The first is western. When most people who have no experiences with horses whatsoever think of riding, usually they think of western. The saddle in western style of riding is larger and more decorative than english. It is the saddle with the saddle horn that ranchers used to (and still do today) use to rope cattle. Western saddles typically have silver to decorate them and are made of light brown engraved leather. People often use western saddles to break young horses (unless the horse is only going to be ridden english) because they are bigger and allow less movement of the rider in the saddle in case the horse moves really fast and surprises the rider. An added benefit is that people can grab the horn if the horse spooks! Western style riding is slower and more methodical than english. As for gaits, the trot is called a jog and the canter is called a lope, and they're supposed to be way slower than english. A good western jog that will win you classes in hard competion must be so slow that it's barely even moving. People ride western in classes such as trail, ranch horse, western riding, gymkhana and a variety of other classes, too. If you're not someone who likes to show, just someone who likes to go out and ride the trails, western style will be what you'll use. As for clothes, western style clothing is far dressier than english clothes. People wear bright, flashy colors and often have rhinestones on their shirts, along with glittery studs or necklaces. Cowboy hats are mandatory, and they can either be made of ultrasuede (suede that is less delicate and cleans better than regular) or, in some occasions, straw. Another usual piece of clothing is chaps. These are a fringed (usually) sort of leg covering made of either ultrasuede or leather. They aren't exactly mandatory, but in tough competition they might as well be: you'll stick out like a sore thumb if you aren't wearing chaps. They give riders a sort of finished look, and make their legs seem longer. Last are boots and spurs. People wear customary cowboy boots and rowelled spurs...there isn't really much variation.
PROS
Riding-wise, western is good because, like I mentioned earlier, you're much more secure. You can't move quite as much, so if the horse spooks you're less likely to fall off. In my opinion, western is easier physically- at the trot you pretty much have to sit, and that's it . It's less scary, also, because it's more secure. I'm typically braver riding western because I feel like I have a better chance of staying safe. The clothes are also fun because there's so much variety. If you have the money to create a nice outfit, there are virtually countless options. You can get the shirt custom-made from either a design you saw and liked or a design you made up. You can pick the color scheme of an outfit and make everything match, including the chaps, boots, and hat. You can have as much "bling" as you want, and pick whatever pattern of fabric suits you. It's kind of like a big fashion show, so it's fun if you like that kind of thing.
CONS
I find western incredibly irritating sometimes, because it's so dang slow! It's really hard to compete in tough competition with young horses because young horses typically can't go overly slow. Even with a really good horse, it's tough to compete in at least pleasure (simply trotting and cantering around the ring) without constantly having a trainer riding your horse and forcing him to be good. The security in the saddle is a double-sided sword, also. Sometimes, the secure feeling is kind of restricting and you feel like you can't move enough to cue the horse well enough. Also, riding western and trying to be really good is expensive. Saddles are thousands of dollars if you want to get a fancy one, but even on the low scale they can be in the high hundreds. Clothes are expensive, especially if you get them custom made. I saw a plain green shirt at a "name brand" shop at a horse show once that was six hundred dollars! If you're looking to be really competitive without spending much on accessories, western is not for you. Another downside to western is how trendy it is. People are constantly changing what is "hot", and it's really frustrating when you spend hundreds of dollars on an outfit that is out of style next show season! Plus you get stuck doing some stupid things in order to be considered in the "in" crowd. (Even though this sounds really dumb, in horse showing sometimes it pays to be a follower. Whether they admit it or not, judges will unconsciously place you higher if you look like you're up to date on trends in the horse industry. It's a psychological thing.) As I said, western (at least how they show in the Quarter Horse) is like a big fashion show, and if you don't really do that kind of thing, western is not for you.
Okay. The other style of riding is english. People ride in an english saddle when they're jumping, doing dressage, doing hunter under saddle, or other classes. English has a much smaller saddle that's typically made out of dark colored leather with few adornments. English riding is faster-paced in both the jog, called a trot, and the lope, called a canter. The trot is longer-strided than you'd want in western, and so is the canter. In the trot, you do what is called posting. This is where you sort of stand up in the saddle...except not really...haha. It's very hard to describe. Clothes in english are developed to be plainer than western. You wear tan or brown colored breeches and tall boots that go up to your knees. You put small, unroweled spurs on your boots and wear a plain-colored button-down shirt underneath a plain jacket. You also wear a black velvet helmet. And now I'm kind of running out of steam so I'm going to be a slacker with the rest of the description.
PROS
One good thing about english is that the clothes are more comfortable. All you have to do is pull on the breeches and the shirt and jacket, and you're ready to go: you don't have the struggle of zipping chaps (which is horrible...!) or messing with belts and things, and you can focus more on getting on the horse and riding. I like english because it's freer and you can move more- it's easier to feel how the horse is moving and know how to correct them.
CONS
English is physically harder. The posting is quite a workout for your legs, and you have to work harder to keep your legs still in all gaits. A lot of people (like BRAN MUFFIN) don't do english because it is a more difficult style of riding to learn. Also, the saddle brings some negatives along with its benefits. If the horse spooks while you're riding english, you have a much better chance of falling off than you do riding western. Because of both the saddle and the faster pace, I find english much scarier if the horse I'm riding is either young (and therefore not quite trustworthy...!) or is feeling their oats (horse terms for BEING A SPAZ!!). Plus, english is pretty typey (Yes, I'm pretty sure that's a word. My mom uses it all the time). To compete in hunter under saddle (the english equivalent of pleasure) in tough competition, your horse has to be pretty much all legs. They have to have a certain "flat" look and have really big strides. Otherwise, no matter how well your horse moves, you won't do as well as someone with a taller horse. In other classes, it doesn't matter as much... but it's still definitely a factor.
All in all, I like both styles of riding. It depends on what horse I'm riding and the conditions around me which style I prefer.
I would comment about the thing you wrote, but I saw how long it was and I decided it wasnt worth it.
ReplyDelete