. You’ve got the whole purpose-specific riding apparel issue and then, be honest here, to the complete beginner, an English saddle is a lot scarier looking than a western saddle.
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I’d suggest the premise of location suggesting origin of the riding community to be fundamentally flawed. Example: I’ve moved all over the US for school and work (TX, midwest, east coast); what discipline should I be riding? Culture, including riding style, is portable now. 40% of Americans don’t live in the state they were born in (link); we’re a pretty mobile society now and we’ve been one for 200+ years.
Additionally, the “western” breeds (AQHA, APHA, etc.) are typically breeding for generally good-minded using horses (yes yes there are exceptions, but if g-you get to generalize then By God so do I). They’re typically more beginner-friendly try-hard born-broke minded than your average competitive dressage horse or jumper. So they’re a bit of a gateway drug into the riding world, and they’re typically outfitted in a western saddle.
Sidebar-- I’m a dressage rider who formerly had WBs and now has a QH, so I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about with the above. Although I hear they’re breeding slightly more ammy-friendly WBs nowadays vs. when my geldings were bred 20+ yrs ago.
Finally, if you haven’t seen English tack mis-applied or mis-used, you’ve run in very different circles than I have.
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Well, a lot of the comments on this thread from English riders would support the snob rep. I toss my saddle over my horse’s back but that doesn’t mean it LANDS on his back hard. Technique. My horse seems to read my mind thru that thick saddle, and I know what he is thinking too.
I’ve taken my share of friends out on their first ride ever after 5 minutes of instruction. They usually finish the ride having done W/T/C on a relaxed horse. Often using some “big old curb bit” - which is a gentler way to cue a horse than a snaffle when contact is rarely needed. I find trail rides on a friendly horse are a great way to teach someone, from ride one, that the horse is a person you can win willing cooperation from, rather than an ATV to control, let alone dominate.
They also learn that cinches can stay loose, that you don’t need a lot of leg, that you don’t need a lot of hand, etc. If they eventually want to learn to train young horses, well, they can do that on their own time later on.
Riding is surprisingly easy if you learn it as something you do WITH the horse’s cooperation. And that doesn’t depend on tack. Or lots of lessons. I’m always amazed at how hard people make it…by being hard on their horses.
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East coaster here- I find riding in a full western saddle very uncomfortable and too much saddle. I have a mish-mash of endurance saddles (no, not the kind that look like a western saddle without a horn) and I find them to be super comfy. I also have a couple of dressage saddles I pull out occasionally lol. And as far as trailers- I have 2 step ups and 1 ramp. The horses and I prefer the step-ups but the ramp is the easiest/quickest to hook up so it does get used lol. I’m of the mind to do what works for you and your horses. Who gives a fig what others are doing?
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From my point of view, this thread seems to be English riders lamenting the cruel, uneducated nature of western riders. I am not being negative, if anything I am trying to stop the negativity and say that the common link between both styles of riding is the horse and our mutual love for this animal.
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I think people stick with what they know. I grew up in the hunter world. We were conditioned to believe that Western was somehow “less”. It took one horse, with advanced Western training to make me see the light. I fell in love with the feel of a properly trained Western horse.
In the words of my mother " Don’t knock it, til you try it" Just because a horse wears a Western saddle does not make it a Western horse. Same with English. I know that for Western riders the transition and/or saddle is uncomfortable, the same as learning a foreign language. The converse is true for English riders trying Western. There are some of us who know both languages, their slight differences and see the artistry in both.
Also, the saddle slamming thing is abhorrent. My old trainer would see you do that once. She would smack you in the back with an empty water bucket and ask how you liked it. Could not get away with that now, lol. It was effective. I gently place my saddles to this day…
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This is the same sort of thing I learned back when I first saw “western meets dressage” videos on YouTube. I thought the western horse and rider looked so much more like a team than the dressage horse and rider. And I also remember, years before that, a lesson I learned from a horse I was riding in a western saddle with a curb bit. I had been taught forward seat and saddle seat, and about keeping contact with the horse’s mouth – but this horse taught me so differently about riding in a curb bit.
I am looking forward to taking some lessons at one of the western barns where I’m living now.
