What's the point...

Really?

They happen all the time. I have not noticed on this forum (if they occur or not but they for sure happen frequently on some other forums. Forums that are all English, no western.



BTW - I love prong collars. Best thing ever. Too bad you can not show obedience in one. They like the unnatural choke collar thing.

I really shoould write an article on understanding collection and you will ( but again maybe not) understand what collection is, and I am not even referring to dressage but just what collection is.

All the horses posted showing western pleasure are on the forehand and a horse will not fall on its face just because it isn't collected.

Horses in natural balance ( and will be slightly on the forehand) manage just fine without being collected according to my definition.

OH MY GOD! I am soooooo sorry! I didn't meant to bash the sport at all! I know how hard it is! One of my best friends is trying to break into the showing world with it! I NEVER EVER ment to bash the sport at all! And I didn't feel as if it was coming across that way at all, and I'm sorry it did!

I'm coming from two places. A) I feel that if I want to profesionally train horses at some point in my life, that I need to have a grasp of every sport in the horse world. Of course I'll always stick to dressage and eventing, but I see no problem in learning. People that know me (MIEventer) will tell you I read everything I can get my hands on. Learning is my thing. I think that if you want to be a profesional in horses you have to understand where EVERYONE is coming from, not just the little group of your sport and

B) I want to be an Equine Veteranarian. It's been what I wanted to do since age 5, and I'm on that track (advanced math, science, and english in school, colleges already looking at me, etc). Western is pretty big here in Arkansas, so if I want to practice here, or anywhere in the south, I feel as if I should be able to know what my clients are talking about and know what their horse needs to be competitive. I also want to be able to talk to them about their showing and know about it. I talk to my vet about my eventing all the time.

And I also just want to learn. If someday I get a horse that I feel will go well in WP, I want to be able to apply them to that route. My feelings are the horse will tell you what they're good at and want to do. In no way am I bashing. Just plain curious and striving for knowledge beyond my imedate capacity.

I have to agree with spyder. IMHO, you should train a horse to be solid with impulsion before you try collection. Get them travelling good before you try to slow them down. Slow does not = collected. Nearly every WP horse you see does have a disengaged hind end as it is just kinda following along in the path of the front end. If they were collected, they would be reaching up underneath themselves with the hind end. In the western world, think reining horses. They are collected.

^I do agree for what I see. The hind end is disengaed. The whole point of this thread is, Why? Does it just win in the show ring just like a certian position does in hunter classes? Or is there some deeper point? No bashing, just curiousity.

Unfortunately, that is a byproduct of training the slow and the headset before training them how to actually move. Here, just for referance for the western world, look at the small slow circle at 1:17. That is how a collected horse lopes.

That horse is beautiful :) I had the privalidge to see Stacy Westfall and Roxi last year and her horse traveled amazingly!

Very well said Smrobs and Spyder - great posts!

Stormy, you have no reason to appologize - you have done nothing wrong.

no. No no no. You just don't get it. A lope is just a very slow 3 BEAT canter. These horses are probably more collected then most of the horses you ride. Just saying.

Your right. Slow doesnt = collection, but collection can be slow. If you really understood collection you could look at WP horses and see there hind ends pushing and driving their front end foward, while there back is round. Simple. I've ridden dressage horses, race horses, jumper, game horses. Western Pleasure is no different as in terms of collection. The hind end is pushing and driving the front end while the horse has a round back. The only difference is WP horses have their heads down.