LOCK ME PLEASE C:

[west ,]

And, I ride English, but I don't ride like that. You do t really keep a tight rein, you keep it as short as you need to to keep the contact. Plus, I agree with Hekomi. That western jump looks a bit uncomfortable. Not saying I disagree with you, because you are right on done parts but English riding isn't all that.
They are different types of riding and we do things differently.

[scene_kid]

Thank you . I know being left behind is a common thing but the horse has bolted at that jump ad the girl has made no effort to give with her hand. That bit is also a harsh horrible should be burnt bit! I just (not trying to be rude) dislike people giving English riding a bad name when the dont know alot about English riding. Plus a few pictures doesn't show even 00.00000001% of English riding so to judge everyone who rides English on a couple of pictures is quite (dunno how to say this other than) rude (sorry I don't want to come across as arrogant)

[Jen-chan]

i have always ridden english but thats only because thats what i was taght on.The only time i have the reins tight is when the horse decidds to go to the edge of the ring to nibble on grass or lower their head to try and grab some grass while im on them.The one horse i rode for my last intermediate horseback year Belle a part draft horse had a strong neck and they put a small girl on her.She kept tugging and tugging on the reins unable to pull Belles head up.Belle because the other ring was flooded liked the grass that was in the older ring and kept lowering her head as we where excersising and pullign up the grass to eat causing the others to have to go around or pull up short.They switched me on to Belle and the other girl on Jasmine who liked to go as slow as possible and hated to go into a trot.I could keep my riens at a comfortable length for Belle and keep her head up away from the ground.Less trouble after that and Belle behaved afterwards.We even convinced the one guy who also rode her to braid her mane and tail for the horseshow

[Hekomi]

I agree; I would never judge western riding, mainly because I've never done it myself. I'd love to try it, it looks great and fun. English riding just gets a bad rep because it's the majority and some English riders can be snobs and mean.

[scene_kid]

I agree; I would never judge western riding, mainly because I've never done it myself. I'd love to try it, it looks great and fun. English riding just gets a bad rep because it's the majority and some English riders can be snobs and mean.

Tell me about that some of the girls at livery yards are such (can't say the word I would like to), that makes me nervous about owning my own livery (it's still being built) but I will make it 18+ DIY yard. Thats why my comments were so small on the western pics, I have ridden western once I personally couldn't stand it!

[Hekomi]

I'm fairly certain I never have, but I would love to have the opportunity. Some of the girls I ride with are pretty snobby, but not all English riders are. I don't consider myself snobby at all, and I hope I don't come off as it. xD I was basically self taught until maybe four years ago, so even though I could ride 3ft courses my eq was so bad and I was constantly fixing things because I had bad habits. I think some girls just get to a point where they think they're better than everyone else, which isn't true. I get girls staring down their noses at me when I ride my green baby because he's so hard to control at times and over jumps like a fiend. Well, he's a baby, what do you expect? xD But then those are also the girls who think they're just the bees-knees and generally aren't good riders.

When I first started lessons at my university, I was in a beginner jumper lesson [I do pretty much whatever lesson fits, and I don't care if it doesn't match my skill level so long as it's not beginner beginner. It helps me get more sold flat work and what not] and this one girl was like "oh yeah I'm so good I'm jumping like 2.5ft omg"... but she was afraid to canter her horse. It was just disappointing. But I love riding with beginners, or intermediate riders because they don't have that arrogance and I always make a point to compliment something they're doing. c: Some of the advanced riders are really sweet and helpful too, but basically anyone on our school show team is a bit stuck up. Not all, but most. The girl who rides my pony is nice though but she's complained about some of the other girls.

[Hoofbeats]

I need to say a couple of things about the English style rant.
We don't 'force' the horse to keep their head tucked, horses tuck their heads when jumping, also horses used for English are built differently than Western horses. So the horses move their body differently than Western horses.
Also, I got to admit but Western jumps, the girl is being left behind..... which can cause serious injury if she falls off.
Also we need to have contact with the horse when we ride ( well with some horses ) so we have to keep out reins short.
About the canter... not all canters are like that, and on some horses their canter can feel very smooth.
Also why are you ranting about English if you haven't ridden it yet?

