Maybe it’s the cowboy equivalent of crotch-grabbing? Young folks have strange ideas about what looks cool.
GAHhahahahahaha
I do think that it’s ‘cool’ in the ranch pleasure class, where you show how your horse can really trot out. (Horn-grabbing, not crotch-grabbing!)The ‘trot out’ or ‘extend the trot’ in the ranch horse pleasure class is a direct reaction to the western pleasure ‘jog’ crawl.
And, as such, I think the ranch pleasure riders hold the horn when the horse trots out to show how the horse has such a BIG, reaching trot that you have to hold the horn to stay steady in the saddle. Even if you have a lovely strong, balanced seat and don’t need to hold the horn.
Same thing, with hunter riders on a long, loopy rein or praying-mantis perching…they are exaggerating a mannerism in order to show how they can ‘throw the horse away’ or how ‘he has such a big, powerful bascule-ey jump that he jumps me right out of the tack’.
Or, as p’Aint misbehavin’ says…crotch grabbing is cool in a particular context.
And yes, there ARE western disciplines where it is appropriate to grab/hold the saddle horn. Saddles made for that discipline will have a taller, skinnier horn to make it easier to grab. Barrel saddles and cutting saddles made for those disciplines have tall skinny horns.
That said, a nightlatch is a lot easier to hold on to than a horn. Or your rope. Though if you have your rope on an appropriate lightweight rope strap that will break away in a storm, you risk falling off if the rope strap breaks. It isn’t unusual to see a ranch bronc rider (who ride in their regular working saddles with ropes, rather than the specialized horn-less rodeo bronc saddles) get bucked off because his rope strap breaks. They land in the dirt, holding on to their rope!
