Just for Fun....What kind of riding do you do?

[quarterhorse4me]

I was never really trained in any discipline, I just grew up riding horses, mostly bareback until I was an adult. My trainer now laughs at me because he says my friends and I are the most amazing riders as we can ride anything it just isn’t pretty. At 46 I still prefer bareback but an injury has forced me to ride in a saddle more these days.

My daughter is being trained in reining and will take some barrel lessons this summer. She has no interest in Western Pleasure and quite honestly I am too old.

We trail ride and camp a lot (in a trailer with amenities). It is great fun and really fosters the mother daughter relationship. Occasionally, I can even get my son to a trail ride.

[Donkaloosa]

When I was still riding, I did just about everything. Western, I did trails, showed, team penning… Did the hunter thing, too. Loved it all. I do miss going on really good trails, and riding on the beautiful days we’ve had this year.

[cutter99]

I am strictly a trail rider at this point. I started out as an English rider and prgressed to all around horses as an adult and started adding the Western events. In 1999, I sent a horse to a cutting horse trainer for some non- cutting work and ended up hooked on cutters. Due to a divorce and lifestyle change, I cut back on showing and started to really trail ride as a form of relaxation.

I have no desire to go back to showing. I wouldn’t mind working cattle for fun occassionally, but I have no desire to sit in an indoor arena on a perfectly gorgeous day to spend at least $250 for a 2 1/2 minute run.

I love to ride “correctly”- with good equitation- and know I have a good seat, hands, and legs from years of it. I still have one cutter and may turnback horse as well as a cutting-bred youngster and they have made awesome trail horses. They are athletic and calm, cool, and collected.

I did a six hour ride on Saturday and still can’t stop thinking about it. It was one of the most challenging rides I have ever done and I can’t wait to do more rides like it. I do have a living quarters trailer to camp in and am looking forward to doing some of that this year.

[Luseride]

I show a bit of pleasure, play at timed events, trail ride and give lessons. In the past I have done Cowboy Mounted Shooting, team penning and sorting, and coached my on on reining and Working Cow Horse.

We are okay at a lot and expert at none.

[49_er]

Well from 1959 to about 1995 I was western and showed open trail and APHA in California. I also showed hunters off and on in the beginning. The paints got me into driving and now I drive in Combined driving. However many of my friends where I now live trail ride and I have started riding some with them…western.

[EquineImagined]

What kind of riding do I do? The kind where the horse goes under your bum and generally you have one leg on either side, duuuh. Tried side saddle, was NOT for me, much respect to those who do it and do it well.

Trails, ring work, shows…whatever. I just ride. Sometimes with western tack. Sometimes with english tack. Sometimes with no tack.

But, no roman for me! Standing on one horse while it moves is hard enough, never mind standing on TWO

[Tee]

I do pretty much everything with my 2 guys. Started out just riding western with no real discipline in mind. Started lessons and focusing more on rail work. Then changed to english for several years. With my (now) 5 year old who was intended as my western horse we are focusing on english (has a way more english build and way of going). So my 10 year old is learning western pleasure and trail and patterns, which has been a challenge for both of us!

But my real love is riding trails. I like challenging, but not death-defying. LOL

[dani0303]

95% of the time I am a hunter/jumper rider (trainer). But I have a 19yo semi-retired WB gelding who used to be my big junior jumper and amateur owner hunter but is now enjoying life as a trail horse. He’s gotten a bit bored with it so we’re beginning training for cow sorting and maybe a little bit of barrels. I’m getting really excited over this

[7HL]

WESTERN… Don’t own an english saddle.

[paulosey]

Interesting question. I have done horse trials, fox hunted, shown hunter jumper, dressage and breed shows in hunter under saddle, over fences and western (Appy shows in the early 90’s). I have also team penned and sorted. I have camped with the horses and trail ridden countless miles. I have dabbled in CTR. Most recently I am back to my first true love, trail riding and playing with western dressage. I have several English saddles, but can be found riding western almost exclusively these days

[jetandmegs4]

I do a little bit of everything. When I first purchased my OTTB, we showed in dressage/eventing/hunters. I eventually moved into the pleasure showing world (He’s actually registered as a pinto as well so we do color breed classes.) At any rate, I ride him now in western pleasure, english pleasure, ladies pleasure, etc. Western has been something new and fun for us to try. We don’t often get the chance to trail ride, but when I do I enjoy that as well.

[OveroHunter]

I rode only english from the time I was 10 until I was 20. I actually started out doing jumpers and then transitioned into hunters because my new horse at the time was definitely not a jumper.

Then I started working at the dude ranch in my signature and began riding western. While I was there I fell in love with a halter bred APHA gelding. He definitely doesn’t look like the typical hunter, but I bought him anyway and I show him now in the hunter divisions at local shows and hopefully I’ll show him at an APHA show soon.

