Over the weekend, I hit a local rodeo with Redheadlins and Alyssa. It was super fun and low key. I was on foot and having a good time.But the more I looked around, the more I wonder. I'm very particular about horses. I mean, when non-horse-people are like "oh the beautiful mustangs", I just want to gag. Do not like. 80% of the horses at the rodeo were solid, good-minded creatures that were quite pleasant to look at.
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| you should have seen them run barrels. omg. |
In the team roping competition, the horses waiting their turn to compete stood in the arena. While the steer shot out of the shoot with two horses right behind him. Yelling. Ropes swinging. Music blaring. Dust flying. Cattle moving.
And not one of them moved a muscle.
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| looking the part |
The second? "I wonder if this is our world".
I've made no secret of my intense hatred of the ridiculous froo-froo tradition of dressing like upper-class white people in Victorian England to compete in our "sport". I get really tired of being put down by hoity-toity east coast elitists who refuse to expend half the effort I do to compete, but still think they're superior to me by merit of geography. I think all that is ridiculous. I want my horse to be a fun, all-around horse who does everything, which is never something you see in the dressage world, but is oh-so-common for rodeo horses.
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| can we make it happen? |
There are other outlets, though. Courage is good looking and good minded, and frankly, the idea of a cowboy-boots-and-jeans way of life is vastly more appealing than white spandex.
It's not a perfect outcome, but it's definitely kicking around in my brain now.
Two words to consider? Western Dressage. Not cowboy dressage...totally different.
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to drop this here....
ReplyDeletehttp://americashorsedaily.com/from-dressage-to-reining/#.VdHe2J1VhBd
You could do reining! No roping required, although I'm not a huge fan of the sliding stops. There's no way we will ever compete in the "Pleasure" classes because I refuse to make him move that way!
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to Texas, I decided I wanted my horses to be as broke as all the chilled out super-broke rope horses around here... so that's what I did!
ReplyDeleteO is primarily a driving horse now since that is what she really enjoys, but she also runs barrels, sorts and works cattle, has been roped off of, foxhunts, evented a bit, did some dressage, trail rides, does endurance, and swims. And we throw giant yoga balls at her, wave flags in her face, and generally do stupid things until they are not scary any more.
And I haven't regretted a second of it!
The horse I owned for 18 years was one of those all-arounders that you described. We dabbled in a little bit of everything from jumping to polo to team penning to reining to trail riding. Was she a master at everything? No but we had fun and I was never bored. I also knew I could haul her to just about anywhere and know I'd have a good ride no matter what we encountered.
ReplyDeleteI can't even handle the photo of that tiny girl, in that TINY saddle!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGo for it!
ReplyDeleteIf there are gymkhana "play days" with a non-pro division or something like that go ahead and do it. Or even dabble into Western Dressage. Reining is fun too!
Totally get this. I boarded Pongo at a western barn for a bit and nearly converted. Such a different vibe about not just horses, but life compared to my English upbringing. Obvi we stuck with dressage/eventing but not without buying a pair of glitzy Ariat jeans and a gorgeous hand tooled McPherson saddle, of course!!!
ReplyDeleteI miss my gymkhana western play days. They were so much fun even if I never got a single ribbon (because I was in the 18 over category and those girls were really all about winning!). I really want to find a western saddle so I can be silly and "run" barrels and poles with Gus just to get him out there.
ReplyDeleteI am all about this. A horse that is athletic enough to jump 3'? Yes. But sensible enough to tie to a trailer? Yes. And canter and jump in company without its brain leaking out its ears? YES. But confident enough to push around cows? YES. I would not want a horse that is a hot-house flower, of ANY breed. I want a horse that I can do any damn fool thing that I get a whim to do. But that's just me :D
ReplyDeleteSuper-broke all-arounds are amazeballs. You should try jousting too, just for funsies ;)
ReplyDeleteBarrels? No thank you. Cow play? Heck yes. Maybe Papa will think since the cows are curvy and he likes curvy that cows are fun.
