A Judges Perspective: 2016 AQHA Senior Ranch Riding

[@brodysmith4933]

Loves this pair, nice calm hands, beautiful!

[@stewartvanmaarseveen6244]

Awesome horse and rider a pleasure to watch

[@ponyabouttown4981]

Lovely to see a nice-moving horse. Is using romal reins common in this class?

[@1hhranch]

Ponyabout Town h

[@northgambit]

well I guess it's what you prefer. It's a traditional piece of tack and looks real cool

[@Roheryn100]

Well, at least the horse is going FORWARD.

[@misslinnie43]

Why don't the Western Pleasure horses move like this instead hanging their heads and barely moving. This is how a horse should move-shouldn't look they have had their heads tied down. Please judges--fix the Western Pleasure horse. Stop the class and lecture the riders on the proper head set and movement.

[@DoubleDogDare54]

Somewhere on YT there is a video of a "pleasure class" where all the horses except one were limping cripples and their riders all had paralyzed arms on one side. The riders, except one, were all decked out in glitter and the horses all had fake tails. The horse that didn't fit the "pleasure" mode was a young gal dressed in regular western attire riding a useful looking pinto with a regular western saddle, the horse moving through the classes at a flat walk, normal trot (passing the competing horses) and a normal canter (also easily passing the cripples hitching around the arena). The pinto's head was carried in a normal position and the tail was not weighted and decked with artificial extensions. The horse looked common sense and readily did his job. At the end of the class the girl with the pinto was tied last in the class as her horse was obviously not a pleasure to ride.............??? Yep. That horse and rider did everything wrong according to the judges.

[@jupitersecIipse]

i know right 😬 the days i find it very difficult to watch horses with these pleasure gaits and their noses almost in the sand. what's supposed to be normal or even pretty about it, let alone healthy? the horse in this video was very enjoyable to watch, nice gaits, forward and good head set. beautiful coat, too.

[@natalya402]

@@DoubleDogDare54 I would love to see this video! Do you have a link or the title please?

[@DoubleDogDare54]

@@natalya402 I watched it several years back and I believe it was a couple of years old at that point. There are tons of WP class videos on YT. Finding it would be like finding a needle in a haystack now. I have to assume the rider of this entry knew what the score was and did what she did on purpose. It was like a breath of fresh air. I'll look for it. If I find it I'll post a link to it.

[@SimpleCrazyBOCs]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@SarahWRah]

Agree with many comments. This horse looked reasonably "normal" and engaged wit his rider -- not sad with a dragging head and no spirit like too many Western horses shown today. How did that low-head look ever get started?

[@farayahknightyoucantmakeme1750]

Whatever happened to riding with your seat not your hands? Great job on the trail part though.

[@thesingleequestrian413]

This class is mimicking ranch work, you don't think about riding with your seat when your out working cattle.

[@person9015]

@@thesingleequestrian413 i work off my seat and use my feet when working cattle, also they didn't really do anything with the cattle besides walk through them?

[@thesingleequestrian413]

@@person9015 but it isn't like a show pen, it comes instinctively out in the pasture and your not trying to earn points. I work cattle too and not once have I been thinking I need to sit straight or quiet my hands. I didn't say anything bad about this ride.

[@tw_neo708]

@@person9015 that’s a different class. This is just to show how adept a horse is with foundational work like transitions and such.

[@ROPEFAST06]

Is this a QH? His gate is different. You can see it in it´s gallop

[@lonnierandoph153]

it’s clearly a QH. that’s what the competition is for.

[@lonnierandoph153]

this video was posted by AQHA.... American QUATER HORSE association!

[@guestuser1671]

It's not trained to drag its feet along without getting anywhere but moves FORWARD which is what you want in real life.

[@DoubleDogDare54]

He's a normal horse moving in a normal manner, not one of those unpleasant limping cripples encouraged in the "pleasure" classes.

[@ROPEFAST06]

@@lonnierandoph153 Did you see the gallop? Both hand and back leg move the same. Looks like a one step gate.