Does anyone compete under WES - UK?

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asterid

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Although my horse is a dressage diva in the making, I am hoping to do a little western stuff with her.

Just wondering, the WES classes, I am thinking of pleasure, trail and maybe some reining at a later date. The pleasure classes - are they that really slow horrid 4 beat lope and stifled jog? I don't really like the QH pleasure classes as it looks horrid, but know that WES is maybe faster? Can someone clarify for me?

Thanks
 
It's not about the speed, or lack of, which is being judged, It is the quality of the movement .. always. WES is an all breed association, you will see everything from Shetlands to Shires in the Pleasure classes, up to and including National Championship level. Horses are judged on their respective NATURAL way of going.

Western Pleasure is a showing class, Trail and Reining are pure performance classes, as are Horsemanship and Western Riding (if your horse is solid on it's lead changes this is a nice class to enter).

I'd say go for it, we are a very friendly bunch and do our best to help anyone new to Western Riding. Have a look at www.wes-uk.com to see if there any clinics anywhere near you to have a "test ride". If you have any questions, please get in touch with either myself or the WES Area Rep in your area.
 
Good question....
The WES rule book states:
The lope is an easy, rhythmical three beat gait.

And a little later:
Horses travelling at a four beat gait are not considered to be performing a proper lope.

(if you have the rule book look under section 38 part C)

The reality is that WES is much better that AQHA, and on the whole judge fairly correctly in that respect -but it may not be true of all judges. Also they have guest AQHA judges, and then am afraid to say that they still do seem to favour 4 beat gait.
That is my view experience of competing Western for the first time all of last year, and have done pretty well in pleasure with a horse that definitely does not go 4 beat. Having said that, you do need to go pretty slowly.
Hope that helps, and I would say also try doing horsemanship classes (really need to get your horse sharp to the leg) and trail (good control/gymnastic).
 
WES is pretty friendly andyou'll find a lot of horse breeds there, including QH's. The ideal lope must be a true 3 beat, not a four beat. That is not correct and not what the judge wants. However I have seen a four beater placed above a 3 beater in AQHA classes, but this is usually because there are many other elements that are taken into account (head set, frame, obedience, consistency of speed, transitions etc etc) and sometimes a 4 beater will still do a better job overall than a 3 beater. When you get a horse that gets everything right, it looks fanatastic, but not all horses are capable of it, just as not all riders/trainers are capable of producing it.
 
I don't know if it is "correct" or not, but when they do the 4 beat lope they look lame. In fact I think that someone wrote that in a WES training article and I thought "Well why make a horse go in a way which is not possible to tell if the horse is sound or not."

I saw one of these lopes in an interbreed competition, and said that if my horse moved like that I would be worried!
 
Yes go for it I would however say do a clinic or two or some lessons first.. and re the pleasure class sadly it seems a long way from its original aims which was it was a class for young horses to get some show experiance and as a class for the cowboys to take their favorite horse to show how ballanced and nice to ride it was.. then it seemed to get taken over with the how slow, lame and dejected you can make a horse look crowd ... and some of the training has been less than gentle and some of the riding in the warm up well not nice!!, horse looks nice going in a nice steady gait/ outline but to fast for rider !!!...so next it gets a good sock in the mouth and rider with reins up high so then it drops its head and gives that "lovely" dejected look when the pressure is released ... the rules are supposed to penalise this look but sadly some judges still see things differently...
 
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Thanks for all your comments, I am going to have some lessons with Bob Mayhew next year. I will go to a few local shows to watch and check it out.

Although my horse is English, I am training her for trail as well (and a spin or two!).

Maybe see you in 2012 at some shows!
 
asterid said:
Thanks for all your comments, I am going to have some lessons with Bob Mayhew next year. I will go to a few local shows to watch and check it out.

Although my horse is English, I am training her for trail as well (and a spin or two!).

Maybe see you in 2012 at some shows!
Click to expand...
Oh Bob he is
fantastic... be warned you Will be reining :D enjoy.....
 
asterid said:
Although my horse is a dressage diva in the making, I am hoping to do a little western stuff with her.

Just wondering, the WES classes, I am thinking of pleasure, trail and maybe some reining at a later date. The pleasure classes - are they that really slow horrid 4 beat lope and stifled jog? I don't really like the QH pleasure classes as it looks horrid, but know that WES is maybe faster? Can someone clarify for me?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I compete at both WES and AQHA, and other things around that too.

Do have a go - if you think you have your horse moving correctly according to the rule book, you've got every chance of doing really well. The WES rule book IS the AQHA rule book to all intents and purposes, so don't get muddled there, and the 4 beat lope doesn't exist as a gait, only as a training error - and I'd wager it often crops up not just to make a horse look lame but because that particular horse probably is rather sore. A proper pleasure lope is incredibly difficult to execute and needs to combine that elusive mix of excellent conformation, excellent training and excellent riding that so many of us chase after!! I remember watching the DQHA National Championships pleasure finals last year and could spot no more than 3 'natural' lopers in that class - not that many of the others weren't correct, but they were either manufactured or less natural about it. But please don't get hung up on speed. A horse that is a pleasure to ride is an athletic horse, with cadence, lift and above all consistency.

The poor judges can only judge what is put in front of them, and according to the rules. So if a horse breaks gait it simply can't place above a horse that doesn't, for example. It doesn't matter what discipline you ride in, you are always trying to ride your horse forward, with engaged quarters, lifted back, soft in the face.

Ha ha says she, who knows the theory but is rather less perfect at delivering it!

Have fun.
 
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