Why is this desired in western pleasure?

I guess we all have opinions but nobody seems to know the answer to the OP's question of WHY is this desirable... that's what I was looking for when I looked at this thread LOL

Really?

They are nice moving horses, they are collected and round with a lot of self-carriage. They have a good deal of drive and impulsion from the hind-end, and are elevated through the shoulders to allow for a nice, flat knee and stride in the front. They are free through the shoulders. They use their necks well.

They are super, super broke. They stay in the bridle well.

Riding a good western pleasure horse is a lot of fun. They are incredibly, incredibly athletic and it's a joy to have a really great when you're on a good one knocking it out. You sit, support your horse, push them through, and enjoy the ride.

The horse's in the video posted are specifically bred for this. That is years of careful breeding, training, and hard work in motion. That's why it's desirable.

But the specific horse doesn't have years of training... I mean... it's only two. I just don't like that. I don't think a horse that age should be super broke. I'd rather expect that from a 4 year old... but... 2? Not cool in my books.

My 2 year old is just figuring out how to trot a circle around the pen, much less any of that.

I didn't like how the walk and trot kind of looked the same.. the lope was nice! But the walk and trot.. not distinct enough.

But that's a nice horse. Agree with QH about the 2 year old deal :/ but whatever works for some.

Lots of good breeding in there for sure. I guess I just understand the point of most other horse sports a little more.

I like the idea of a slow jog and lope (provided the horse will also go faster within those gaits if asked) the walk just seemed.... so.... very... slow.

I don't know much about wp, do they ever ask for extended gaits in a class or deviate from a normal walk, trot, canter, back, and reverse sort of routine?

^because to go slow and maintain a lifted back and a driving hock is REALLY hard and takes an athletically fit and well trained horse. Can anyone on here do this with their horse? As for the gaits...these horses have different rates of speed within each gait. I can make my horse creep at the walk, regular walk and move out at the walk. Same thing with the jog AND the lope. The reason they are walking slow in this vid is to KEEP their rail position. It's a showing strategy and shows savvy on the rider's part. How many of you have been in the show pen and had someone up your butt the whole time? It's because the other rider didn't use strategy to keep a reasonable distance. If I'm close to someone ahead of me, I'll use the walk to gain distance by asking my horse to walk MUCH slower.

If you go to ranch horse shows or ranch horse versatility. The pleasure class shows extention of gaits, walk, trot, extended trot, lope, stop, reverse, walk, lope, extended lope, trot, stop, back. That would be an example of a ranch horse pleasure class. But only one entry in the ring at a time, so I can see where strategy and rail position would be important.

I have ridden a couple of WP horses(not in a show), it is not as easy as it appears to do it correctly.
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Had a feeling Everything with horses seems so easy until you actually get up on there and have to do a lot of things at once!

This is the answer I too am looking for... is there purpose in it? Was it better for checking fields or something?

I don't like WP. I won't go into why because it will start a big fight and I'm not into that. But I don't like it. I've reluctantly trained WP for a couple people to pay the bills, but I don't agree with the discipline at all. I have had to train those horses to move the same way that shown in the video, so yes, I can ride my horse that way. I chose not to.

The reason those horses are the way they are in the video is for style. Judges want to see that sort, so they train their horses to move that way for ribbons. In a couple years, the style will change and horses will look different again. Theres no other reason for WP. You can't do anything a QH was bred to do with WP. WP just gives the rider absolutely no bounce or motion to the ride. The less a horse moves, the better. It benefits the rider, not so much the horse. I'm presuming it came about with wanting a horse you can ride for long hours. Real cowboys can't stand WP because they are in the saddle for 10 hours a day, but need their horses to actually move.

QHs are supposed to be an all-around breed. They jump, they dressage, they race, they herd. WP doesn't have much pull in the working-horse discipline. Its a refined "trail" class...people want their horses to move that way all day on the trail. But I've yet to see a serious, high competing WP rider take their horses out on trail for fear it would mess their horses up.

Having trained a couple WP horses, I can honestly say that it doesn't take much to ride one. They are push-button, slow, no motion, and when trained well, keep that particular frame themselves. The rider is supposed to be frozen in perfect form as well, which is usually poor riding form in every other discipline, with their hips way out behind them. They claim its not so, but the proof is in the video and pictures I see of this displine, and also in the competitions I've watched.