Can you ride a saddlebred horse any style?

Question

I don't know if I should get one because you always see them ridden saddleseat but I ride english. Are they just horses that can be ridden any style, or do you have to ride saddleseat? Please answer only if you are positive or have experienced it.

Thanks :]

Answer 1

you can ride them any style and there are hunter, jumper, and western classes for saddlebreds. saddlebreds actually make really nice sport horses and excel at endurance and cross country type events. saddlebreds are becomming a popular cross with drafts and warmbloods to create sport horses and dressage prospects. i've ridden and shown saddlebreds hunt seat, saddleseat, trail, and western

**saddlebreds are not gaited in general. they have the ability to walk, trot, and canter just like any other horse! gaited horses can also jump with no problem! all horses canter the same so there is no adjusting of the gait needed. and yes there are western pleasure classes for saddlbreds. google "william shatner western pleasure"

Answer 2

1. you can ride any horse any style of riding.

2. with saddlebred/national show horse, if they're trained in that style of riding, it is alot different then just being able to hop on any style, i'm talking more about trained show/lesson horses in this style of riding, if the horse has never been trained the way i'm refering to then i'm sure it doesnt matter as much.( i never personally rode a nation show horse any other way then in a cut back saddle/saddleseat).  i've took a few lessons in it and correct postition/riding.  and when the horse itself IS specificly trained saddleseat, it does require using the cues they know, for example:

A. you hold you're legs "backwards", this is why they dont wear chaps (trust me, my first lesson i brought my usual chaps, and the trainer told me to drop em, i wouldnt need em)  you do NOT squeeze /hold you're lower legs close to the horse's side....trust me i learned the hard way, the horse i was on (trained show horse) took off and i barely touched it's sides with my lower leg.  

b. you hold you're arms at a 90 degree angle and usually have 2 sets of reins. . . and i'm sure most people ride with a longer crop(least that's how she trained me, b/c once my hands lowered below 90degrees she'd take the crop and place it across my arms, in shows they dont do that but it's great and pain in the behind practice)

there are other things as you learn more bout the style/horse that's trained to ride like that.  national show horses(arab/saddlebred) and saddlebreds people are really out there on the scale of one to ten.  things i've personally at a show seen done to their horses(if you cared to know):

a. they dock the horse's tails (not all the time, but it is common or was when i went to the shows)

b. chains on the horses feet in the stalls (taught the horse to pick up it's hind feet more, at least that's how i understood what my trainer said)

c. firecrackers lite and tossed under the horse b4 it went into the ring( that got the "wild" look in their eyes, i dont believe they shouldve gone that far, but i have seen it done a few times in this area).

but i've never shown in this style of riding(seriously like the pros), only been to arab shows that had it as well(national show horses count as arabs). that's why i decided to try it, boarded our horses to the farm owned buy the best national show horse breeder in our area and took lesson on her horses.  i do believe her mares were arabs and her stallion was a saddlebred.

idk if i answered too much, but that's just been my experince with the breed/style of riding... i still have a pro cutback saddle, still for sale b/c we sold both our show horses years ago.lol.

edit: hudson for the most part is right, i'm more talking bout from what i've done (for 6 months-1 year) and more had to do with national show horses/arabs. so that's where my ideas/experences may differ alittle.

Answer 3

ASB's are hugely versatile...you may ride them any way you wish including sidesaddle.  William Shatner of "StarTrek" rides ASB's, has a class which he developed called the "Shatner" which is a western pleasure class for flat shod ASB'S.  A good friend of mine won many of them and beat Mr. Shatner at his own game competing against him in "his" Shatner class at the Cow Palace.

Answer 4

Yes you can ride them any style.  Obviously there are shows that are breed specific so you have see what is required. But you ride English or western when ever you want. If you are just pleasure riding then it doesnt matter. You can get an aussie saddle if you want. I use to barrel race one. He won me a few saddles plus many other things like money, tack, belt buckles etc. Good luck

Answer 5

You can ride a Saddlebred any style, but just make sure that its not pushing the horse too hard, and they are enjoying it, especially because they are usually bred to do saddleseat style riding. They can be good jumpers, especially if they enjoy it. You wouldn't want to ride if you didn't like horses, so why should horses have to be subjected to whatever their owner wants them to do, if they don't like it?

