I have a friend with a Schleese. Seems like a lovely saddle.
IIRC, there seems to be two forms of dressage in western tack. āCowboy Dressageā came from the Morgan folks and was promoted there. āWestern Dressageā came from elsewhere. There were some significant differences and a ton of similarities. Western Dressage seems much more prevalent now.
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Yesā¦ but because Morgan shows are (mostly) USEF affiliated, they use the Western Dressage rules.
The WDAA is a USEF affiliate and is totally sanctioned. Their judges and TDs have to go through all the USEF mandated programs too.
I donāt think so. Cowboy Dressage is the invention of an Isreali trainer named Eithan Beth-Helachmy. That guy is more along the lines of Vaquero, Natural Horsemanship.
Cowboy dressage has lots of poles and patterns involved, Western Dressage does not.
There are In-Hand levels of Cowboy Dressage; I donāt think Western Dressage has that.
The over-arching goal or the characteristic you should have from/with your horse at all times in Cowboy Dressage is āsoft feel.ā I donāt recall that being A Thing so much in Western Dressage.
The two organizations were conjoined in the very beginning. They are separate now.
Because Beth-Halachmy has been so central to Cowboy Dressage, I donāt think the Morgan crowd was involved.
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It is illegal to use a pole (Vaquero) in western dressage WDAA.
The WDAA version of western dressage is basically exactly dressage ridden in western equipment. Contact is the same.
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Working equitation includes both a dressage test and obstacles-done once for āease of handlingā and once at speed. It has a pole used to spear a ring on a bull form.
Itās a lot of fun. Hoping to get it started in Florida but so far itās really small.
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Hereās the bridle/bit i use for the horse iām training for western dressage. Heās about to get an upgrade to an eggbit single break snaffle.
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Gorgeous horse and bridle but boy howdy does that bit look low!
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yes thank you! i was just trying it on for size. Was transitioning him from fullcheek snaffle into something elseā¦ This one was the right width, but waaaay to thick for him. He hated it. He goes in an eggbutt all the time now.
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Weāre starting western dressage over here. Possibly cowboy dressage as well, as I canāt see any reason not to try exercises from both worlds (other than trying to decipher the cowboy dressage court, which baffles me in videos Iāve seen). And weāll probably dabble in breed show ranch horse & working equitation as well.
My horse is just happier at an engaged jog and in western tack which I cannot fully understand but he keeps telling me so, so Iām rolling with it. He loves his mullen snaffle with a roller, which I could only find in western styles, and he also loves a similar curb with swivel cheeks. Heās always been fussy in a noseband, so we just omitted it and heās happy as a clam.
I find riding on a curb like that with two hands āweirdā but he doesnāt fully neck rein yet so weāre teaching him. My eventual goal is to go one handed with him. I used to teach all of my horses a basic neck rein so that I could put a hand in my pocket in winter while riding, but I want him to have all the buttons and a true neck rein.
In middle age, what I want is a happy horse and to have fun again. I found myself getting just way too serious with āstraightā dressage. Iām not sure why, clearly other people can have fun with āstraightā dressage, but I think it triggered some type A part of my personality that I canāt turn off, plus the anxiety that comes with middle age. I switch to western tack, my horses and I relax. I wonāt take off my helmet and I canāt imagine me in sparkly clothes, but weāll be participating on the western side of things (and maybe Iāll warm up to looking like a disco ball over time). Yes, it may be slightly different than ānormalā dressage. But having more things to do with your horse, and adding in some of the dressage concepts to western riding isnāt criminal. In fact, Iād say for a public feeling increasingly like equine sports are elitist and out of reach, itās a darned smart idea.
Now, if I could just get over my absolute hatred of country musicā¦
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When I was showing western dressage, my attire was very workmanlike. I wore my custom chaps, but I really didnāt have any bling on my western show shirt. I just got one in a pretty color from Hobby Horse and had it tailored and matched it with a pretty saddle blanket. And I always wore my helmet.
Oh, that comes later, when you venture over into showing in western horsemanship and trail at the breed shows. The bling, it sneaks up on you. One Swarovski crystal at a time. Just ask me how I know. 
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I originally come from hunter-land so even the dressage bling seemed likeā¦a lot. I just wish I could have worn that stuff before the middle aged bits became soā¦droopy and jiggly. 
I do like wearing jeans and chaps though. And Iāve got my eye on some custom chinks. I just have to get to the point where Iām really committed to spend that kind of money.
I loved trail classes when I was in 4H many moons ago as a child. I might end up dabbling over there as well! Since Iām building the obstacles anyway for WEā¦once we master them who knows what Iāll do. The obstacles also seem to lower my anxiety levels since thereās a focus on doing āsomethingā.
Seems like these western-style events open up a whole heap of options!
Western dressage is all the rage now and groups like the WDAA are doing a super job being both horse and competitor friendly.
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