Have a little strap here, I have it actually on both sides, it's called a, I call it a night latch,
for the Western in on a dressage saddle we call it a grab strap, but I learned to call it a night
latch, and so what I'll do if I'm on a young horse, and I'm worried that they're going to do something
is I'll hook my hand under this strap and kind of pull myself into the saddle. Hello everyone, today's
video is can you ride dressage in a western saddle. In today's video I'm going to give you
some tips if you're riding a western saddle, or a hunt saddle, or pretty much whatever kind of saddle
you ride in, it doesn't really matter. I think that dressage helps every single horse and every single
rider regardless of your discipline. So obviously, today I'm in my western saddle. Believe it or not,
I used to ride in a western saddle all the time and I still put all my young horses in
a western saddle to start them out because it just gives me a little bit more security.
So a couple of things, is that when I get in my western saddle, what you'll notice is that I have
the same alignment from my ear, shoulder, hip, heel, so regardless of what type of saddle you're in, you
always want to have this alignment ear, shoulder, hip, heel, that puts you in neutral spine, which
allows you to absorb the motion of the horse. I do have these are called mecate reins, so if
you see on this side, how there's two reins, this is a lead rope so that I could get off and like
lead my horse, or do some groundwork if I was on the trail, or if I needed to, and I hold my reins
the same as I do in dressage. Sometimes I'll put a coil in my rope in my outside hand, but when I ride
in western, I basically ride my horses the same as I do for dressage. I can ask them to go on the
contact, I use my legs more or less the same. So I'm just going to go ahead and walk Jacques forward here,
and again you can see how it's the same positioning, so I have that straight line
ear, shoulder, hip, heel. I have a nice straight line from elbow to his mouth. I have one rein
in each hand, and like more advanced western horses will sometimes do one-handed, if you need a rope,
or something, then you can ride one-handed. I'm just gonna go ahead here and pick up the trot,
and again, my point being here is that regardless of what saddle you're in, it's the same principle.
So I'm thinking about establishing a steady tempo, and a steady contact. In general, in western, I
find that the it's harder to sit the trot in the western saddle, so I tend to stay mostly in rising
trot in the western saddle because the western saddle doesn't have as much shock absorption
as the dressage saddle does, so in general, I stay more in the posting trot in the western saddle,
but I'm thinking about keeping my proper alignment. Keeping my lower leg underneath of me,
and same thing if I go up to the canter. Ride a little half halt, ask for the canter, I will say
I feel like in the canter I move a bit more in the saddle compared to in my dressage saddle, so in the
canter I feel like I slide more from the back to the front of the saddle, and I'm just a little bit
looser overall. I find it a little harder not to bounce like I can feel my butt kind of slapping a
bit more in the saddle, um in this western saddle as opposed to in my dressage saddle, but what I
like about the western saddles, like I said before, is that they give you a little bit more support
and freedom. So the reason, good boy Jacques, the reason that I start all my young horses in the western
saddle, a couple of reasons, one is that it, the saddle's quite a bit bigger, and so it actually
spreads the weight out more across your horse's back, which can be a good thing on a young horse,
just to distribute the weight a bit more. The other reason that I like to ride and start my young
horses in the western saddle is because of this. So I can get off and do ground work if I need to,
and then, the third reason is I have a little strap here, I have it actually on both sides,
it's called a, I call it a night latch, for the western in on a dressage saddle, we call it a
grab strap, but I learned to call it a night latch, and so what I'll do if I'm on a young
horse, and I'm worried that they're going to do something, is I'll hook my hand under this strap
and kind of pull myself into the saddle. So let me demonstrate that. I'm going to hold on with
my right hand, because I feel a little bit more comfortable there, but if I'm like worried, or if
I want to just really let my horse go. and not hold on to their face. a great thing to practice is I'll
just get a hold of this of this night latch here, so I have it as I go past the camera, you can see
how I'm I have my right hand anchored on that strap. I actually don't hold on to the saddle
horn, because the saddle horn on the saddle is way too big and too high, so I have a hold of
this night latch, and then I can just be a little more free, and not hang on to my horse, but if my
horse goes to do something then I can pull on that and keep my butt in the saddle. So let me
actually go up to a little canter, so like if I want a canter, and I just want to practice on my
balance and not worry too much about the contact, I have a hold of this night latch so that if
my horse goes to do something I can really just use that, rather than pulling on my horse's mouth.
Good boy Jacques, good boy, but you can see, you know, I really don't care what kind of saddle you ride
in, and let me know in the comments what kind of saddle you ride in. You know I get that all the
time like, is it okay, I ride in a western saddle, I ride in a hunt seat saddle, I ride bareback, it
doesn't really matter what kind of saddle you ride in. Good riding is good riding, and I really believe
that. I started out as a dressage rider, then I had a horse who was really difficult, and he had
a rearing issue, I went to western and learned natural horsemanship, and roping, and reining, and
all kinds of stuff, and then I converted back into dressage. But the basic principles are the same,
it's all about, regardless of your discipline, you need to be able to go, stop, turn, have your horse
listening, and relaxed, and that's what I love about dressage, and the beauty of dressage. So
hello to all you western dressage people out there, I love it, I love to see your photos of
you in the western saddle, and to me it doesn't matter, so if you like this video, give me a thumbs
up, also make sure to click and subscribe to my channel, because I post a new training
video every single Wednesday, and I want to have you part of the channel. So thanks for watching.
thank you
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