[QUOTE=Beverley;7938622]
I have not claimed expertise and indeed seek to improve my knowledge of horses every day.
But I do indeed know how to ride off contact as well as on, and yes, I have won at western pleasure, reining, western riding, trail, barrels, poles, equitation and more. First ribbons in the 60s, last in those events maybe 10 years ago. And you?[/QUOTE]
I wonât leave your question un -answered Bev, and then I will let this topic drift along as it might wish to.
I also try and learn and realize horses are a lifetime of learning.
Your remark, concerning my 'ignorance hit a nerve, as you might well have expected.
I donât mind any good argrument, based on facts, but I like anyone else, take exception on a personal attack
I have not been showing quite as long as you, as I started out just trail riding and starting young horses.
I started showing, when I started raising horses, so that I could promote them myself, under saddle
Along that route, I took clinics with as many different people I could, that were successful in the events I was showing in at that time.
I started out about 30 years ago, showing in reining, working cowhorse games and western riding. Produced several superior western riding horses and all around hi -pt horses, Roms in Trail, reining, western riding, HUS and western pleasure
Won National ApHCC national amateur pole bending and western riding
Yes, I did game my horses way back when, as they were very broke, being shown in reining and western riding and cattle events
I switched to all around horses in the last 15 years or so, thus changed my breeding program some, started to ride western pl, and HUS, taking clinics
I even took dressage lessons one winter, because no local HUS clinics were available
I also know how to ride with contact, and in fact, since I also show many of my horses open, won a large English pleasure class, against more traditional breeds, under a judge from a dressage background
I never implicated that good training does not have fundamental similar basics.
My simple point was that there is a unique difference on how you train with that contact, if gearing a horse to be eventually shown on loose rein, between dressage and a good western training program.
I know a trainer who gave a clinic at the Mane Event this year. Her topic was on riding/'showing/training a western pleasure horse
Before jumping on that one, her background started as working on large ranches, starting colts
She has some English riders coming over to ride western pleasure. The biggest thing that she has to teach them, is not to try and micro manage the horse constantly
It is quite easy to teach a horse to go on contact, that has been ridden western on a loose rein, as the horse understands contact from he time he was first ridden in a snaffle, and one still used contact in working with a finished horse, when needed, training, to fix something or work on a new maneuver
Pretty difficult to try and rate a horse on a loose rein that has always been shown with contact.
Therefore, there is a fundamental difference, as that western horse is given that total release in training, that eventually allows that horse to require less and less pick up, so that he can perform and hold frame and collection, while rating speed , without any bit contact
THat was my point, and I stick by it.
I also donât just show, but have spent a lot of time packing into remote wilderness, with my husband, who is atrophy hunter. I have ridden trails only frequented by die hard trophy hunters, and slept in tents without a stove, packed in 30 miles, when a blizzard moved in
I have retired from actively raising horses, as I am at an age where starting colts is best left for yoiunger people, and those without double knee replacements. I have also slowed down my showing endeavors, esp at the breed level, still trail ride, although I no longer will rough it as in those days when I was young, preferring to have a tent with a stove. Not really keen on packing out elk , in the dark, in freezing weather any more, or sitting above the treelines, with a cold wind howling, holding the horses, while hubby stalks a BigHorn Ram
Iâm not liking as to how this topic is going, with you taking me down the path of needing to validate myself.
The way western horses were shown in the 60s, concerning rein contact, has evolved.
You only need to look at a reining stop from back then, compared to now, or western pl, a trail pattern, or even the dry work in working cowhorse, to see that there is much more finesse today, with the horses being shown with less contact
A winning reining stop, in the 'good ole days, often showed a horse with front end jammed into the ground, head up , neck braced, mouth open. Yes, they were hard and deep stops, but they certainly were not pretty, like a good reining stop today
I wonât go down the western pleasure path, except to say those those horses winning western pl in the 60s and 70s would not touch a pleasure horse today, either ina mount of self carriage or movement.
You might not like either of these changes, but that is not the point. What is the point, is for a horse to have that total self carriage on a loose rein, requires a training program that works towards that eventual goal, even though most of the fundamentals , far as good basic training are universal
As for WD, let it evolve as it may, as it affects me no more than the direction halter has gone
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