Sorry if I said anything wrong or repeated anything. * Backs off *.
~ Sapphy

[Dolphinlover~]

Thanks Scene_kid I was hoping you'd reply. The picture of the western jumping just makes me feel so sorry for that horse. >< It's such a huge over jump and the girl isn't even in a position to move with the horse.

I totally agree with both scene_kid and Hekomi on this. First of all, we don't make our horses do what they don't want. If they didn't like their job, they wouldn't be doing it. Pretty much every horse I have ridden/seen loves their job and you can see that they do by everything they put into it. Not all riders ride with very tight reins. We ride with something called, contact, but riding with contact doesn't mean pulling on the horse's mouth. Most riders actually ride with very light hands.

Also, when jumping we are actually giving the horse a lot of freedom. Take that hunter picture for example, the rider is giving a nice correct crest release to give the horse his head and give him as much freedom as possible, and therefore not restricting him in any way. The rider is also out of the saddle making it easier for the horse to use back. In the western jump picture, the rider is pulling on the poor horse's mouth and she is in the saddle making it harder for the horse. I also feel terribly for the poor horse in that picture >.<

[Actually.A.Herondale]

I've ridden English, at least 3 times, and didn't like it. I admit, the choppy canter might just be because the only English horse I saw cantering was a little buckskin named Starbucks who is very stocky and doesn't look very english to me. I don't do the jumping, and during the show, I couldn't watch the western jumping (whatever it's called) because I was cooling down Cowboy in the indoor ring.

I wouldn't agree with you at all, here.

English riders don't always have the reins as tight as your pictures suggest.

In fact, in Western, I think that the shanks on the bits are massive. Even though western riders usually neck rein, if used incorrectly, that bit can do just as much, if not more damage.

Ah well, I'm not going to start a fight. I just think western and English riding types are so different they can't really be compared.

A lot of Western horses I see have hackmore bridles....no bit at all.

Thanks Scene_kid I was hoping you'd reply. The picture of the western jumping just makes me feel so sorry for that horse. >< It's such a huge over jump and the girl isn't even in a position to move with the horse.

The girl looks terrorfied, so she was probably a beginner at that ((not to mention it was the only side-view western jumping pic I could find...the rest were all english, even thought I typed in western -_-))...The only time I jumped was when Missy -the horse I used to ride- jumped unexpectedly over a very small log that she normally just walks over, but we were trotting so she jumped.

Again, I wasn't trying to be rude. I was only stating my thoughts, or else I would've gone mad and most likely snapped and yelled at some random guy on the street or to my neighbors who don't know anything about horse riding.


Another thing (has nothing to do with western vs english) is I really wish Starbucks (mentioned above) would've bucked the other day. The girl who was riding him was clearly not comfortable on him. Understandable, because she looked a little nervous and with everyone is nervous sometimes. Then the instructor got on him because he wouldn't canter, and the stupid man kept smacking him with the crop, and kicking him to get him to canter, but was also holding him back so he couldn't go forward. The man is 6 foot something, and Starbucks is rather small. The man deserved to be thrown off and kicked in the head, because he was being way to rough on the horse. Maybe the girl wasn't giving a good signal, or maybe Starbucks was just having a bad day. There was no need to be so hard on him.

[moreponiesneeded]

Another thing (has nothing to do with western vs english) is I really wish Starbucks (mentioned above) would've bucked the other day. The girl who was riding him was clearly not comfortable on him. Understandable, because she looked a little nervous and with everyone is nervous sometimes. Then the instructor got on him because he wouldn't canter, and the stupid man kept smacking him with the crop, and kicking him to get him to canter, but was also holding him back so he couldn't go forward. The man is 6 foot something, and Starbucks is rather small. The man deserved to be thrown off and kicked in the head, because he was being way to rough on the horse. Maybe the girl wasn't giving a good signal, or maybe Starbucks was just having a bad day. There was no need to be so hard on him.

I do believe the man was being harsh on Starbucks, but this, in not means, should mean you should judge the rest of the English riders. I ride english and hunter jump, and all the horses I ride happen to enjoy their job. There are re pro's and con's to different types of riding.