possibly buying a western pleasure horse

Hey guys so im going to look at this western pleasure horse 2 hours away from me and he looks amazing! His lope is so slow it almost is like a trot and he keeps his head down low and his trot looks so soft so i'm pretty excited to go check him out. He's a tad bit pricier then I was wanting but this horse sounds like he's worth it, maybe more. And I've been wanting to try western(looking for a western horse atm) but I don't know much about it, wel just think of me as a beginner western pleasure learner.
So if anyone knows any good sites or can explain it a little more to me that would be great.
I've been told the aim is to keep the horses head low, have a nice lope, look good and I'm not too sure if that's it (thats how little I kno about it) as i've always been an anglish riding girl

Does the horse have any WP points???

Won any futurities???

Just what makes him a WP horse???

I see you are not in the USA....

Maybe my idea of points will not count.

Tayz, make sure he's not a push button highly trained horse because beginners/intermediates and those horses sometimes don't go together (too sensitive, or beginner/intermediate presses a turbo-speed button)

Make sure he's appropriate for beginner riders, or intermediate riders (I'm not sure which you are) and are you taking a trainer or someone horsey with you? A vet or farrier maybe?

Tayz, make sure he's not a push button highly trained horse because beginners/intermediates and those horses sometimes don't go together (too sensitive, or beginner/intermediate presses a turbo-speed button)

Make sure he's appropriate for beginner riders, or intermediate riders (I'm not sure which you are) and are you taking a trainer or someone horsey with you? A vet or farrier maybe?




We are defiently taking a trainer and will get a vet out if we decided to buy him. He's not fast at all, he's not professional, he's just a nice little western horse. He's defienlty not one of those fully highly trainer horses, just a nice looking boy that has potential. My friend thinks he would suit me as a learning horse for western though could not fully say until we went and seen him.
She sent me a few pics of him at shows, he is registered to AQHA (whats that?) has done dressage, hack, western pleasure and hunter undersaddle. (i want to try all of these one day except hunter undersaddle as I don't know what that is either)
She is selling him as she's changing discipline and she said 'i am a nervous rider at times, so he has been good for me. He stands at 15hh.'

Ripper- I don't know if we do have points? But he's not be shown that high from what i've heard. He does actually sound better then the horse with the club feet. And she's in no rush to sell him, will be competing him until she sell him or keeps him so I can take all the time I want to decide. :)

AQHA = American Quarter Horse Association

Just hunters I believe, there's a section in the forum about it. It's like all about how your equitation is, there's some low crossrails, the horse is in a stretched out "frame" and you have to have certain strides to fences, etc. I'm not an expert, maura knows WAY more than I do about hunters. So you can ask her :)

How awesome, I'm excited for you!!

Ok will do :) thankyou he does sound and look nice and quiet and I found the link to a video of him

I have the lady who owns him on my fb so raided her photos and seen some of him at shows and he does sound nice. He's 2 hours away so he isnt that far away compared to all the horses down in gatton(about 8 hours away) that sound good.

Are you planning on showing?

Judging by the video, he has natural gaits, but due to some rider error, his head is often behind the vertical, causing him to move in an up and down choppy manner, vs. long, low and smooth.
If he was ridden in a way that encouraged him to stretch down through is topline, instead of cranking his head back, he'd look really nice.

Once she let him have his head, especially at the lope, he smoothed out and looked like a pretty nice ride.

He's not super major WP caliber, but he looks like he could be a fun one to play around with at a local level.

She said this:
I will go and find another video for you, this girl does jumping/dressage and he just did what she ask of him cause its the way she rides, look it up on here I try to share it again.. I had some other girls on him and they arnt western riders, they do pony club etc. He will teach you though and he will only perform as the way you ride. He doesnt spin or quick turns cause he isnt a fast horse. For western pleasure its all slow and you have to be able to ride slow for him to go slow. You would have to come and see for yourself to see if he is suited or wether you like him.


------
Wil I show him? After a few months worth of training until I know what im doing then yes, I will defiently be trying a show out. I've never shown due to the fact my only other horse is a green broken 16hh thoroughbred that spooks at the ninjas hiding in the bush 100 metres away from home but i've always wanted to but held of until I get a horse that's done it and isnt scared or nervous. I want to learn as much about western pleasure as possible so will be going and finding a good trainer(a friend does western pleasure so I trust her and she wont lead me astray in finding a good instructor) and learning. Apparently western horses do better with spurs and I asked her do you need spurs on him and she said he does better with them but if you know your leg aids its not too much of a problem which means I would end up possibly trying spurs thought wont be getting on a horse with spurs until I know how to use them, have someone to show me, and instruct me as I would hate myself forever if I accidently hurt a horses stomach. But yes, we are hoping to get down on the weekend to check this guy out. Also heres a video of the pony club girl riding him


He's also done dressage, though not much.