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kay..out with it, whats your thoughts?
So after reading and making comments on what others are doing with their horses i figured I'd start a thread, maybe it will catch maybe it won't. I want to know what displine you chose to admire or ride, and what you hate about it, what you love about, why you chose it, and most importantly what you DISLIKE about what others see in that displine.
I guess I should go first..
I ride western pleasure mainly, but as an APHA/breed show type rider I do do the Hunter Under Saddle (which is kind of like western pleasure just in english tack), and hms, sms, halter, and trail class. I love what I do because I love the connection between horse and rider, and how these techniques look so easy and yet when I am training I am sweating! The no rein contact and yet the horse is so slow, the collection and feel I ahve for my horse is amazing. I love the beautiful clothes I get made for me, and feeling like a princess for about 6 minutes a time when I am showing. What I hate about the displine is the cost to participate, train,the horse, the show tack, and show fees which is quite ridiculous, but thank fully I ahve a understanding coach, a awesome horse, and fantastic family to support me. I chose it because when I saw it on youtube it seemed slow and that i just sat there (MAN WAS I WRONG!) but I stuck with it because it was a western displine that did not involve speed and I lost quite alot of weight because its so hard to ride! What I dislike about people and western pleasure, is they always assume when I am talking western pleasure I am talking about having a pleasurefull ride in a western saddle (kinda like a trail ride), not that there is an actual displine called WP! I also hate when inexperienced people tell me my horse looks sad and lame because of his lope or jog due to the speed and his head set.
now its your turn..
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on
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I ride dressage, although I also love to jump (low jumps!) and go hacking in the woods. I am lucky enough to train with a top rider and every day I learn something new.
I'm currently looking for a new horse and hoping that he or she will come close to my current horse, who is definitely a "10".
I have never trained at all in Western riding and I have to say that I'm finding reining very intriguing. Maybe one day, I'll give it a try!
I guess what I don't like is people calling dressge riders "DQ's" (Dressage Queens). I don't really feel like royalty while I'm cleaning the poop out of my horse's feet! :)
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Permalink Reply by Jackie Cochran on
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I ride Forward Seat, a variation of hunt seat. As far as my feelings about FS there is absolutely nothing I don't like about it. As long as I stay within the parameters of FS I do not abuse the horses I ride, and the horses I ride stay calm and listen to my aids in spite of all my problems with MS. Using the FS methods, even with my problems with MS, I have been able to improve horses that tended to be unmanageable with other riders, and after I ride the horses for a while other people have an easier time riding and controlling them too.
Due to my MS, FS is rather athletic for my abilities and I find it very tiring. My balance is too uncertain to jump safely right now, and jumping is the wonderful fun thing about FS. So I am using A LOT of my limited energy now in getting my two-point stable, getting my legs right and teaching my legs the proper place to grip, and in keeping my shoulders back. Very tiring, but my seat continues to get stronger. Maybe someday I can do a low jump again.
As for other people, the thing that irritated me the most decades ago was that other people assumed I could not ride because my horse was sooo calm, obedient to the aids, and a pure joy to ride. Nowadays I just do not care what people think, but I care A LOT about what the horses think of my riding. So long the horses stride forward freely, cheerfully accept contact with the bit, and obey me promptly I figure I am riding decently in spite of my considerable physical and neurological defects.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Lamm on
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Yay Jackie, who cares what other people think... if they didn't think so much and listened more they might learn something. :)
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Permalink Reply by A_Sassy_Temptation on
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Jackie, would you figure that riding has benefitted you through being diagnosed or being treated for MS? and I would love to know more about Forward seat..
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Hey Sassy..... I enjoyed reading about you, thanks for that.... I am a backyard horse owner just figuring out horses and learning not to be afraid of everything they do... not because I'm scared of them perse, just never been around them in my life till I got my own so my fear was just like a "wow, I didn't know horses did THAT..." ... at first my discipline was teaching myself how to keep them alive, LOL... I guess I just really got into herd dynamics, what makes a horse tic, how to communicate, so that is my passion.... my discipline at the moment is liberty work.... joining up, ground work, inspired by Cavalia... .... my goal is to get my bad boy into a trailer and see this country of ours on horseback, trailride and just hang out with Oliver...... my other horse Toby is an elder so while he is here with us we all just hang out, do our routines at home and go on trailrides with my trainer.... I am just into having a relationship with the horses.... what I hate about it is other people think it's boring, they think I don't care to ride, they give me too many opinions, and they are inconsiderate around a timid inexperienced rider... this is why I pretty much hang out alone with my horses for now... trying to just be a good horseperson.... I
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I was you like 5 years ago! I just had a backyard horse, and she had problems so I didn't ride her, and thats when I got into CHris Irwins work for 2 years, then I sold that horse due to our relationship, moved onto hunter jumpers, then onto my WP. GOOD LUCK!
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Permalink Reply by 4XChestnut on
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My love is dressage, but my horse and I do enjoy jumping too so we event at a very low level (Entry for now, maybe PreTraining some day) as well. I got into it a bit by accident, showing my first horse in a quiet environment. I moved to doing Hunters for a while, and then came back to dressage and it felt like coming home the first time we trotted down the centreline again.
I love those moments when the horse lightens, and we have just a whisper between us doing whatever - trot, canter, leg yield, shoulder in, half pass, flying changes, whatever. I live for those moments. I love the improvements in power and self carriage that my horse has shown as we get further into it. I love the challenge of putting things together into a pattern or test while keeping the harmony and making it look easy. This year I can't afford to show, but I am still super happy to progress with my horse and improve both of us. Showing isn't the reason for my riding, it's just an extra bit of fun now and then.
The thing I hate is seeing some of the horses at the upper levels choked, forced, and unhappy. I was once spectating at one show that was so bad I actually said "If I have to make my horse go like that I don't want to ever get to that level." I don't like seeing the lower level horses pulled into false frames either, but at that level I can hope they are still learning on their dressage journey. I don't like seeing flashy moves that are only flashy because of incorrect execution rewarded with high marks.
I dislike that riders in other disciplines think that we are riding with a bazillion pounds of pressure on the reins every second. Sure we have contact, but it can be light as a feather even with the slack taken out of the reins.
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