I’m not picking up on a lot of negativity here from “English” riders about western riders.
What I don’t get, and my question in the OP of this thread, is why SOME people who live in the East, and want to start riding, instead of taking lessons in ANY discipline, buy a horse and start riding it in western tack. I’m simply curious what the attraction is for them in western tack. Maybe they see it more, on TV and in movies, than they see English tack.
What I DO know is that western tack on rental “nose to tail” trail ride horses is not any more or less safe than English tack, because in many countries when you hire a horse for a hack, or trekking, the horse is wearing English tack, and it is considered pleasure riding, not a dangerous risky activity. Those people do it; surely the typical American casual, occasional “rider” is no less capable or coordinated.
Why do “some” people do any number of things? You’ve posed the question several different times, and many people have shared entirely plausible reasons why you have witnessed this, but you keep coming back stating you still don’t understand while commenting about the uneducated things you’ve witnessed these riders do compared to those that use english-style tack.
I don’t think there is a specific, rudimentary answer to your question, OP, because it seems to be based on your personal experiences rather than an actual, known and common occurrence. You appear to have witnessed this on a few occasions and have made the assumption there is a correlation. I’ve honestly never in all my years of riding and teaching seen someone up and buy a horse, buy a bunch of cheap western tack and just start riding. Never.
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I am a hunt seat rider. I ride english and like to ride english because I can travel fast over rough ground and can jump. That said, I ride my racking horse western. Reason? you can sit in a much better position to help with gaiting (or at least racking) in a western type saddle or a saddleseat type saddle rather than a hunt seat type saddle. I have a western saddle, but don’t have a saddleseat saddle and hence ride her western. Reason why public trail rides are western is two-fold; people have grown up watching “westerns” on television, and that is what they expect to ride on a public trail ride, and the saddle is deeper seated and more likely to keep said person on horse. I am on the east coast.
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Where I grew up it was farm, ranch country, (again in the west so it doesn’t apply to your original post question about those who live in the east) only “town” kids that came from money could get lessons from english trainers. English trainers were hours away and were more likely to provide a lesson horse, tack and teach basic horse care.
Western trainers which were more plentiful, closer, didn’t provide a lesson horse or tack and were show trainers. Not just general lessons for the beginner or teaching basic horse care. Lessons at all was seen as a luxury.
Either your folks could drive a couple hours each way for a lesson with an english trainer or they had time to load up horse a child to haul to a western trainer. Even that depended on the weather and time of year because of farming, fall and spring works, turning cows out, branding or bringing in, weaning and shipping calves.
There is a slight air of english riding being superior and sprinkled with a bit of “why would anyone choose western” along with some pretty broad generalizations about western in this thread.
It has been my personal experience cow/stock horse people are the most welcoming. And it may be a reason why their show numbers are climbing while I have heard of others on the slide?
Although anecdotal and the experiences very limited, I haven’t found the english riding community as welcoming as cow horse people.
Don’t get me wrong, we have our fair share of snobs too and those ladies who drive into a cutting, their horse is already loped and wiped down. A loper helps them into their show chaps, trainer sends them into the show pen and they hold on for 2.5 minutes while the herd help tells them what cattle to cut, when to quit.
But since we are making generalizations…
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Most actual cowboys do the same 
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Who said anything about cheap tack? Are you bringing “cheap” into the thread as a spin-off topic?
I love watching a real cowboy (or cowgirl) work with their horse. I also love watching reining. I love the way working ranch horses move under saddle.
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i’m small (5’0") and several of my horses are too big for me to put a heavy saddle on (especially when i had a pulled tendon in my left arm!). So what i do when i have to tack in a Western is load the bed of my pickup (or JD Gator) with all the heavy stuff (even the saddle pads are heavy) and i stand up there and put on the pad, and saddle from above. (helps to have a cooperative horse!).
omgosh! Well i see it every.single.day. online. There are three or four facebook pages where there are lots of these people…(mostly women) who buy a Killpen horse, adopt a Rescue horse, get a BLM Mustang…get a free horse from some neighbor/friend/relative and buy a saddle and voila! they are now a Horse Owner! Every day/all day long…i see it. You live up too high in the horse world to see it i guess.
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