Western Moves & Aids

[Emma_G_NZ]

Hi There, I was wondering if anyone could go through and give me some Western Moves & the aids on how to do them.
I recently found out my horse was western trained and i tried one move and he could do it. I am interested to see what the person has trained him to do so far-And i'd like to try them out!
If anyone could give me some help,let me know,please! Thanks.

[cvb]

What 'move' did you try ?

there's straight forward reinback,
a western spin is like a pirouette except that the hind foot stays planted rather than marking time
side pass - going horizontally sideways. Or if you're doing this in forward motion then its basically like a leg yield.
Roll back - western equivalent of a half pirouette but done fast and I think it tends to be to the outside rather than the inside

is that the kind of stuff you meant ? The aids are different - weight etc is used in a different way to english but actually I find it more logical.

Epona UK or Outrider might be good people to ask. Me, I'm just a beginner in this stuff.

[Epona UK]

Hi there Emma,
to go through everything would take a whole book :) but I will try to give you a rough idea of the basics, if you wish to go further I suggest you try to find a Western Instructor a bit closer to home, I do travel, but not that far, ( I dunno though, nice thought !!)

The Western horse is trained to move away from pressure, so in order to say turn left, you would apply your right leg , leaving your left leg away from the horses side in order to give him somewhere to go. The reins would be taken to the left, which would apply a neck rein to the right hand side of his neck, be sure to be soft with this, it is only supposed to be a light touch. Too much pressure and you willl have a counter bend.

Speed control is achieved by putting your body weight either ahead of, or behind your horses centre of gravity, if you take your shoulders behind your hips, your horse should at least slow down, if not stop dead. If you take your body weight forward, he should lenghthen his stride.

The rein back, legs are not applied for this one, remember the giving the horse somewhere to go bit ? Sit deep in your saddle, take your legs forward and brace them in the stirrups, pick up lightly on the reins, and I mean lightly, or you could end up with a horse in your lap, your horse shouls then back up. To stop, sit up and if neccessary lightly close your legs.

Hope this helps, if you have any problems just get back to the board.