Western Pleasure

[amby]

Thanks to a WONDERFUL lady at my barn. The instructor that teaches at the ASU Equine Center. I now have a mare to get ready and show this summer. I am uber excited!! Do any of you guys show western pleasure and have any tips for learning to sit the trot and to recondition the out of shape pleasure horse. She is a joy to ride as long as she isn't TOO fresh.

My seat bones are still bruised from our ride today. My gaited boy spoiled me, even his trot is easy to post to!!

[kitcat0601]

Well, my Western Pleasure horse has a smooth jog so its easy to sit to. Most of the time, if they round their back and keep a nice headset, its very comfortable and you shouldnt bounce. Do alot of bending the head around to get the stiffness out. Do each side until she gives to the bit. It just takes time. Took me forever to figure out the headset, where to keep your hands, legs and so on. Its still hard for me. My horse works great off your leg but like alot of people I think the reins are going to save me when I dont need them much. Good luck. Hope Casper doesnt get too mad at you.

[bndranch]

First off YOU CAUGHT THE SHOW BUG........ your in trouble now!!!!!!!!!!!

Learning to ride western isn't as easy as some think. A true western pleasure horse will have a jog that you don't move. However I have had my share of WP horses that you HAVE to make the jog looks smooth. The best thing I can say is remember to sit deep on your pockets and let your hips do the moving. Keep your upper body AS STILL AS YOU CAN! If you ride english you already know what it is like to have to sit an extended trot, well in western the movement is so much small then that its ALOT easier. Best thing I can say is keep the legs still, and upper body and let your hips do the moving (with the horse that is!). I would start off at the walk and get used to her rhythm then ask for a S L O W jog almost to the point of walking but keep them moving LOL. There is a fine line there and its hard, but if she is a seasoned western horse there shouldn't be a problem.
For building her and getting her in shape I do TONS of trail riding, hills, backing, and lots of trotting.
Good luck and have TONS of fun!!

[wisteriafarms]

I don't know if I can explain this the way I think it lol, but I'll try ...

What I find helps me the most in trying to smoothly sit a trot is to count to myself "one, two, one, two...etc.", and at the same time I think of my hips moving in time to the counting. Once I start picturing that, my whole body relaxes, making it easier to keep my upper body still like Brittany was talking about, and I can feel Amistad relax along with me...which in turn makes his trot smoother and the whole process just continues to improve domino-effect-like lol. The important things (for me) are that when your hips move, they should be moving front to back, not up and down...and I don't MAKE my hips move, I LET them move.

Also, if I feel myself getting stiff, I picture a bunch of sand in my body and I imagine letting it all sink down into my butt and my heels. I had an instructor that said to picture a rope going from your hips to the floor and it was dragging a weight. That worked for me too, but not as well as the sand lol. It helps to think of your heels sinking as opposed to lifting your toes because it keeps your leg from getting too tense. Well, it does for me anyway lol.

Hope this is helpful...and I hope I explained myself right

Julie

[tinypony]

moving your hips front to back is definately prefered over up and down but sometimes i find that depending on the horse moving them left to right works better. when the horse trots (or jogs) especially slowly, you can really feel the left and right sides of their body moving up and down based on which diagonal pair is moving at the time. lets see if i can explain this.....

when going to the left, and the inside front leg (left) comes back, the left side of your seat goes down (only a slight bit) and then vice versa for the other step. it's not a large shift of weight but small and it's important to let the horse's body do most of the moving. all this excersize (can't spell today) is meant to do is keep your body more in sync with the horses for a smoother ride. hope this helps and i didn't confuse you too much!!

[amby]

I really appreciate all of the advice!! . Chassey seems to be doing much better now. She has been a lesson horse for soo long she has gotten used to doing her own thing. I have been riding her everyday and we are starting to gel at least a little bit. I must say I am glad that I am going to get to show her as, after our accident tonight, I think I may retire Casper from "show" prep for now. We will still do the halter shows when we can get a ride. And he and I will continue our "dressage" training, but mostly for pleasure. Less for the show stuff. I think I have lost sight of how much fun a horse should be. It has become so much stress. I want it to be fun again.
I guess you can see tonight was quite discouraging.