Is there a way you could teach a hunter horse to do saddle seat??

Question

I'm leasing a hunter horse. She is half saddle bred half arabian and she has the speed and personality of a saddle seat horse but she can't hold her head high long enough. She was going to be saddle seat but they noticed her head can't be held high enough. Yesterday I tried her in a saddle seat saddle and I love the feel of the saddle and everything, but she doesnt work with it too well. Should I continue to hold my hands high or should I just enjoy the saddle but not make her go like a saddle seat horse. Here's a photo of her

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg310/JeterDiva/p1010052.jpg

Answer 1

It's all in the training.  She's the right breed to be a saddleseat horse, but a hunter horse is trained to go just like she is going in the picture.  Head down, poll flexed, in a frame.

Training any type of saddle horse requires that they build up the muscles at the base of the neck and on the underside to hold the head up.  Saddleseat horses need to wear wegihted shoes/pads, they need to have high knee action, upright front end carriage, and come well underneath with their hind end.  It's not just about the head.  Building the horse's front end up -- ie conditioning the front legs, developing the knee action, building up the shoulders-- all of these things will help the performance of a saddle seat horse.  It's a big training job, though. It's a job a professional should do.  And if your mare doesn't have high knee action, she is probably better suited as a hunter.

Sounds like that's why the owners stopped her saddle seat training and went hunter went her.  Remember, you *lease* her, not own her.  So don't do anything that the owners won't approve of - like retraining her unprofessionally for something she's not suited to do.  

http://www.nshregistry.org/StaticPageDis...

That's a link , to the National Showhorse registry.  Same breed as your mare.  You can see the massive difference between your little hunter mare and the national showhorses pictured.  They are built differently, muscled differently, carry themselves differently, and gait differently. It's OK that your mare does hunter and not saddleseat.  Those saddleseat horses can't switch over to "regular" hunter because they don't have flat knee action.  Which is why these type of horses have their own hunter classes.

Answer 2

i've heard that saddle seat works best for morgan horses but here's a link for something that might help you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_seat

Answer 3

In that picture, her head doesn't look to low.  From the picture it looks like she has more of the Arabian type neck and head.  Her head is not built like a saddlebred's.  If you want to ride her saddleseat take lessons, and a good instructor will teach you how to ask her to set her head for saddleseat.  There are Arabs and Morgans that compete in both huntseat and saddleseat.  You will just need some lessons to help you, and her.  

Edit

Saddleseat horse don't need weighted shoes.  There are divisons for them with out the weights.  And some people compete in huntseat and saddleseat at the same time, successfully.