Hi All,

I am new to this site although not so new to Western. I own two quarter horse rising two year olds (filly & gelding)

I want to talk about the impossibility of learning to ride western. I have been riding for about 20 years and have ridden (without skill or grace) Western a few times. My husband is a complete novice rider and we both want to have Western riding lessons. Our horses will go away for western training towards the end of the year and we had set aside 2007 as our year to learn to ride western properly. Not an easy task (unless you have a western trained horse already) I live in Hampshire and have tried various options, I have contacted a number of studs and no-one can help me. I have found three places that offer Western lessons on a Western Trained Horse, one is 140 miles away, one is 80 miles away and the other is about 120 miles away. We tried to organise a lesson with the nearest (at 80 miles) but it all fell apart. We want to have lesson regularly and it is simply not practical to do a 200 mile round trip every weekend.

I am beginning to doubt if we will ever actually learn to western ride before our horses are backed.

How can we encourage regular riders to try Western Riding when the facilities are not available (unless you want to do a 'Dude Day' ?? !! ???

Never mind I guess I'll keep on searching !!!!!!!! :o

I completely sympathise. I am in Northumberland and we are in an even worse situation than you. I did think there were a few trainers in Hampshire. Many years ago I organised a few western demonstrations up here with top trainers from the south and they generated a tremendous amount of interest but when I was asked 'how do we learn?' I had to say 'sorry but there are no trainers in the north'. This went down like a lead balloon!! In the end I gave up trying to promote the sport. I would have liked to improve my own skills but occasional clinics don't work because the riders are at different levels and the trainers use different methods so there is no consistency. Regular lessons are the only way to learn and there are too few good trainers out there. Those that there are are, naturally, operating in areas where there is a high level of Western activity already and have purpose made facilities with trained horses. No-one's going to set up in an area with an unknown market - catch 22!!!
I don't know what the answer is but maybe I can throw something radical out there for consideration. Why not try and make use of the existing English riding schools by offering training courses for English instructors who may also be interested in Western? It would give them something extra to add to their curriculum without costing anything but I would almost guarantee that there would be a lot of interest. It would also get youngsters interested, particularly with the success of our youth team. Maybe run a few short courses in those areas of 'deprivation' to give them a taste of Western.

It is really hard to find lessons, unless you have your own horse, because of the high insurance costs for the trainer. Many riding schools have stopped teaching using their own horses because of that (and that is for the English riding).

I am lucky enough to have Bruce Lawrence just down the road from me so can have regular lessons. I would have given up years ago if I had to travel long distances just for lessons. Clinics are great for helping you take home something to work on, and that is at least a start. If there are enough people interested, many of the trainers will offer regular clinics in your area and the cost is not so high if spread among several people.

Best of luck in your search.

Hi Elliboo, sorry to hear about your problem in not being able to find Western Riding lessons near enough to home. Afraid I can't offer an answer and can only sympathise. We've been lucky to be close enough to good western trainers and continue to be. Hope you stick with it.

A suggestion for Admin here - how about a UK map showing the location of Western facilities, trainers etc. It might take a while to build up but would eventually give anyone, particularly those new to Western a guide to where the nearest facility is - just a thought.....

That's an excellent idea Markrm.  How about it Admin? 

Regarding a map of Wes trainers. In theory that's a good idea but in practise how do you know who is good? There are a number of self-styled trainers out there who just aren't any good at all. And if you are looking for somebody to start a youngster or an established horse in western I would urge even more caution as there are too many stories of ruined horses.

I would recommend anybody new to western to do as much research as possible before you take the plunge. Visit shows, talk to breeders and as many people as possible. It's amazing how quickly you build up a picture of who is good and who to avoid. Wes is a small community and you will soon find the same good names crop up over and over again. And you will also see how tightlipped people are about certain others.