Low Head Carriage in Western Riding ~ Why?

[Huntertwo]

@baylady7;5801497

I believe you will only find it in the western show ring; folks who ride western for functional reasons, be it trail riding, ranch work, etc, do not do that.

My conspiracy theory on the “bizare” western pleasure look is that the trainer/judges (most of the judges are also trainers) had to develop a difficult manner for the horses that the average joe would have trouble training. That way you have to hire the trainer/judge to teach your horse to “wog” (the show ring jog where they walk with one set of legs and jog with the other) and “trope.”

So unless you are riding in breed shows, you should not have to worry about this. If you are, you either pick judges who do not reward this (good luck) or just show naturally and not worry about ribbons/points/awards!!!

Although, I trail ride and my mare often puts her head into the “Peanut Roller” (eek) headset while navigating our trails. I’d rather have her like this when it is nessecary, than trip over logs and rocks with her head up toward the sky.

I had a “Impressive” bred QH and honestly, a low head set was simply natural for him. It was just the way his neck tied in with his shoulders. Even the pasture he would walk around with a nice level headset. I know that is much different than the peanut rollers…

The rest of it??? :no::no::no: Just look on Youtube and search for WP Congress, World Show or simply a WP horse for sale. It is freakish. Like you said, wog, trope ??? WTF? I just want to scream “GO!”

Sadly they are still placing these horses. Doesn’t any judge have the guts to dismiss these people from placing? Is show Politics and they are afraid of “losing” their job?

I was at a Open local show…Casual riders and a few that looked like they showed the QH circuit.

The casual horses moved very nicely. Not quick, nor head straight up in the air. Just a nice natural slowish ground covering lope, what I would consider a true WP horse.

Isn’t that what WP was intended for? A horse that looks like a pleasure to ride?

The other two? Couldn’t tell what the hell they were doing…:eek: Walk, jog, wog, lope, trope??? The walk was freakishly slow. A turtle could have walked faster. :yes:

Guess who came in 1st and 2nd in every class??? Yep…the zombie horses.:no:

I love your conspiracy also…lol

[Ebm91]

I’ve done WP in the past and only open shows. My horse is what I believe the WP world should start moving towards. The one who is slowish, with a natural level headset. The one who looks like he is a pleasure to ride. Now, I will say, I’ve been on true WP horses and they really are fun to ride. They are the most comfortable ride I’ve ever been on. However, I don’t enjoy looking at it. I usually think they look kind of crippled. Now, I say this but I’m looking into getting another WP horse. One to do more serious shows on, but I don’t want a crippled looking moving horse. I want the gaits to still look natural. Anyways, there’s my tangent. I really hope that AQHA will progressively move towards more natural looking gaits.

[jeano]

My racking horse will sometimes do the peanut roll on the trails. I’ve even known her to rack with her head barely abover wither height, which shouldnt be physically possible. When she is lazy or more interested in the ground and what’s on it her head is low, low, low. She can even dog walk like a WP horse, much to my chagrin.

[HydroPHILE]

Whether it’s true or not, my uncle always said that ranch horses had typically low head carriage to get into the cow and “who wants to ride a stargazer when you have to swing and maneuver a rope to catch a cow?”