Neck reining confuses me! Seriously.
I stopped in at my Amish trainer where I dropped off a horse (TWH/ASB) to be broke for trail riding. She’s got about 30 days on her so I hopped on to try her out down the dirt road. He said “You did want her to neck rein, right?”. In spite of my fumbling around remembering how to steer, she was absolutely wonderful and will make someone an awesome trail horse. I can’t remember being the last time I was so happy riding just an ordinary horse.
… because the horn gets in my way.
I generally prefer to ride english because…
*I like to jump and it’s difficult to do that in a western saddle.
*I like the looks of my thoroughbred and her stride (though she has condensed it for quarter horse sized trail courses as needed) and done very well. Not to say you can’t ride a TB western but it isn’t the norm.
*I like that I can easily carry a saddle around on one arm and there is not a lot of “stuff” hanging off it like a back cinch
*I like that I can change the lengths of my stirrups easily while in the saddle.
*I like riding with contact (though often we are “on the buckle” english for a loose rein).
On the other hand…
I like cowboy boots and own a pair (wanting a second pair)
I appreciate how most western horses whoa and tie so well
There are many things that just couldn’t be done with english tack such as roping cattle (if you need to hold them).
Western horses tend to be shorter and easier to get up on.
That well trained western horses work so well off of seat and legs
Sometimes I wish I had a horn bag!
You look less “odd” going to the grocery store or elsewhere after riding in jeans and boots than in breeches and half chaps.
Perhaps we should try out both styles so we can increase our horizons and realize that when it comes down to it, riding is riding.
Bottom line.
We all love horses and that’s what really counts!!!
Happy trails to all!!!
Lugging my saddle out of the house, or worse, into the trailer is a serious workout.
my mom won’t stop boo-hooing about all the money she wasted on jumping lessons.
can’t jump more than 2 feet without serious injury.
The saddles are so freaking heavy.
But my arms are jacked now. So… kind of a win?
The only thing that bothers me is the horn - it gets in the way if you have to hop over anything bigger than a log, and if you have to duck really far down to a low hanging branch. And you can’t swing your leg far forward to go through a narrow opening.
I haven’t been able to find d a saddle that doesn’t bother my hips so I just sold all my western tack.
Can’t jump. At least anything bigger than maybe two feet. I suppose I could punch holes so my stirrups would allow me to get up off the horses back more…But there’s still the horn.
Besides hoisting the weight of the saddle, cleaning it is such a bitch! Sigh. Haven’t used mine in over a year, but feel the urge to play crash-test dummy on my 23 YO going on 2 really bad lately, so I guess I’ll have to suck it up and clean (and boy is it nasty!) and hoist, because she’d likely come out from under me if I use my hunt saddle (pancake Passier!).
ETA: This is the mare that my 20YO daughter, who will happily climb on to a race fit STB doesn’t want to get on…
That’s a good point. I guess I must be a wuss.
WRT lifting the saddle - you don’t lift and place it like an English saddle, you swing it off your hip and kind of toss it up there. Honestly, you don’t feel a thing in your arms when you do it right.
This is a fun thread, not meant to slight western riding, remember?
Yes on the saddle swinging, you get a way to do that where it is not so heavy to get up there.
Unless you are under 5’ and have a 16+ hand horse.
Having funky shoulders that don’t like gymnastics with heavy stuff, I am going to rig a pulley where I can lift the saddle high, stand the horse under it and let it down gently on it’s back.
To get the saddle from the tack room to the pulley, there are those nifty saddle dollies you can keep your saddle on in the tack room and just wheel it wherever you need it.
As we can see, the extra weight of western saddles, in the end, is an advantage.
We get to practice being creative, always a win.
I’ve been riding since Christ was a cowboy and know how to swing one quite well thank you very much, but I’ve got tennis elbow and two crappy shoulders since I’ve last swung mine, and really am not looking forward to how much they like or dislike it. 
Sometimes I’m in bed whimpering in pain if I pull up the covers the wrong way. I’ll find out when it happens I guess. LOL At least the dirty beast is home for a good cleaning, at least it made it into the truck of the car, for which my elbow is complaining so I’m having a pint to try to placate it.
I have to second the heavy saddle sentiment. I can’t help but feel bad hoisting my +/- 45 lb saddles on my 14.2/14.1 mares! Another issue I’ve encountered with western saddles is the fit. I grew to appreciate my English saddle laying flat across my horses’ backs nicely. When I see western saddles tipping up in the back (no doubt because of how much heavier they are in the front; not necessarily a fit issue) I can’t help but cringe. There’s a reason I was recommended a 2 inch saddle pad on my mare, turns out! The same mare now HATES being put in a western saddle. Years of her biting at me when I did up her cinch vanished the second I had her in English gear.
The last thing I’ll admit is I never realized how complicated western saddles were until I disassembled mine after years of only being around English saddles. Let’s just say the cinch was delicately but haphazardly put back on to the best of my abilities, cough.
BUT - Western saddles are so large because they spread weight across more area on the horse’s back. I won’t ever go on a serious trail ride in an English saddle for the sake of my horse’s comfort. I love the safety and security they give riders of all levels, and I love how unashamedly blingy and corny I can make my horse look. Flower and barbed wire tooling, big glittery conchos, and hot pink zig zag saddle pad - nobody will bat an eye!
The western show outfits are much more colorful!!!
Yay!!! I get to play too!!!
You guys are cracking me up!!! I ride western. I think you guys are crazy!! Especially jumping over things taller than me!!! I like my horses short and cowy.
I hate that I cannot really feel what the horse is doing under me, so much between me and the horse, and I am just perched way above. 
I also dislike the feeling of claustrophobia that a Western saddle triggers in me. I like to know that if I need to ‘bail out’ aka emergency dismount, that it is possible.
That’s a great theory, except I’m barely 5" tall and my horse is 16.1. Swinging a 45lb Wade over my head is a little more difficult. My shorter horse is extremely spooky and swinging a saddle up and over her has a tendency to cause a melt down. So I stand on a stool, lift the saddles up and gently place them where I need to put them. 
I am 4’ 11" and can attest that an upside down bucket also works.
Horses do get used to humans wearing saddles for hats.
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