Western is better for the horse than English riding

Dressage: Okay, I've seen plenty of horses trained for dressage with none of the beating techniques you're talking about. Can I get a news article, anecdote, or some other form of proof that this is common? I'm not sure if you've been to any dressage competitions recently; the equestrian news definitely blows up rollkur and if you haven't actually seen a warm-up arena in the past year, it's easy to believe that it happens all the time and is encouraged. However, in last year's Olympics, we saw that not only were the rules strictly enforced, but also the posture that comes from rollkur was penalized: http://cs.thehorse.com... . I don't quite believe your claim that it happens at lower levels. I tried to find any reference to rollkur in reports about dressage in training through fourth levels and failed. Cross country: Allow me to remind you that cutters and reiners are started earlier than cross country horses, get closer to the ground than cross country horses, and run just as fast as cross country horses. If a horse refuses many times, I agree that it wasn't ready. However, the financial incentive to leave an unprepared horse at home is great in eventing competitions. It's simply too expensive for most people to bring a horse who can't do its job. What you describe as force is different from my definition. I think of force as the ability to actually make a horse do something, by pulling or pushing it. The horse doesn't cooperate at all. All training, no matter the discipline, involves pain. Cross country horses are no exception. When they refuse, and the rider uses a crop or spurs, the horse is then left to decide what pain is greater: jumping the fence and relieving the crop/spurs, or enduring the crop/spurs and refusing the fence again. They also have another option: dump the rider and just go back to the trailer. Horses who are improperly prepared will inevitably fail or be injured - a law that applies to all horse-related endeavours, not just cross country. By repeating the statement that cross country jumps are solid, you're ignoring my responses that many are not solid and that horses are adequately prepared for the possibility of running into a solid fence. Racing: Since you didn't address any of my arguments on racing, I'd just like to refer to my last post. All of my point from there still stand. Saddleseat: The trainers and riders actually want a hot and spooky horse. Any saddle horse can be desensitized quite easily; they're some of the smartest horses out there. Most of the older horses can turn on and off - they go on trail rides and are fine, but put them in a show ring and they are ready to go. The younger horses generally aren't mature enough to make that distinction. A saddleseat horse is carefully watched for any stress, since a minor injury left untreated can blow up into a career-threatening one. All trainers and riders in this discipline are in tune with their horses, perhaps to a greater degree than any other discipline, because the potential for injury is high. A horse, once injured, receives the best care possible in order to ensure its well-being and return to what it loves best: the show arena. The horses are properly trained. The majority work at home in a half-cheek snaffle with two reins, one through a running martingale or training fork and the other a direct line from mouth to hand. At shows, the curb is added for extra finesse. A squeeze of a finger can tell a horse to raise its head and lower its haunches. The control aspect comes into play when the environment is more energetic. If you're telling me you'd rather ride a very strong horse 2 feet away from a cheering, clapping, yelling crowd in just a snaffle rather than a snaffle and something with a little more stopping power, well, I think you might change your mind if you actually had to do it. A saddleseat horse is never going to be sold to someone who isn't prepared to ride it or have a trainer ride it. I doubt you would ever buy a saddleseat horse because it's entirely different than what you're looking for in a horse. Someone interested in the discipline would have a different view and a different way of handling horses. A shoe that carries risk is one that should be considered carefully; only a horse who will benefit from the package should wear it. It should be worn only when necessary. And special care should be taken so that no harm is done. All of these precautions are taken by good saddleseat trainers, farriers, and barns. It may be that in Western, the abuses are simply commonplace. For example, in western pleasure in all breeds, a rollkur position is common at home and at shows. You didn't address any of my specific points for the western disciplines. Reiners are worked with two hands in curb bits with shanks on par with saddleseat horses and mouthpieces much more severe, and with no snaffle option to boot. Ranch horses have a very high risk of injury and encounter dangerous situations often. Cutters are loped for hours on end before showing, and some horses are forced into the discipline even though they aren't suited for it. In timed events, a bad or mediocre rider hell-bent on success can easily slip into abuse. Not only have you not provided evidence showing the injury count for English horses, you haven't shown an injury count for Western horses. In order to claim that one is higher than the other, you need to have numbers from a reputable source. Since I'm not claiming anything to do with injury numbers, I don't need to provide sources. The burden of proof here is on you.