English Pleasure Classes in North America, have a look.......

[Enfys]

THIS is why I have decided to forget the English saddle and go native, I thought some of you would find it interesting to see the difference an ocean between us makes. I have two "English trained" horses here and they both go like this, no contact (otherwise they stop dead) great off the leg and voice though. I've spent all my life being yelled at to pick up a contact and simply cannot get my head around this at all. Now, I am not taking anything away from these riders or horses, I have never reached the dizzy heights of anything more than RC Riding horse classes so wouldn't dare, I just need to re-learn how to ride a N.A horse!! In fact, these horses are remarkably well trained, you don't SEE the rider move. A case of when in Rome do as the Romans do.

 

[dieseldog]

It's just a western horse in a different saddle - or am I missing the point. Look how weak it is on the backend.

So who does proper riding, because their show jumpers seem normal when you see them on TV

 

[Enfys]

Exactly what I thought.

I haven't seen anyone riding with any sort of contact, yet, as you say, they must because there are some seriously good eventers and showjumpers out there.

 

[S_N]

Urmmmm - love it's tail!

 

[GTs]

EWWW - that looks HORRIBLE.

 

[Law]

I lived in KS for a year and went to watch a big show there... all the horses that looked good and went well were placed poorly and all the ones that looked awful were well placed

I was a bit dismayed! To be fair though the stuff the do well they do amazingly- calf roping, team penning and barrel racing- it was amazing to watch!

 

[Enfys]

[ QUOTE ]
Urmmmm - love it's tail!

[/ QUOTE ]

It's FALSE!

They all are! went to a show, they did a reinback, horse stood on extension and it fell out1 The handler was in the line up grasping a false tail!

 

[Mid]

I don't knwo why they call it english when it's not o_o

And the horse looks all stretched out.

 

[haybales]

everyone in the background looks really impressed!

 

[annie02]

Wow, I am surprised about all the negative comments!!

You need to take everything in context. This isnt an eventer or jumper first of all, it is a quarter horse. Yes his back end is small but he is moving off it and the "stretched" out look is a long stride, he is tracking up and square in the shoulders so he isnt all over the place.

Personally I am a jumper but I do respect other breeds and disciplines of riding. I also know about grooming, someone took a long time to get that horse to shine like he does and put in the "fake tail". Those are important aspects to that discipline of showing, who are we to put that down.

Do you not own some sheepskin splint boots? A flashy brow band? Every has their fads.

I think that the horse looks beautiful and a lot of work was done to get that horse to move and look the way it does.

 

[Clodagh]

If my horse carried its head that low all the time I'd call the vet...Sorry...(runs and hides)...

 

[annie02]

His head is below his poll but he isnt that on his forehand. Is that any worse than the inverted high headed jumpers we see going around.

All I am trying to say is take a step back and see it for what it is, a different sport and a different style of horse and rider.

 

[Enfys]

That is the point I am making, it is all SO different. No-one can deny that the horse is turned out very well.

What would these riders make of our Hack (I suppose that is the UK equivalent) classes?

 

[Tia]

I can assure you, that horse is definitely NOT a Quarter Horse

. There is absolutely no mistaking a QH regardless of the manner in which it is ridden.....and that sure isn't one.

And the training that is put in to these horses is a lot....just not the same type of training that we give our English horses.

 

[Tia]

[ QUOTE ]
THIS is why I have decided to forget the English saddle and go native

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto Enfys - this is why I went native too. No way would I compete in this type of "English" riding.

 

[annie02]

That picture is taken at the AQHA worlds I believe. It is indeed a reg quarter horse. You have to remember that in NA a quarter horse can be reg as long as the parent were reg quarter horses OR one reg quarter horse parent and a reg TB parent . A lot of the quarter horses being shown are 1/2 quarter horse and 1/2 TB....still a reg quarter horse....so what do you get a TB looking quarter horse. They have simply diluted the breed to be a finer looking horse. You still have thicker horses in other types of riding like the cutting and reining but the english/western pleasure horses are very tall and find boned (the height now for english pleasure is 16.3 HH). Unreal.

 

[Tia]

The horse shown is a registered ApHC - a registered Appaloosa. I own a couple Appaloosa's and they are quite different to AQHA's.

I also own many Registered AQHA's and mine are purebreds which can be shown at AQHA shows. The other QH's you are talking about where they are half TB are known as Appendix horses - not purebreds and not Registered AQHA stock, but can be Registered Appendix AQHA. Most of these Appendix horses are showjumpers, ridden pleasure or dressage horses and some are becoming quite decent eventers now. All the team penning and calf roping competitions I compete in have almost exclusively AQHA, APHA or ApHC horses; I've never seen an Appendix competing at these competitions as they are really too big and aren't capable of cutting the cattle with such skill as the small cattle stock AQHA's.

Some AQHA's are of show quality rather than working cattle lines and they are much finer than the working stock which mine all are, but the one thing they never seem to lose is that big QH rear end, LOL!!

Pretty versatile breed though and one I would never be without in my stable anymore.

 

[GTs]

That horse is an Appaloosa.

Riding a quarter horse is like riding a cow!

 

[Tia]

PMSL!!! You're right! Bit smoother though and nowhere near as spooky!

 

[GTs]

It is a bit bad when they are so docile people have to check their pusle to see if they are still alive. I really like some Appendix, infact I rode one fabulous appendix at my ex-gfs ranch. It was so good I almost bought it. Quarter horses are really not my thing - they are made for grandmas IMHO!

 

[Tia]

Well I'm not that yet thank goodness, but you are so right. They are such laid back guys it's not true! I have a couple of Appendix horses who board here and they are nice horses; just WB's under a different name really, LOL!!

I still prefer my AQHA's though.

You'll love my giant Appy though - he's a heck of a horse to ride....really wonderful big horse......and after him; you can ride (or try to) my little cutting horse!!

 

[annie02]

Your right, my mistake I didnt look long enough in the background to make the app on the sign.

My sister shows quarter horses in NA. She has two that are TB/QH crosses, refered to as appendix. But I can assure you they are registerd quarter horses. It is the only cross that can still be a reg quarter horse. Only in the past year or so has the AQHA now allowed horses of colour (paints) to be reg QH too. If you can show that the parents were reg QH but the baby ended up with too much colour you can still reg it (with a DNA test) before you could only reg it as a paint.