Currently at a new barn, have ridden English, now taking western lessons riding a Western Pleasure trained gelding. I have a new respect for western pleasure riders. I never realized how much this type of horse knows as far as 90% of the cues are all done with the riders legs, and how much strength the horse needs to do a correct jog - slow and methodical.
Are all horses in Western disciplines trained in this way? - Western Trail, Western Ranch horse. etc.
[QUOTE=Just Not Native;8157357]
Currently at a new barn, have ridden English, now taking western lessons riding a Western Pleasure trained gelding. I have a new respect for western pleasure riders. I never realized how much this type of horse knows as far as 90% of the cues are all done with the riders legs, and how much strength the horse needs to do a correct jog - slow and methodical.
Are all horses in Western disciplines trained in this way? - Western Trail, Western Ranch horse. etc.[/QUOTE]
Don’t be surprised if many will now tell you how bad wp is in their eyes, people that have never ridden, much less trained a wp horse, but don’t like them anyway.
All of us tend to like what we do and have some we don’t like, but we should, as you did above, give credit where credit is due.
If you expand to other western horses, you will find that each one of those arena classes will be trained for and competed with a bit different requirements and that all are becoming very competitive.
Gone the days of old, where you could take your old ranch horse out of the pasture on a weekend and go do well at the next show.
Also lets remember that western type shows are still evolving, the classes changing.
A few years ago there were no ranch horse classes.
Glad that you are getting to experience a very well trained horse, no matter what it’s training is and appreciate what all goes into it.
New barn has both English & Western riders. Owner and trainer has shown AQHA & Paint horses. Former trainer had no respect for any discipline outside his own.
It’s nice to be in a barn where new things are encouraged. I know this will sound a bit odd but riding this gelding is the closest I have ever come to experiencing a horse really responding to the leg cues and letting you know just how to “ask”.
“English” horses should ride that way, however as hunter type riding is the most popular, and jumping is a major part of that, the big hustle is to get both horses and riders jumping before anyone bothers with flat work.
Horses trained to WP make excellent starter horses for people learning dressage, we just need to adjust their gaits a bit, and teach them to lengthen as well as shorten and they are good to go. Witness Lynn Palm.
I have been training my dressage mare to do WP. Not breed show quality, but should be able to have fun at Open shows, and maybe Ranch horse. I find that by going SLOW, it is much easier to fine tune the buttons, and she is able to be more attentive and responsive. It also helps me to work on my core strength/control and to not rely on my inside rein for anything!
I will say though, that not all WP specialist horses are that well trained steering wise. They may have great body control speed wise, and “frame” wise, but not that trained to steer (neck reining) any more than needed for a rail class. The western riding and trail horses have to have much more body control put on them to be competitive. The horses in the faster events like reining & working western are (in my opinion) trained to be even sharper off the aids and are much more alert to the rider’s every move.
[QUOTE=Just Not Native;8157357]
Are all horses in Western disciplines trained in this way? - Western Trail, Western Ranch horse. etc.[/QUOTE]
If the owner CARES to have a well-trained horse, then yes.
My people are often surprised when they find out my “crazy barrel horse” can also do flying lead changes on cue and spins in a reining pattern, as well as flawlessly complete a competitive trail course (backing through obstacles), perform a nice showmanship pattern, etc.
My horse is well-trained because I have taken the time to do so.
There are many WP horses that are very well-trained and some … not so much.
Just like how the very first English-trained horses I was exposed to didn’t know how to STOP. :no: Wasn’t a fault of the English way of riding, but a fault of the owner’s lack of training.
[QUOTE=merrygoround;8157551]
“English” horses should ride that way, however as hunter type riding is the most popular, and jumping is a major part of that, the big hustle is to get both horses and riders jumping before anyone bothers with flat work.[/QUOTE]
Sorry for hijacking the thread a bit, but when I got back into seriously riding after several decades of either not riding or just riding casually, I was shocked at this attitude. My new instructor had me jumping almost immediately and we have totally ignored many of the basics of flat work that I KNOW I need to work on. Fortunately, I have a horse and can work on these things on my own and I’m assertive enough to request that we spend lesson time working on specific things, but most of the other lesson students do not have the background to know what is missing.
And Bluey, when WP is polls below the withers, jogs that aren’t true two beat gaits, and lopes that aren’t true three beat gaits, then everybody ought to be against it, if for no other reason than that it’s explicitly against the current rules of the major breed organization (AQHA).
OP, I mostly ride hunt seat, but I have a mule that was started under saddle and got several months of training with a reining trainer. Legs and weight shift are the major cues he responds to. Reins are just a minor input. In fact, the mule gets a little crabby if you get too handsey (one of my big riding faults). 
[QUOTE=CHT;8157561]
I have been training my dressage mare to do WP. Not breed show quality, but should be able to have fun at Open shows, and maybe Ranch horse. I find that by going SLOW, it is much easier to fine tune the buttons, and she is able to be more attentive and responsive. It also helps me to work on my core strength/control and to not rely on my inside rein for anything!
I will say though, that not all WP specialist horses are that well trained steering wise. They may have great body control speed wise, and “frame” wise, but not that trained to steer (neck reining) any more than needed for a rail class. The western riding and trail horses have to have much more body control put on them to be competitive. The horses in the faster events like reining & working western are (in my opinion) trained to be even sharper off the aids and are much more alert to the rider’s every move.[/QUOTE]
Very interesting.
I think that nicely answers some of the OP’s questions.
