English vs. Western Riding: Which is easier?

Comment

Comment by Laura on February 16, 2009 at 12:35am

I agree a lot with MegPerdizzle... western saddles are made for people out west to herd cattle in, they're sturdy so if need be, one could rope a cow to them, and are easier to stay in well, if a cattle is trying to get away from you, and u got a rope around its neck, you better hope you stay in the saddle!!

however, it is very difficult to generalize western vs. english because simply there are too many types of each. If the question were "western vs. english... which is easier for a beginner?" then i would have to say western, simply because of the saddle, it holds you in more.

However i personally believe (im sorry if this disses anyone, im not meaning to!) that it is more beneficial for one to begin with english, not necessarily jumping, to develop good posture and balance. In western one must have good posture as well, but i've found that more western trainers are not as focused on posture than english trainers; that's my personal findings. As well i believe that it is simpler (again just in my experience) to ride and excel in english, and then switch to western (assuming one is going just from english pleasure to western pleasure). Then one has already acquired the necessary balance and control of a faster horse, riding in a piece of leather with a pair of stirrups on it; switching to a (possibly) slower horse, riding in a lot of leather that holds you in, it would seem to take less time retraining old muscles and training new ones as well.

But as one advances in difficulty in either western OR english, it gets harder; that's when specific styles of riding must be compared to one another, not the genre of english and western.

btw, im a dressage rider, and i do believe that dressage and western pleasure both fall equally on the their own difficulty scale... however i also believe that it is much harder to ride a correct passage or piaffe than to lope a few times around the arena. as i said before, once the degree of difficulty has shifted, than it is nearly impossible to state western is easier than english or vis-a-vis.

Woah i looked back on this and realized it sounds like im writing an essay for english class^^

Comment by Claire on February 6, 2009 at 3:30pm

I can see how it can go both ways. On one hand, I'm used to English, so...

but on the other hand, you have extra to hold onto for safty on western...

but arn't you not supposed to post while trottiing western? IDK I forget.

I say english.

Comment by Maria on February 6, 2009 at 9:51am

Western!! I like to ride western when I get the chance! It's really fun!:)

Comment by sarah on February 5, 2009 at 4:05pm

i think western

Comment by Barn Culture on April 21, 2008 at 1:34pm

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