While at the ranch I have started riding Western Pleasure and I like it. I also trail ride western.

Then one day I saw a Stacy Westfall video and decided I wanted to do what she does :D. I still have to use a neck rope on my gelding, but we can walk, trot, canter, and jump 2’ courses bareback and bridleless :yes:

[oreothemountaindog]

I actually started riding english but the shows around me are few and far between so I also started showing western to have more classes to show in. All of the cross training has proved very beneficial to my green TB.

I do showmanship, horsemanship, trail classes, and pleasure while riding western. I do equitation and hunter under saddle english.

I would love to do some dressage, western dressage, and possibly up to 3’ hunter, but I’m greener than my horse and need to work up to it.

We’ve recently been working on trail and I had my husband help set up a trail course in the indoor arena. We’ve been using a floppy piece of plywood for the bridge but i’m ‘encouraging’ him to build me a real one. Our biggest accomplishment to date has been the mailbox! He went from looking at it like it was going to kill him to standing quietly while I bang on it!:winkgrin:

[Heart_s_Journey]

Started out bareback as we didn’t own a saddle and only used one for lessons or showing. Did tons of trail riding, camping, showed games classes, western pleasure, equitation, trail, hunt seat flat and jumping, rode in parades, swam in lakes, etc Was in 4H for many years which is a great organization

As an adult I did a little bit of showing in hunt seat, but am back to my true love of trail riding and camping. Have done many riding holidays around the world, fox hunted, team penning, fun shows, trained a few horses, etc

[eeyore4176]

I grew up riding bareback at home and western trail riding almost every weekend in the summer at the local stables with my grandpa. We showed up bright and early and I would brush out and help tack up the horses. Occasionally we would lead a group on the trails if the owner was short staffed.

When my husband and I bought the horses we have now I thought about getting into showing and taking lessons, but with work and always having things to do around home, decided I just didn’t have the time to devote to it.

We camp & trail ride from March - November. Have done a few trail challenges, poker rides, extreme cowboy exhibition and a 2 day destination ride 40+ miles from one town to another. Hoping to do a ranch rodeo and some team penning this summer.

[saddleup]

I trail ride and have one show horse that I show in Paint shows. Western horsemanship, trail, western riding, reining, hunter under saddle.

I started riding english, but stopped jumping after a bad accident 18 years ago.

I’ve done parades, ridden on a drill team, tried a little cattle sorting and penning.

[ParadoxFarm]

Started western as a kid. Did wp with qh sales horses since I could not afford a horse of my own until I was about 22. Did some English as a teen. When I was 24 I started jumping. I ride jumpers mostly still today, but enjoy trail riding and western drill team recently which was a total blast!

[Beverley]

What do I do at present? Mostly trail riding (western or English, just depending on my whim on the day, except western for back country packing), foxhunting now and then, pushing cattle, Pony Express annual re-ride (coming up in June), parades w/ Pony Express over the summer, occasional team penning and sorting, occasional moving cattle, annual bison roundup on Antelope Island. Most Octobers I do a local competitive trail ride just to support a local horse association. I’m active in Back Country Horsemen so spend a fair bit of riding time helping to clear and maintain trails, also do a local trail patrol as a volunteer, and search and rescue/search and recovery when needed.

Grew up riding and showing western (everything), w/ a package of English lessons when I was 10. Lived in France for a year and rode jumpers and a bit of good basic instruction including dressage from a Cadre Noir instructor. Showed hunters and evented a bit, and started foxhunting in college. Have largely outgrown my need to show, don’t rule it out completely but again, would be now and then, on a whim.

[1sock]

When I was young and in 4-H I showed Western Pleasure and gaming classes, trail rode a ton, rode bareback most days of the week and took western (and even a few english) lessons. I had the quintessensial (sp?) all-around Quarter Horse gelding, (he’d been a ranch horse before we bought him, I don’t think there was anything Buddy wouldn’t do if you asked him to).

I’m now 31 and mostly just trail ride recreationally, and not as often as I’d like. I also do some fun game/speed event shows in the summer, and some halter and pleasure classes at our local fair.

What I’m dying to do and am going to try my hardest this year to get to is one of those “extreme trail competitions”.

[hunt_jumpfl]

I grew up riding and showing hunters. I took some time off from riding for school, but still owned hunters. After I started graduate school and my last hunter sold I decided to go take some reining lessons. I fully intended on taking once a week lessons just to have something outside of grad school. That was July 2007. By October I was in the reining show pen and by November I was leasing a mare to show :lol: I now own a 5yr AQHA/APHA reiner and show when money/time allow. I have also been talking to my trainer about starting my boy on cows, so we may do that a little bit for fun.