Judgement in the show ring

So I stopped showing my horses last year because imo the show ring is getting ridiculous.
I have been seeing these huge 17 hand horses forced to 4-beat and its not natural. In my opinion showing and horsemanship needs to be on the natural movements of the horse. 4-beating and what we cal peanut rolling(heads almost on the ground) is not natural its very uncomfortable and it looks stupid.
They honestly look like robots. They can't pick their feet up, they can't make quick gait changes like that so why are they doig it?

Horses should have free movement of their heads. Having their heads tucked into their chests is harsh on their necks and they cannot move out like they should. They use their whole bodies for balance and fluidity. If you have them loping in a four beat or headsa tucked to far they have horrible movement and balance.

So I say if they want to stick their face out some then let them.

I watched alot of WP and other western events last year and I didn't see one horse that was peanut rolling. Why does a horse with a low headset look bad? If you ask me a horse that "Sticks his head out" is ugly and shows the lack of control the horse and rider have.

Maybe I'm just lucky, but the QH shows in our area are pretty good. Not a lot of peanut rolling and 4 beating going on. If someone shows a horse that does those things - they get rewarded for it...by not placing. But what is a natural head set for one horse may not be for the next horse. I don't see why some folks think that a WP bred horse whould carry their head like and Arab or a Morgan, as they are built SO differently. Although I have spent time in the show ring, I also did some work for a couple years on ranches and all the horses I rode carried their heads level or below, and it certainly wasn't forced, but maybe it was just those horses. I don't know, I'm must be wrong as every WP thread is about how horrible and cruel a level or below level head set is.

haha same here. I think it looks so pretty when their heads are down and they are all nice and slow and collected:)

Would it be better to have this:

GottaRide that is a cute video. That horse needed her rider to relax a bit more on it's mouth.

Anyway, the judging in western pleasure is getting better. They are starting to look for more forward motion in the jog and lope to get the horses tracking more naturally. They want more of a lever top line instead of the head so far down. Basically they want to see the way the horse naturally moves to judge based on that and how well they perform.

It is a slow process but it is getting better.

I am glad to hear things are improving. For a while there if the horse had their nose more than a foot above the ground it would not be looked at. And everyone troped instead of loping.

A nice slow lope is not bad. But when the horse is lurching and the rider is pumping (they really have no choice since the horse is lurching so much) it is just not attractive.

Very true, I personally hate it when the horse has no forward motion. It looks like they are shuffling forward and can't pick up their feet.

I show my arabian gelding western. Arabian horses carry themselves with a more rounded neck with there heads lateral with the grounds. This is very natural since they have a higher natural headset. Stock horses necks come off of their bodies at a lower point there for it is much more natural for them to carry there heads lower. Don't get me wrong I agree 4 beating is not natural but I am also saying you have to understand the different breeds. The only thing that bugs me is when they ride at western speeds and headsets with loose reins in the hunt classes. The purpose of a hunt class is to show forward motion to cover ground and be ready to take a fence at anytime. Sorry I went off the subject LOL

I've been out of the game for a while, but I know the ApHC added lope with forward motion to the rule book. As far as headset goes, I was taught (on appies mind you) that the poll should be about level with the withers, and the face should be perpendicular to the ground or nose slightly in front. The shows I went to, if your nose was behind the perpendicular, you couldn't win the class.
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