Which Horse Riding Style: Western or English?
Learning how to ride is a very rewarding experience, but it can often be a bit confusing as to which type of riding is most suited to your goals with regards to what you want to do with your horse. A good place to start is by talking to experienced riders. Find out what they like about each style and see which fits you the best. You’ll find that whichever style you choose, you’ll have to comit a good amount of time to learning the basics, and even more if you want to be a competitive rider.
If you are going to compete, knowing what you want to do in the competition is essential before choosing a riding style. If you like the more formal style of dressage, hunt seat and saddle seat, than your choice will be the English riding style. But if you’re the more casual type who prefers a comfy pair of jeans, a cowboy hat and loping the trails or competing in the myriad of western competitive events, then the western riding style is for you. You can ride for pleasure on the trails with either style of riding.
Besides just what events you can compete in there are also differences to the actual riding styles. Western riding tends to be more casual with the rider somewhat relaxed on the back of the horse, longer stirrups with less posting during riding and more firmly affixed to the back of the horse to maintain balance. Western riding also has the reins held in one hand, leaving the other hand free for using a rope. With English riding the rider has shorter stirrups that keep the rider erect and forward in the saddle with reins in both hands. Some English riding will require double reins, one set to direct the motion of the horse and one set to control the head position. English riding also has several different styles including hunt seat, dressage, saddleseat, and endurance. Each of these disciplines has their own style of tack – a dressage saddle, jumping saddle, all purpose saddle, and so on.
Once you make a decision on which style you prefer, make sure you are wearing proper safety equipment, including a riding helmet. This is a must for all junior and novice riders. When you select a style you can always decide to learn the other style at a later date, after all your horse can certainly learn another style, but learning both at the same time is overwhelming and can lead to confusion.
Filed under: horse • horse riding
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Very good article about making a choice about what riding styles are available. Recreational riders need to know there is a style evolving that can best be described as “trail” Instead of a Western or English saddle the rider can choose a comfortable trail saddle that fits both rider and horse and has no horn like a Western saddle and can have billets and stirrups that are English style. This style of riding can also make use of bitless bridles that are sometimes not allowed for either English or Western riding events. The best of these bridles can be found at http://www.bitlessbridle.com. The “trail” style of riding can offer competitions for pleasure along pleasant trail venues, and these are called Judged Pleasure Rides or Judged Obstacle Rides. Read more about this “trail” style in Basic Training for a Safe Trail Horse, a small paperback available on Amazon.com or from the author at safetrailhorse@gmail.com
Western riding is not the casual style as you put it in your article. It is a different style with balance, sitting the jog and other movements not noticeable by the average viewer. It has gotten the bad reputation of “anyone can do it” because the western saddle is the most common saddle found on horse rental strings.