A Judge's Perspective: 2015 AQHYA Trail World Champion 

Exactly!! Thank you! Someone that is actually smart👏🙌

Ur kidding right

@@primaem ong

i get it for letting the horse see the poles ..don't get it without poles tho

That is absolutely beautiful to watch and you can tell how the horse and the rider are both so relaxed and confident in the rid,e.

Yup! It's a signal with her legs! For my horse, I back her up when I put my legs close to the girth and squeeze and she starts to back up! It took a little bit of training through the winter to get ready for show season but it pays off!

@@naomilandry7816 thanks for answering :) She dont walk forward when you squeeze your legs? How she knows the difference from forward and backwards?

Well for forward I just lightly tap my legs and cluck. I like to use a lot of voice commands! Like when I'm backing up, if I say "back" she backs up faster than she would when I'm squeezing. It just takes time and patience! 😊

It's just different commands with my legs!

Yes you squeeze you legs and lean back a bit, sometimes if the horse doesn’t back up, they lift the reins up and pull back and shhhh to the horse

Stop watching western pleasure stuff then, also the reason this horse moves like is because he is choppy and isn't really working to hard in that pattern, he's just kind of flopping around lol. But when they are pushed up and working hard western pleasure horses and really beautiful. The only thing I don't understand, is why people who don't know anything about WP think it's abuse. That's like me going around seeing barrel racing and being like, they whip their horses on the pattern so they must always abuse their horses, or dressage makes their horse do movements that are unnatural so that's abuse, or jumping makes their horse jumping over terribly high jumps with the weight of a human on them so that's abuse. Like, we equestrians love our horses, so why we be hating on everyone else who does something different, like jeez

My trail horse would beg to disagree 🤷 there’s show mode and then there’s fun mode.

Neo is totally right. Show horses know how to have fun to. Survive on trail-- do you think the course mimicking a trail ride is just an amusement park for horses? Each obstacle represents situations we encounter out on trail. Backing up through the L is totally plausible if you go down a narrow path thats a dead end and have to back out of it. Heck yeah, theres gates to go through out on trail. Smooth loping to enjoy the gaits- completely what you want on a long ride.

Kat They are not uncomfortable that's now they are trained!! I know cuz I have show horses

it's called a trail pattern. this is a natural trained gait of a horse. It's basically like a tennessee walker's rack. Not in pain, a natural way but needs to be trained (not abuse!!) He is not uncomfortable he is focused. Do you think that a 1000lb living animal with a mind of its own would let someone ride him in an uncomfortable way?? There would at least be some bucking and refusing, especially in such a long rein!! please educate yourself a bit more before you comment, thanks.

Darlene Green yes as much as this horse was very flat on the front end. When pushed into the bit correctly, western pleasure actually exercises their shoulders when jogging if not using the shoulders then they will go flat. I usually lift my reigns and gently bump while flagging my legs to the same rhythm

His ears are up.

If you're going to comment, at least know what you're talking about please.

Kylie Hogue please before you say something learn about trail a bit more

You don't know what your talking about

lol this is a natural trained gait of a horse. he is not in pain and he is happy. As you can tell by his body language, he is very focused. :)

therunningomen Um... trail classes basically have NOTHING to do with trail riding. It’s just what it’s called

@@taylorcasey6406 clearly. but every discipline stems from something. trail classes used to be about showing off your horse's willingness and skill on trail, it's since devolved into a boring display of horses limping along with their noses to the ground (at least in the quarter horse world).

therunningomen First question. What do you even know about horses

@@taylorcasey6406 i train horses professionally, judging by your videos, you don't. i'm just not into this sort of stuff, horses moving like this is boring, it's a big shame that they're trained for this instead of being able to express themselves fully. there's no personality in this, it's just bland. disciplines are being exaggerated to the point that they've strayed from what they used to be.

therunningomen No, obviously I don’t train horses but I have been riding for 14 years so I know what I should. I’m not sure what you would train your horses for besides trail riding and small children but you don’t really have to trash trail and all that. It’s actually pretty fun and the horse is obviously fine with it. It may be boring for you to watch but that doesn’t mean you have to. Why did you even click on this video if you don’t like horse showing (like this)

Breyer Gal What are you talking about? The girl rode BEAUTIFULLY she used very little hand. The only time she used hand was on the stop and gait stop and even then she quickly reverted to leg.

Barrel Racer 100% agreed.

A horse could never lope naturally and do that pattern.... It's not spaced wide enough so a horse could lope in there... I'm not condoning what they are doing. I think it's horrendous... also she's not using a lot of hand. She has big droop in those reins and when you pick your hand up in the pattern it's so the horse has the freedom to move it's head and neck accordingly. Also it shows the horse is doing it on it's own merit and that you are leaving it alone to do it's job.

Macayla Hamilton It’s just what the judges want to see, it’s not like the horse is in paint. And about the “too much hand” Your the one riding English with the tight reins. Even if you don’t use your hands that much, every time your horse trips or whatever your going to pull on the reins because of how tight the reins are

Macayla Hamilton your horse would never be able to lope this slow btw. Your horse isn't built like WP horses and probably has not enough muscle to do this hard work

Ummmmm canter is english

Please don’t speak about things you don’t know about, #1 it’s called a lope not canter

@@mckinelykennedy9747 canter lope whatever its the same thing 🤦🏻‍♀️

@@ranrachvloh and there are things called wenglish. sorry english rider, we actually called the same thing another word for what it can be said as.

@@PL-xc2bd nope! A lope is a western version of a canter: the horse is relaxed and comfortably moving, while an English canter is higher energy :)

Then why you watch it? LMAO When I was a preschool kid me and my friends was competing in this sport. (Of course in lower levels.) This sport shows perfectly the connection beetween horse and rider and you need to be precise. Bet you can't ride a horse, or make him move! You don't know how hard it is. If you don't like equestrianism go and watch football instead. I will like to see how that ball loves the football player. LOL

@@gl.xy6 Darling, I ride Hunter style lol. I'm saying that this style of riding is boring. It's unnatural. That's all.

@@primaem lol and i guess maneuvering horses over multiple jumps in hunters would be considered natural? Yeah okay :)

@@PL-xc2bd What dos this have to do with hunters at all wtf r u on

@@primaem what are you on? look at the comment i responded to. Yeah ok.

Trigger 101 they aren’t lame limp and in pain that’s just how they move

you literally have no idea how stupid you sound.

Ellie Green Exactly!!! Thank you!!

They are not in pain!!! I have trail horses and show horses and That's just how they are trained!!

They're not in pain you fool!

Shut up.

i hope you realize how stupid you sound