Hi, I barrel race and have done so for the majority of my life. Last year I began taking english riding lessons. I really enjoy it and would like to continue both barrel racing and jumping(low jumps still of course). My current horse is a 16hh QH. I will not sell him and barrel racing comes first before jumping. The previous owner rode him a couple times english and free jumped him a little bit but I don’t think she did any formal training with him.
So, my question is if I’m in formal lesson program(which I am), can I ride both English and western on my current horse? I would be riding him 2/3 of the time western and 1/3 english. I don’t plan on really competing in jumping shows yet as they are significantly more expensive than barrel races and I can’t afford that whilst in university.
Also, it might sound dumb but how does a horse know to respond to the different cues if they’ve been trained for both western or English? I mean with the constant contact and different seat?
Thanks!
Yes, you will both be fine. It is very very normal for breed and open and 4-h show horses to do both English and western. Enjoy your horse.
My horse and mule both ride hunt seat and western. Neither one has any trouble understanding the different requirements of each.
Horses are smart, and can be trained to go both English and Western. My good ol’ boy QH had to do anything cheap and local back when I was really on a budget. We did Hunter shows, some schooling dressage shows, some Western stuff and would trail ride sometimes. His previous owner had done team penning with him. We did well enough to have fun at whatever we tried.
Thanks for the replies everyone! I’m glad I can try with him!
Having learned to ride in the Southwest, I’ve ridden/known many horses over the years who either went both ways, often swapping back and forth in a single day for lessons or shows, or been picked up as Western horses and retrained and used as English horses exclusively. Generally, they do very, very well, and pick up the differences in tack, aids, expectations, etc. very quickly. HOWEVER, I have never personally known one that was actively used for speed events and simultaneously used for non-speed event-type riding, and the retraining of horses that had a previous career doing barrels or keyhole races and such to jumping, in particular, seemed to often be a tricky business. Sometimes more so than OTTB or racing Appendix QH’s. Those at least have the psychological differentiation of “big open track” vs “small arena.” Speed horses of any kind when put in a setting that resembles that in which they are expected to run like a bat out of heck, will often get strung out, anxious, and unbalanced when asked to not quite run that fast and pay attention to unfamiliar nuances like jump distances. Different horses are different, obviously. If your horse isn’t one of the ones that flings her head up and starts cantering in place (sideways) as soon as you approach the gate and she sees the barrels, and you feel like you can hop on and ask her for a nice collected canter in the pattern without her fussing about it, you are likely to have better luck. But expect to spend a lot of time trotting over low obstacles and developing a nice forward, but controlled, canter to reset her thought processes.
Whether or not resetting her expectations might have a negative effect on her speed doing barrels, I have no experience with whatsoever.
I can say it was super common in 4-H for the gamers use their horses in performance, because they had to. Some were more successful than others. Some were actually quite successful in both, including a girlfriend who did barrels and jumping with her appendix. Some where pretty terrible, but I think that had more to do with lack of training in general (because all I have to do is run fast, right? We all know those people in barrels AND jumpers) I honestly don’t think we are talking about a NBHA national level competition horse, but maybe I’m wrong?
My farrier’s wife is a world champion barrel racer and she has me hack her horses when she’s out of town. I ride them English and they are some of the most fun horses to ride. They aren’t RUN all the time, most of her work is slow and controlled. It’s like the difference between jump riders who school calmly and those who always just let their horses run. IME the ones who school calmly the majority of the time are the ones who go the cleanest. It’s the same that I’ve seen with the barrel horses. Just like anything ut totally depends on the horse and its training.
I have worked with horses that were schooled WP. Depending on how well they were trained, some were delightful to work with as dressage horse. Yes, they took a little more attention to prevent a LY from becoming a side pass, and a little ore encouragement to stretch down to the bit.They were usually quite happy to lengthen their trot stride and not canter all day in the shade of the same tree.
So go for it.
I think riders have a more difficult time understanding the different requirements of different disciplines. While some cross over well, most of the the times I’ve seen an English horse shown western or a western horse shown English, there was a tack & apparel change, but the horse did the same thing.
A few times they didn’t even bother to change the tack.:no: Depending on the judges it might not have even mattered.
That’s just what I’ve seen at local shows over the years.
I foxhunted for years on the horse I rode at the AQHYA World Championships in reining! I didn’t ride him with as much contact as I ride my horses that only go English. He also didn’t need a lot of contact and the neck reining came in very handy many times in the hunt field. Have fun!
Actively used my Quarter Horse for barrel racing, showing, and I school small courses at well all at the same time. I’m proud of my little guy and I enjoy him. 
Have fun and I hope you both enjoy doing new and different things. I think most horses enjoy variety.
Absolutely! I love having my horses cross-trained. I like having my barrel horses broke, broke, broke anyway – so doing extra things with them just helps me achieve that.
Barrel racing comes first for me too. That’s our passion and our priority. But that doesn’t stop me from showing locally too, both English and Western. We actually walked just away with the reserve year-end overall championship for my local horse club (for last year) and I even missed a show. Not bad for two barrel horses!
Horses are smart. They know when it’s time to run and when it’s time to show. I like doing things other than barrels with them b/c I feel like it keeps a head on their shoulders and keeps them more sane.
So have fun with your barrel horse, learning some English!!
Shotgun going in English (his first year showing)
Shotgun burning up the barrels (still learning but had a nice solid 3D run here in VERY tough competition)
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Red in showmanship
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Red running barrels (usually 2D, but does lay down a nice 1D run every so often)
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