[QUOTE=beau159;7473064]
Have you actually gone and counted all the Western riders in the world, counted how many are bad riders, and then counted all the English riders in the world (and how many were bad). And let’s not forget the people who ride in Austrailian saddles, and how many of them are bad.
Your generalization of Western riders and that there are more bad riders in Western riding (simply because there are more) is ridiculous. There’s no point in even saying it because there are bad riders in every discipline.
How is that ridiculous? Haha it’s simple, numbers. If there are 4 bad riders out of every 10 riders, in any discipline, and your discipline has the most riders… Not to mention that bad “trainers” create more bad riders. There are plenty of poor riders in every discipline, but not only is this the largest, but it is less socially accepted in the western circles to take lessons, etc.
I’ve seen my fair share of English riders who can’t balance themselves in the saddle and just hang on their horse’s mouth the whole time. And I’ve ridden English-trained horses that had terrible stopping abilities because rein contact meant nothing to them; they just ignored it. Yet you don’t see me going around saying how English riding harbors bad riders.
Your quote itself “Western riding already harbors so many poor riders” I find quite insulting.
And who exactly has told you that?
That’s ridiculous.
While I will agree there are plenty of bad riders in barrel racing who give the rest of us a bad name (because it looks easy to people … how hard can it be to run around 3 cans?), there are still many of us who strive to be good horsepeople and have good horsemanship.
While I enjoy many different horse activities, my main passion is barrel racing. Most people are surprised that my “crazy barrel horse” can go win a western pleasure class or a reining class (locally, of course).
The fact that people are surprised by this just proves my point. It should not shock the masses that your horse can do this. They should all be able to, that is the result of proper training.
They don’t understand the time that a GOOD barrel racer puts into their horse to have a finely-tuned athlete that they can control every piece of their body, which is essential when you are running full speed toward a barrel and need to make a split-second adjustment.
Yes, I have actually, I used to work for a guy that would take me out to his farm to ride his barrel racers after we were done galloping at the track. It is like any other discipline, if you do your flatwork and take care of your horses legs, develop good core strength, you should do well and set your self up to progress. The issue is, I’ve only ever met a handful of barrel racers who can actually ride, and create good horses. The flailing hands, swinging legs, flopping bodies, and poorly trained horses are sadly the norm. It is a shame, it is a relatively simple sport to participate in, compared to jumping, dressage, etc and it could be a great stepping stone into the competitive world. Instead most barrel races are nothing more than a glitter fest with no regard for good training and well rounded horses.
Have you ever actually tried barrel racing?
Sorry to hear you’ve been exposed to such a crowd. They’re certainly putting wrong ideas in your head.[/QUOTE]
It might surprise you to know that one of my all time favorite riders and idols is none other than Martha Josey. Martha is a real horsewoman. A real rider.
