So, I just got done with my chiropractor appointment this morning (digging fence post holes with a jack hammer did a number on my back). He asked if I rode English or Western and when I replied I used to ride English, but now ride Western, he asked if that was "the slouchy one?" I had to bite my cheek. He admits to knowing nothing about horse back riding, so I showed him how the back should be held in BOTH styles, at neutral, with an independent seat.
But this is not the first time I have heard that assumption be made, that Western is slouchy and English is over arched loridosis. Where do these myths come from?!:shock:
If anything I'd say in Western you sit up taller, while in English you want to close your hip angle a little more, or ride hunt seat. When I ride English I always get told 'close your hip angle' and Western I get told 'sit up tall!'
Sadly, many HORSE PEOPLE thing western is a "more relaxed" style of riding... Like somehow you change saddles and it's totally cool to throw eq out the window! Posted via Mobile Device
Sadly, many HORSE PEOPLE thing western is a "more relaxed" style of riding... Like somehow you change saddles and it's totally cool to throw eq out the window! Posted via Mobile Device
I actually do find it more relaxed! I thought I was working hard when riding Gibbs, dammit I AM working hard when I ride Gibbs, then I had an English lesson, and yup, that was another whole level of work.
I prefer to think that Western Horsemanship done well, a person looks so relaxed as to be called slouchy! It is a matter of degrees, and what discipline you are doing in either saddle, but of the two I would pick Western as being slouchier!!!:wink:
Unfortunately these myths come from a lot of people (trainers included) not knowing what the heck they are doing.
I am an all around rider, but my focus is hunters. I will say though that I do not at all like where some of the hunter world is going (arched back with butt sticking out, a martingale on every horse "just because" - and adjusted much too tightly at that, riders bracing on the rein and stirrups so short rider can't help but pinch with the knee. At least that's what I see in the hunter world in my area. Not all coaches/students, but a fair chunk).
I once had an acquaintance tell me that another acquaintance looked as if they were riding western "because she was slouching". The girl was doing flatwork in english tack. =\
People have poor EQ in all disciplines and then the myths start rolling in.
Not saying this is right, but I was told in Western that you "sit on your back pockets" and in English you sit on your pubic bones. Not that the western is "slouchy," your back is straight, abs tucked in, but that your center of gravity was a bit different. In English, I feel I am sitting more on my pubic bones as if I was riding a bicycle and in western my pelvis is rocked back a bit so I can better move with the rhythm of the horse when I sit the trot.
In English you're supposed to sit on your back pockets, I've always been told that...you don't sit on your pubic bones. In English you also have to sit deep in the saddle so you can sit with the rhythm of the canter for example.
I think many people think that because when you go for a trail ride like if you're on vacation, you usually ride in a Western saddle instead of English. So most horse newbies get on and think it's a relaxing ride and what better way to relax than to slouch?
In honesty, I've seen pictures on Craigslist where the rider looks like they are in a Lazy Boy recliner instead of a saddle...
But I've also seen photos of some pretty awful English riders, as well!
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