Worlds of Riding

Today I’m starting a series on the various worlds of horseback riding. Perhaps your child saw a movie, read a book or talked to a friend and has approached you about wanting to ride horses. As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, the very LAST thing you should do the first time your child expresses an interest is consider buying a horse.

Your first step should be to encourage your child to take riding lessons. However, you’re likely to find that there are a number of different stables in your area where lessons are offered and very likely a number different styles of riding are represented by those stables. Which style you and your child choose will determine how your child relates to the horse and what skills they learn to ask the horse for. For example:

English Riding Disciplines:

Hunter/Jumper horses walk, trot, canter and jump with style, control and an even pace. In horse shows, these horses and riders are either judged on their style, obedience and turn-out or their speed and accuracy over a course of fences.

English / Saddle-Seat horses walk, trot and canter, but also show off gaits unique to their breeding and training such as the slow-gait, running walk and the rack. The emphasis in shows for these horses is similar to hunter / jumpers in that turnout, an even pace and style are all important, as is “suspension” in the gaits; however, saddle-seat and “gaited horses,” as they are sometimes called, do not jump in competition.

Dressage / Combined Training horses practice three disciplines that evolved from the tests that horses and riders used to undergo for the cavalry. Dressage, meaning “training” in French is an exacting pattern test involving walk, trot and canter and a number of unique movements designed to test the horse’s gymnastic ability as well as his submission to the rider. Cross country and stadium jumping, the other two disciplines are designed to test the horse’s speed and endurance as well as his trust and obedience to the rider. Some horses and riders study only dressage without cross country or stadium jumping.

Western Riding Disciplines:

Cutting horses are trained to respond not only to cues from the rider’s hands and heels, but also to the slightest shifts in the rider’s weight which help guide the horse to work much like a herding dog when “cutting” one cow out of a herd. In shows, the emphasis for cutting horses and riders is on successfully “reading” the cues from the animal trying to rejoin the herd and staying ahead of the animal’s motion all without obvious use of the rider’s hands to guide the horse.

Reining horses are to Western riding what dressage horses are to English riding. Reining horses also focus on performing the three main gates in a very specialized pattern and are also judged in shows on their gymnastic ability and obedience to their rider.

Rodeo Sport horses perform various tests of speed and agility such as barrel racing, pole-bending, flag races, etc. Mostly determined by the stopwatch and the successful maneuvering through obstacles (without jumping), rodeo horses must be swift and capable of tight turns as well numerous quick starts and stops.


The six disciplines of horseback riding mentioned here ARE FAR FROM A COMPLETE LIST. Not being a Western rider myself, I may not have even come close to the most popular types of Western riding These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what your child can study and how they can compete, if they choose, in horse shows.

Tune into the next entry, coming soon in which I will describe English riding in general, its origins and a few reasons why your child might choose to study riding English. Until next time, happy trails!