That doesn’t seem to be the case in WDAC shows, but maybe things are different here in Canada. My understanding is each horse is evaluated on its own gaits and not to a single standard (ie warmblood gaits). Neither the small moving breeds nor the big moving ones are penalized because of their natural movement, as long as they are active, regular, and moving freely forward. The rule book says excessive speed or slowness will be penalized, but nothing about the type of gait that is preferred.
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Same bits as performance western horses. Saddles, for the most part, weigh the same. What else is the difference?
You might have specified, but the details of your specification apply elsewhere in the western industry and help to contribute to incorrect assumptions.
I just reread our WDAA rules, and maybe I misinterpreted. They do not favor big suspended gaits (which is not the same as penalizing), nor do they favor the western-pleasure type gaits, but the gaits must be pure and the horse must move naturally and happily in a manner consistent with the breed, “the western dressage horse is a WORKING horse.” They do allow gaited breeds to substitute the gaits for the jog. They do specifically say that it is not “Dressage in a western saddle.”
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And yet rule changes are regularly proposed (and some of them accepted) for most organizations. I guess anyone who proposes a rule change should have never joined the organization? And organizations should never evolve in any way?
Most equestrian sports are governed by tradition and I think it’s pretty reasonable to question whether there’s an actual reason for continuing that tradition or not. I think it would actually be interesting to know if USDF has ever given their reasoning for explicitly prohibiting Western saddles or if the reason is solely tradition.
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What a gorgeous horse you have. I love her.
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Because I leaned back my feet scooted forward. If you look at my picture under the original post that’s how this how the saddle aligns me. At any time I don’t have to struggle to stand up because my feet are underneath me
Thanks😊
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And so what? She’s stated she’s out there more or less to have fun. We don’t even know how her horse goes.
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Horse is KWPN and a big mover. More on the muscle than WD is looking for.
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I’m looking at the hip, knee, heel.
Ah,I see, like a teeter totter.
Yes. I don’t know why I leaned back. I was “posing” for a picture with Thierry Durand of the Cadre Noire. He asked for a picture of himself with us after my lesson with him.
Lovely horse. What are his bloodlines - reminds me a little from years ago that were Purioso sons.
What do you mean by on the muscle? This is a term I use when my horse pulls out her natural state of “bully” and gets needlessly strong because she thinks faster is better, or has a meltdown learning something new and tries to muscle her way out of it. For me, it’s not a term I would use in a positive way in any discipline.
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I guess on the muscle is not the right word. More forward maybe? Horse is a homebred by Sir Sinclair out of my now retired Keur Sport mare by Cabochon.
Forward shouldn’t be penalized.
Thanks for confirming my bloodlines suspicions. It’s so cool to look at a horse and wonder if there’s X,Y or Z way back and there is.
No, not forward. WDAA emphasizes that that the WD horse should move forward. But they don’t want to see big, lofty, suspended gaits, like what we see in many purpose bred warmbloods. You don’t want a super collected horse as a working partner for day work, but you do want a horse that moves freely, in a balanced manner, and from the hind end. Functional collection, versus high school collection. It should be a working horse - you should be able to take it from the arena to a cattle pen. The big warmblood gaits aren’t catty enough to make them good cow horses. Too much elevation.
It’s interesting, the traditional “Alta escuela”saddles at the SRS have a lot in common with a western saddle: rolled pommel and cantle with the balance of the saddle set back further, combination skirt/panel, some of them have no knee roll, some have thigh blocks and knee rolls. Guess you’d want those if you’re sitting a capriole.
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So who is in my horse’s bloodlines that you know? Sir? Sir
Amen. Once more for everyone who doesn’t want to abide by the rule book.
There is zero reason the OP can’t go do Western Dressage and have a blast doing it. Joann Williams earned a stack of WD World Championships on her Welsh gelding.
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So forward was the wrong word too. But big lofty yes. Any dressage saddle I’ve had certainly holds me in a lot more than this western saddle. It’s a hard seat with a little patch of paddng under your seat bones. It allows me to sit in balance. I added the buckrolls at the top more for tradition than anything else although the cowboys use them for exactly that, breaking in horses. I have to say a dressage saddle with a deep seat and big knee rolls is certainly much more secure but I’ve but I’ve always ended up with a back ache because I’m long legged and the blocks push my knee too far back and jam me in my lower back. Even though my saddle is a hard seat my back never hurts when I get out of my saddle even if my horse is being nappy.
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So why not change the rules for western dressage to be more accepting of horses with bigger movement?
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