possibly buying a western pleasure horse

That's what I want. Though will have to learn alot before I show. :) honestly they are asking quite a good price for him my friend looked him up on the AQHA site and apparently he has some 'points'.

As far as getting an idea of western pleasure or HUS (hunter under saddle), head on over to YouTube and search AQHA or APHA world show wp or HUS. Both should have smooth natural gaits with reasonable forward motion for the respective class.

Hunter under saddle (stock breed) is its own class, separate from equitation and over fences classes. It's flat only. Judged at W/T/C both ways and a back-up. Sometimes extensions are asked. Often referred to as English pleasure at the open shows around here.

The video with the hunter girl on him, he responds to her as she asks, same with the owner and you can see the differences. He has a decent top line, its just not well shown off by either. He looks a little weak with the owner on him when she gears him back, but the bones are there and that's nothing a bit of work can't fix for what you're looking to do. I agree with dejaVu about the rider "in his way" so to speak. I think he could extend cute for the HUS too if you wanted to try it out. Take your trainer out, if he is what he looks like he could be a fun little horse for you.

Thankyou. Im hoping to go see him soon.

Can you take lessons somewhere and use your trainer to shop for a horse?

I see that you are in Australia, but based on those videos, he wouldn't be considered ready to go to breed shows in the US.

He is very inconsistent with his gaits and his topline. The riders are handling him so much he never relaxes.

I can get a trainer when I get a horse, yes. I have an experience horse friend coming with me to check him out and I have faith in her. And I would not be showing at all straight away i'd be learning how to do it, to understand it, have a trainer and then perhaps I would try a show. One of the riders is a beginner western rider the other a pony club rider would that perhaps be the reason for that?

It is a lot easier to start learning to ride a new style before jumping in and making a commitment by purchasing a horse. What if you decide that western pleasure really isn't your thing? Are you going to try to sell the horse and find something else?

Also, a trainer is going to have connections and know about horses that may not necessarily be listed on the market. There are a lot of horses that are bought and sold without ever having an ad listed anywhere. Working with a good trainer would hopefully mean that they could find a horse that matches your skills, or a horse that you can really learn from.

If those are beginner riders and they need that much handling by them, that should tell you a lot right there.

It sounds like you are determined to buy a horse straight off though, so good luck.

No im defiently not determined to buy a horse straight off, this is the 6th horse i'm looking into. I want to try western peasure, always have. I'm not a jumper as jumping scares me, dressage I don't know much about, cross country im scared off.
Problem with trying western pleasure out before I got a horse is that I live in a tiny tiny town where we have 2 pony clubs(both english that you have to own a horse to be in) and two riding places, both that are english and one that I am not allowed at because they refuse to let me in due to my spine and scared I may sue them if I fell. So they only actual way is if I had a friend who had a WP horse to try it on, once again another problem I only know one of them and she only has her one horse that shed never let anyone else ride. So the only real way to try it is either train your horse in it, buy a horse and get an instructor to teach you with the horse. Hope this makes sense im abit tired.

Hi fellow QLDer!
I can't see the youtube video, but I have looked the horse up on AQHA (In our case its the Australian Quarter Horse Association)
He has done some competition so he is atleast experienced with that.
I do not do western pleasure but the club shows here are very low key and you don't need something spectacular to have a go and learn.

From what I have seen, (admittedly on youtube so these are probably bigger shows) the showing in the US is a different standard to our club/schooling shows. If you want to WIN then of course you will want something NICE but as your first horse, that is probably not what you need.
Western is VERY expensive. The gear, saddle, clothing etc is a big part of Western Pleasure from what I understand. Do plenty of research. Just the nice shirts that I have seen people wearing are easily over $150ea!

You can give it a go first without getting all the fancy stuff but you will need a western saddle that fits the horse well.

If the horse is quiet, sound and versatile, there is no reason why you can't use this horse for other Western Performance events and even Pony Club (but with an english saddle of course). If you have a good instructor and trainer and have lessons with your horse you can do very well and learn so much.

If you can, go for a trip to a Western Performance show (they have them at Gatton and possibly Caboolture - probably other areas if you google) and watch and see the style of the horses it will give you a better idea of what you want.

As Tayz said, in QLD there are not many places you can get lessons on trained western horses - riding schools and pony clubs are all english style. Unless you know 'people'. - we don't even have western riding forums haha

Thankyou and sadly I don't have a horse I can try it on first as my horse is a thoroughbred :/

How much is she asking for him (rough estimate)?

From what I see, he will need work but other than that, he's cute!