Western Horsemanship.

Western horsemanship is different than western pleasure. In a horsemanship class, the judges are looking at the rider's ability to ride the horse, not on the horse's performance. In a horsemanship class, rider's with less expensive horses can do just as good with dedication and practice.

In this class the judge is looking for the correctness of the rider's seat, feet, and hands. The judge will also be looking at the angles of the rider too. There are patterns in a horsemanship class and the rider's ability to complete the pattern will be used to place them. The patterns can be anything from straight lines at either a walk, jog, or canter with different maneuvers in the straight line. The judge may ask riders to back or perform circles. In an AQHA class, the highest score a rider can receive is a 20. The points come from the overall impression of the horse and rider, how smooth the ride was along with the smoothness of the horse's transitions. If there are missed transitions or wrong leads, points will be deducted from the rider's total score.

When choosing a horse for a horsemanship class, your horse should be calm and forgiving. The horse is not just going to be riding around the ring, so they need to be able to be pushed in the pattern and do maneuvers they do not like. Also, the horse and rider should work as a team. The judge will want to see that the rider has put many hours of training in.

Overall, the judge is going to be looking at the rider and horse's ability to perform as a team. To come together and create a smooth, well put together pattern. They want to see the whole package.

Here is a video of  the 2008 AQHA Reserve Western Horsemanship pattern: Western Horsemanship Pattern