This is from 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stEgqgnbC4M
Is this still preferred?
What is your opinion?
Yes still preferred. IMO I don’t like it. It has changed so much over the years to wogging and tropping.
I’m going to assume you mean the riding style.
Pretty much – riding starts around 1:03. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjF1v4foBqI
(it’s the 2012 equivalent)
In my not so humble opinion, I think Ranch Horse Pleasure is A LOT lovelier to watch; it doesn’t make me cringe anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp_bFVGbVA4
ETA: I find it amusing that the WP rider’s “victory lap” was more like a victory circle – it would have taken far too long to get around the arena to the awarding committee at that pace.
Basically, yes, still what you see pinning on top…although the 2 that did pin on top actually did have a 2 beat “trot” and 3 beat “canter”. Some of the others added alot of beats:rolleyes:
Back when I was still in Western they started the “poll must be above withers” farce…you can see how bravely the judges enforce that after all this time (decades here)
However, if that’s what you like, you buy an appropriately bred and built horse that hit the ground taking short pitty pat steps and a natural low carriage? I actually have no problem with it.
And I like the bling and the clothes.
It seems that the majority of people dislike (some very strongly) what western pleasure has become. Yet if that is what everyone is doing in the show ring, it must be what the judges are looking for. I hope that in the future, the current WP style will become a distant memory and the horses will move like horses again. I would like to pick the brain of a WP judge and have them explain what they are looking for. What would happen if you had a lovely natural moving horse in a WP class collected but with impulsion and a real 3 beat canter- would they pin last? OK rant over.
Yes more than likely in today’s wp they will pin last unless everyone else is doing it or the whole group was a train wreck.
[QUOTE=rabicon;6594248]
Yes more than likely in today’s wp they will pin last unless everyone else is doing it or the whole group was a train wreck.[/QUOTE]
There was one judge at Scottsdale last week that was rewarding the slightly more forward/more natural movers. I wanted to go hug them. So, there are some that are trying.
Scottsdale…Arab or AQHA?
AQHA The Scottsdale Classic held last week. Not sure which judge it was, but I was glad to see it.
I really like the Ranch Horse Pleasure. 
To me, that is what western pleasure should look like.
I can’t believe it. That great I thought you meant Arab at first but if it was aqha I’m really surprised. Good job judge
I experienced just last weekend two judges that used a good mover over the untrue movers (ie no true 3 beat lope or 2 beat jog). I was asked to fill the amateur and junior western pleasure class on my AQHA hunter mare. I don’t think I have had a western saddle on her for anything in over 6 months. I taught her to “jog” in the warm-up pen and then asked her to settle into a nice canter that was really relaxed. I ended up second in both classes under both judges, picking up some points. No, she is not a western horse, and I didn’t try to imitate one either. But she went around relaxed, happy, with high quality movement and an appropriate stride length for her body. And it was rewarded by both of the AQHA judges I showed to last weekend.
Western pleasure horses were once meant to be horses that looked like a dead broke, safe, anyone-can-ride-it kind of horse, and anyone could take it out to work. In the mean time, it people equated ‘slow’ with ‘safe’ and then it became a ‘my horse is slower and safer than yours’ contest and those horses were being rewarded.
I will say that they have become a lot better over the past few years though which makes me happy. I’d rather see a horse move out freely and naturally than become a peanut-pusher. Sometimes I want to become a judge myself just so I can have a hand in moving it back to where it was suppose to be.
I’m glad maybe there’s a change on the horizon. In my area they still reward the not natural IMO movers.
Oh… it’s still pretty awful in general. But… even within the breed community people are getting sick of it. So, maybe there is hope!
I show in breed shows, but refuse to do Western Pleasure. It is possible for my gelding to move like that, but I won’t do it. It’s painful for me to watch it, and it’s not the way he wants to go.
I show in Horsemanship and Western Riding. Both allow a faster pace.
I cringe when I watch the WP class. There’s one horse at my barn who is a natural WP horse. Out in the field on his own he’ll move at the same slow, but free-moving, cadence. It’s beautiful to watch. Not surprisingly, he wins a lot.
But he’s the exception.
I’m starting to work on the Ranch Horse Pleasure classes. Have yet to show, but I love the patterns.
Would you say that the ranch/stock horse pleasure classes have horses that are (or could be) actually working ranch horses?
I’m just curious since I ride hunters and there’s usually a trainwreck whenever anyone wants to talk about whether most show hunters could actually chase some hounds.
[QUOTE=kateh;6595677]
Would you say that the ranch/stock horse pleasure classes have horses that are (or could be) actually working ranch horses?
I’m just curious since I ride hunters and there’s usually a trainwreck whenever anyone wants to talk about whether most show hunters could actually chase some hounds.[/QUOTE]
I think so. It comes down to the individual horse and what they have been exposed to, but I know horses who have been used for ranch horse pleasure classes that go home the next day and work cattle.
[QUOTE=Mukluk;6593644]
This is from 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stEgqgnbC4M
Is this still preferred?
What is your opinion?[/QUOTE]
I do think it’s still preferred, though I don’t show AQHA.
I think this horse is exceptional. I love the jog as she enters, though on the rail the horse should have been bumped up just a hair to keep the cadence. I thought the lope looked natural and effortless.
While I think lopes have improved, jogs have suffered. So many horses could have better jogs if the rider would just bump them up a tad to ensure it’s true-ness. And some just are bred to be great lopers these days and not natural joggers.
the op’s video the horse when entering had a nice jog, very pretty and head at a decent level, also the horse appeared to keep the head at about a 45 deg angle and not behind the verticle
the lope was not bad and better than the 2012 horse but the head was starting to get a tad low
its not for everyone but many horses are bred to do just that and not all have to be forced into it
