western pleasure question

Personally I think that even when done correctly Reining, cow work, and stuff where theres alot of abrupt starts and stops at high speeds is more strenuous on the joints then say pleasure or what have you. Same goes for jumping.

Of course there are tons of ways to minimize this by having a properly trained, healthy horse and using protection.

If you are hoping to be competitive in Western pleasure then you will want to stay out of the breed shows as you arent interested in that way of going. BUT... if you are in it for fun and you can keep your horse collected, consistent, and on the bit, then you can probably do ok in local shows, which are tons of fun. it all depends on what you as a rider are looking for. lots of people show horses that aren't "western pleasure" trained in local shows that are actually really large in class participant numbers and do well... but you'll have to be consistent and on the bit.

PLEASURE - the judge chooses the horse that looks to be the most PLEASURABLE to ride. it is mostly about the pleasure for the RIDER, not the horse.

Have you looked into Trail or Western Horsemanship classes? These are fun, because there are patterns, and it keeps the horse from getting too bored going around and around and around and around... You get the point. You could also try team penning, if there are any in your area - easy to learn and the horse is consistently entertained.

If you do just local shows (like fairs, or local horse club shows) instead of breed shows, you might enjoy it more because you don't have a whole bunch of the "perfect" fake-lope really slow horses there. When I judge pleasure, I don't care how fast someone is going, it depends on whether it's natural for the horse or not. However, some breed judges don't think that, so...

Reining is a blast too. People do say it's hard on a horse, but if you look at a horse in the wild, or a horse that is let loose, they tend to already have that ability (fast stop/turns, lead changes, ect). As long as you have proper leg protection, and you condition your horse properly, you have have healthy, sound horses well into their 20s and 30s!