ReplyDeleteWhat about trail classes?!?
ReplyDeleteI love super broke/all round, too! It is also my goal. I used to love going to rodeos with my friends in high school. I just like to jump too much ;).
ReplyDeleteoooh i think Courage would be an awesome rodeo horse! but yea i totally agree - versatile horses that are happy to do whatever are really the most fun :)
ReplyDelete=D I support. We pay too much for these horses for them to not try whatever stuff we want. I insist my horses neck rein, do trail class obstacles, etc. I have only done cattle work on a real ranch, on a horse that was trained for it, but it was a blast. And bonus that you have competitions that are way more accessible!
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of elitism in the western world too. Especially at the higher levels. But I agree that horses should be well-rounded and capable of handling anything. That's why I make mine do endurance, jumping, dressage, trails, all the things. Maybe try western dressage? Cutting looks super fun too.
ReplyDeleteThose horses have such good minds. When I watched that much-maligned documentary on Buck Brannaman, I remember a lady who said she cut cattle with all her dressage horses. So there's that.
ReplyDelete(I liked the movie, so sue me.)
There's no reason your horse can't dabble in all the worlds. Honestly, I wouldn't even own a horse that couldn't dabble in all the worlds. I think people get too stuck with trying to define the type of riding they do and end up missing out on playing with things like gaming, and cows, and yada yada. He's just a horse. Go do stuff with him. If he doesn't like, do something else. (That being more of a general statement than aimed directly at you and Courage.)
ReplyDeleteWestern is super fun. I've dabbled in english but western is my fav. Dabble! You don't necessarily have to rope or barrel. There's lots of western things that y'all could do just for kicks and to get involved with other stuff! I think it's so great for a horse to experience other things. My QH is an ex-roper (I dream about getting him back into it competitively but just don't have the means) and he loves it. We also do western dressage. go find some cows!
ReplyDeleteLooks like we all want to have fun, love the comments! I had such a blast and want to do it again!
ReplyDeleteI've only had english lessons, but western has always appealed more to me. It seems that in the english world, you have equitation, dressage, and some sort of jumping. Obviously that's an over simplified version. In western, there seems to be a lot more variation. You have the typical rodeo classes...barrels, poles, reining, etc. But there's also the equitation, dressage, pleasure as well as the trail related classes. The biggest turn off for me is the whole neck reining thing.
ReplyDeleteJust in my experience (and this is not grouping everyone together for you western people that might get offended at a blanket statemetnt), western riders were extremely stuck up and treated their horses horribly. i couldnt stand it. I loved gaming and western but the people sucked and their horsemanship sucked. So I began eventing ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is also true. One of the reasons rope horses are so broke is because they know that if they don't behave ALL the time, they will get their asses beat to a pulp. So they always behave!
DeleteI had a roper once tell me once that the way they "gentled up ornery horses" was to take them into the outdoor arena on a 100+ degree day, rope them, lay them down, tie their legs, and tarp them. Yes tarp them, with a blue tarp. And then leave them to roast under the tarp for several hours, and THEN get them up and ride them. "Takes the buck right out of them." Yeah, I bet it does....
But but but I'm a hoity toity east coast elitist :(
ReplyDeleteI think the western & rodeo world is pretty fascinating and would never swear it off as an option. I would however, swear it off if I wanted to really dive in with an OTTB. It's just not their world for a lot of different reasons.
I too am an East Coast elitist...not. My concept of dressage all along was to make my horses those "all-purpose" kind of guys. When I was still sound and hardy, we did everything and the dressage work just enhanced it all. I still have my barrel racing trophy that I won with my TB dressage horse...against a bunch of real cowboys with gaming horses. (I rode English that day which made it all even more fun.)
ReplyDeleteNot sure which riding master it was who said, "The proof of the dressage horse is in the field. (meaning out in the world, not in the dressage arena)." It's true.
I took my little OTTB fox hunting one week, and then to an extreme cowboy race the next. I may be an eventer at heart, but I love dabbling in different disciplines!
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