Hope I helped! :)

Answer 6

HERE IS MY ANSWER FROM THE SAME QUESTION ASKED YESTERDAY..........

Yes!! they absolutely can be trained and are ridden in many disciplines!!

Saddlebreds (which is what I ride!!) are often stereotyped to be considered high stepping gaited horses. That is how they got the name of being the "Peacock of the Showring". Although the majority are used as saddleseat show horses, they are trained and shod to "prance" around the ring and be very showy. But the key word is TRAINED....although some Saddlebreds are just not meant to be high steppin' or pleasure show horses, they can be trained to jump, be used in Dressage (Harry Callahan) or just poke along a trail. THEY ARE VERY VERSATILE!!

With proper training and knowing the capabilities of the horse, any horse can be trained to do anything. You just need to know your horses limitations as not every horse performs at it's best doing something WE want them to do. But that could be that particular horse and not the entire breed!!

A happy and content horse is one that enjoys the job at hand...no matter what breed!!

If you like playing soccer for example...and you are made to play baseball...you wouldn't like it and probably wouldn't enjoy playing it and your heart would not be there...even if you were forced to..you would become sour..so, it is no different for a horse..if you are a realistic, compassionate, respectful horseperson. By that I mean there is no reason to "beat" or be cruel to a horse and make them do what they can't.

You need to work as a team..especially if showing Hunter...where form and equitation are a major part. Open too...just that the picture doesn't have to be "as pretty" cause you just want to clear the fences.....

Have fun and I hope that your horse will be a willing partner with you!!



ADDITIONALLY:

Saddleseat IS English..the saddle is different (cutback) because you sit further back..away from the shoulders and much more upright because of the horses front action and high head carriage that you want to maximize.

***********************EDIT***********...

Playmate 2013 said:

both just not western you can ride them hunter/jumper,dressage,saddle seat thats all

17 minutes ago

Source(s):

over 7 years of haveing saddle breads

**************************************...

First of all, I would think that if you had over 7 years experience of HAVING SaddleBREDS, you would know how to spell the name properly (Bred not Bread)....and not be so ignorant to think that they cannot be ridden western.....just because they are normally ridden english..specifically saddleseat, does not mean they cannot have a western saddle on their backs.  Does that mean that you can't put an english saddle on a predominately western Quarter Horse....it's a saddle for heavens sake....

Answer 7

Of course! My riding instructor once had a horse named Ben, I think and he did EVERTHING! he would aways win ribbons in Saddleseat shows and he was also a great three day eventer. I first started riding english on a saddlbred. They make excellent jumpers. You would have to train one to jump though. Don't expect to point out a jump to a championg show horse and expect him to jump it a first. But, in conclusion, they can be ridden any style.

Answer 8

I had a friend that was ranked in the top ten in the world with her saddlebred and she did jumping, she took me to many events and they did everything, western!, hunter/jumper, English pleasure, equitation, gaited events, and many more. My advice is to go to one or more of these shows and to subscribe to the breed magazine which is very helpful and full of wonderful pictures. They do ride all of those in a unique style than that of other breeds and that is the major difference.

Answer 9

I haven't tried it but basically the English saddle is very similar to the saddleseat type of saddle so yes, that would be fine. It would be much, very much harder to ride any gaited horse like a saddlebred in an English way. Jumping won't be fun, they have a movement that is hard to be corrected.

If you want to get a horse that can do anything[Barrel racing, trails, english, jumping, dressage, etc] your best bet would to not get a gaited horse. Something like a Quarter Horse, Appendix, Thoroughbred, would be your best bet.

Make sure you think about what you truly want a horse for, don't just pick them because they're a certain breed or have certain things you like.

Answer 10

both just not western you can ride  them hunter/jumper,dressage,saddle seat thats all