One group that I am apart of is the “showing horses” group. I have shown horses my entire life. When I tell people this, many have the same reaction. The majority of people know of either horse racing (which really isn’t showing) or jumping. They just assume I do one of the two. They usually ask me if I jump, I guess to be polite. However, when I tell them I show western pleasure, the next question is always the same. WHAT IS THAT? I guess I should just start explaining it before they get the opportunity to ask me. Once they have asked this awful question, I have to answer it; and there is no short answer to this question. Since no one really seems to know what it really is, western pleasure is a western discipline of riding which focuses on all three of the horse’s gaits (walking, jogging, and loping in pleasure terms) being very slow and relaxed. The horse’s head should also be relaxed (being level or even lower) and collected (the horse’s nose should be slightly tucked). It is really hard to explain this to people who don’t know what it is. This is what a western pleasure horse should look like.

The next question I get is usually “what classes do you show in?” This is another difficult question to answer because my four classes include showmanship (where I am on the ground leading my horse executing a pattern), western pleasure (rail work), horsemanship (execute a pattern on the horse) and hunter under saddle (which is not a western discipline and done with an English saddle). The last class always throws people off. Yes, an English saddle is what people jump in and yes, all of my other classes are western, and yes, I am telling the truth. I’m sure whoever is reading this is lost right now. Below are some links of each type of class. The first is a video of me actually showing showmanship with my horse about 3 years ago. The second is at Congress and is a western pleasure class. The third is a horsemanship pattern and the fourth is hunter under saddle. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IP9xhfX22Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17YnLlKLa4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUj2S7WeckA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WonLL9qni8U