Changing horse western to english?

BeachRiding

New Member
Aug 26, 2004
7,680
0
0
USA
Well, I really want to ride english, and my horse would be awesome at it. So, can I just put an english saddle on him and go? Or what do I do? I ride him bareback and western currently. He is 21 and has TONS of experience. Also, I am not experienced on english saddle fitting, so how do I judge on an english saddle for a high withered horse?
 
in short.. very carefully... I have always found english saddles harder to fit then western - and you have a rather challenging case to begin with.

And to just "ride english" you can just change saddles - if you want to compete or soemthing along those lines lessons are teh way to go to find some refinement :) but do bear in mind that the western idea of collection is VERY different from the english one. and Willie may resist all the contact on his mouth if that isn't what he is used to.

Otherwise have fun :)
 
WillieLove

http://lorienstable.com/book/

the e-book version is not going to break the bank ;)

I took my wholly western mare into dressage as well. She's made the transfer quite well.

I did things like lunge and long rein in the saddle - like a mini restart - so she had a chance to get used to the different feel.
 
Thanks both of you! Guess I can't do it if english will be harder to fit! I have the worst time with western fitting!
 
i have heard that if you just want to ride english all you have to do is correctly fit the saddle and done but for showing and stuff its different. i think english and western reins are different aswell i don't know if english riders neckrein and western reins are split while english are not (sorry don't ride english but i had to use and english bridle before and there a bit different than western) so its not just the saddle thats different i think on english you have a brow band and a nose band while on western you may have one of those or none at all. all i know is that western saddles are totally heavier than english saddles
 
yup definately a difference in the weight! :p I went on a ranch hol and I could barely carry the saddle (baring in mind also that me being slight meant it was the smallest they had before you went into those designed for little kids!) :eek: I can't tell you how nice it was to carry english saddles around afterwards! :rolleyes:

The bridles are slightly more "busy" but the noesband doesn't have to be worn (it has little effect really unless it is done up to tightly or is a special type of noseband) and the western bridles I've come accross often have browbands anyway so therefore there is very little difference except the reins are joined, the horse is ridden with a degree of contact with the bits being less sharp because of it. If your horse is a been there done it type it shouldn't be to difficult for him to make sense of the new system as long as you are gentle (you can build your contact gently). Don't know enough about saddles to safely advise on them.

Good luck! :D
 
newrider.com