Horses!

southafrica1001

hehe lol yea. whats your style of riding?

crazy4fish

i ride huntseat. but i really want to ride western. and just so you know there are 3 types of riding: western, huntseat, and saddleseat. huntseat and saddleseat are sometimes both put into one category called english. hope you got that. lol

southafrica1001

hehe ok thanks can you describe hunt seat to me ?

i love the idea of western its so free

jeaninel

Here's some old pics I scanned. Hopefully they'll turn out ok.

This is Tavianne, our Thoroughbred mare.


We bred her once and got this guy, Taviloma.


This is going way back to when I was just a kid. Me and my friend Tracy in a pairs class. I'm on the right on my pony Peek-A-Boo.


Peek-A-Boo


A more recent pic. My sister, Deanna, on her horse Brass. I'm on the right on Jake, the Palomino.


My Morgan/Arabian, Silky Sue.

Mirta

It's a whole other world! Fantastic creatures!

Could anyone explain the difference between saddleseat and huntseat?

crazy4fish

those are such cute horses! :D i love the colors of brass and jake! and southafrica and mirta, huntseat is the style that jeaninal is riding in the third pic. it was created for fox hunting and is very popular now. (thats the style i ride) and saddleseat is more fancy. you wear more showy clothes and the horses hold their heads up high and lift their feet as high as they can. it isnt as relaxed as western or huntseat, you want your horse to be pumped so if performs to its best. i'll give some pics below.


this is a western horse and rider. it is very relaxed and laid back. the speed is very slow and the horses head is lower and it doesnt lift its feet too high.

this is a western saddle. it always has a horn on the front and usually has some kind of silver on it. western bridles usually have more silver on them too.

this is huntseat. it is faster than western and the horse carries its head a bit higher. the rider sits leaning foward just a bit because this is how you would sit if you were fox hunting and jumping over brush.

these are huntseat saddles. pretty plain right? same with the bridals. unlike western the rider wears a helmet when riding huntseat. you also wear a short coat and "breeches" or the tight fitting pants. you also wear boots.

this is saddleseat. im assuming that just by seeing the pics you can now tell the difference between this and huntseat. in saddleseat the horse in excited and ready to go(they have to be to lift their feet that high) they hold their head up and lift their feet. they only go a bit faster than huntseat but only because they are so pumped.

this is a saddleseat saddle. it is even plainer than the huntseat. the only obvious difference is that the huntseat has a pad where you knee would go. you can tell by the pics that the outfit for saddleseat is very formal. you wear a long coat with slacks and a hat called a derbie. you have to hold your hands higher than you would have to in huntseat or western.

western

huntseat

saddleseat

hope that helped

jeaninel

That's a very good explanation, Crazy4fish.

crazy4fish

thanks i tried not to make it too complicated.

southafrica1001

great now i know the differnce lol :D jeaninel your horses are gorgeous :D
in huntseat the reins seem to be much longer?

Mirta

Thanks so much! I do believe it is better to support any explanation with visual aids! :D Now even I know the difference. I have never been around horses due to many circumstances. We do have enough land to keep horses but we have to live in the city for the time being...

Maybe someday we'll be bold enough to get a pony. Horses are gregarious, so one pony would not be enough. Then they will have babies - and before we know it we might have a little horse farm!

So far I can only enjoy horses when I go the stables with my daughter who takes riding classes. Now i will study her saddle and her style knowingly. It is not western (which I think is the best, no matter how elegant English can be), that's for sure. I do not know which direction to take. They have jumping and riding - dancing - not sure how to call it in English Dressage - ? It could be better for a girl. Right now she is taking private lessons in riding.

I also wanted to remark how lucky you are (of course, you work hard for that :) ) to have such wonderful horses! We wish you all the best with them!