From: tracy@scoraz.resp-sci.arizona.edu (Tracy Scheinkman)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: A Basic Glossary
Date: 1 Sep 92 07:22:10 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ


In Article 8532 Rudy Vener writes:

>I was very happy to see the FAQ and I am sure it will prove invaluable when 
>(not if :-) I buy a horse.  Would some kind and knowledgable  soul be interested
>in putting together another FAQ which addresses Things Which Puzzle Beginning
>Equestrians?   Very basic things like:

>What is Dressage?
	Dressage is a French word which means training, it is a type of 
training which is designed to make the horse very light and very responsive
to subtle cues from legs, seat, and hands, and to get the horse to carry
more of its weight on the rear instead of on the forehand which is what it
naturally does.  This enables the horse to perform some maneuvers, such as
the piaffe (trot in place), which it cannot do otherwise..  Competition in 
dressage involves a series of tests at different levels from the very 
beginning up to Olympic competition.
 
>What is hunter style riding?
	This is a form of English riding in which you jump the horse of 
course of jumps designed to simulate the kinds of obstacles a horse might
encounter on a fox hunt.  It is very stylized jumping, the horse and rider
are judged on appearance, and form over fences as well as how many fences
are touched or knocked down.

>How does hunter style differ from jumping?  
	Jumpers differ from hunters in that the jumps they jump are much 
taller, broader, and bolder colored.  These jumps are not designed to
simulate natural obstacles at all.  Jumpers are not judged on appearance
or form at all.  The only judge is the clock and the number of fences
they knock down.  Knocking down a rail gives the competitor a certain 
number of fault points, exceeding the allowed time also causes the 
accumulation of faults.  Touches do not count, however when jumping a water 
obstacle there is usually a board which the horse must not step on or
they accumulate faults.  The lowest number of faults determines the
winner.

>Is endurance riding simply Very Long trail rides?
	Endurance riding is a form of long distance trail competition.  It
is done usually over distances of 50 miles, 100 miles, or a few are multi-day
competitions over longer distances.  It is a timed race.  Because of the
possibility that someone may not realize that their horse is sore or
may try to push a horse too much there are vet checks at certain interval
distances.  If a horse fails a vet check they are pulled from the race.
If they pass they may continue on.  The winner is the first horse across
the line.  Often additional awards are given for Best Condition, this
is the horse that finishes within a certain time frame, or within the
top ten horses, who according to a determination of the vets is in the
best condition.
	Other long distance trail riding competitions are called Competitive
Trail Rides.  Some of these are simply endurance rides where there is a 
window of time within which the horse and rider must come in in order to
be considered for the prize.  Come in too soon and you are out of competition
come in too late and you are also out.  The winner is then determined based
on the horse who comes in in the best condition.  
	Other Competitive Trail Rides, also called Judged Trail Rides, are
long distance rides where in addition to the condition of the horse the
judges look at how well the horse and rider negotiate certain obstacles,
how the rider handles the horse, both during the ride and at vet checks,
and for over night rides how efficiently and safely the horse and rider
camp is set up.

>What is a warmblood?
	A warmblood is a horse of mixed ancestry in whom are combined
(hopefully) the best of both hot (Arabian or Thoroughbred) and cold (draft
horse) blood.  There are many warmblood registries, they usually require
that a horse pass a test or keur and be of certain ancestry to be 
registered.
 
>Are there also coldbloods and hotbloods?
	Yes, coldbloods are draft horse breeds such as Shire, Norwegian
Fjord, Clydesdale, Percheron, Belgian etc.  Hotbloods are Arabian horses and
Thoroughbreds, some also include the Barb and the Turkmene.

>What is a saddlebred?
	A Saddlebred is a breed of horse developed in the United States
from Thoroughbreds, Morgans, Naraghansett Pacers, and a few other breeds.  
About half of all Saddlebreds are 'gaited' which is to say that in addition 
to the 3 normal gaits -- walk, trot, and canter (or lope) -- they also have
a 'lateral' gait or gaits.  These are gaits in which the two feet
on the same side of the body move before the two feet on the other
side of the body.  As opposed to the trot in which the two feet that
are diagonal from each other move simultaneously.  Examples of gaits
that are lateral gaits are the pace, rack, slow gait, foxtrot, paso
fino, paso largo, running walk and single-foot.  The differences between these
have to do with the sequence of foot falls.  The Saddlebred has in the 
past only been shown with the tail 'set' meaning that the tail has
been artificially altered, via neurectomy or myotomy, so that it can only be 
carried high in a tight arch, a process many people including myself believe 
is a form of mutilation and cruel.  For this reason permanent tail-setting
surgery is illegal in several states and the AHSA no longer requires
that the horse be shown with a set tail.  Also in my opinion these
horses are much more beautiful with a natural tail. 

>What is a thoroughbred?  
	A Thoroughbred is a breed of horse developed in England in the
early and late 1700's.  It was created from native bred mares who were
crossed with Arabian and Turk stallions imported to England.  While
a number of 'oriental' stallions and mares contributed to the breed
a Thoroughbred must trace to one of 3 foundation sires -- the Godolphin 
Arabian, the Byerly Turk, or the Darley Arabian.  Thoroughbreds are
used primarily for racing and jumping.  They were also used to found
a number of other breeds including the Quarter Horse, Saddlebred, and
Tennessee Walking horses.

>I always thought there were two kinds of saddle, western and English. Now I
>am reading about dressage, all-purpose, Australian stock, etc. How many kinds
>of saddle are there? How do they differ?
	There are many different kinds of saddle as people adapt saddles
to suit a particular need.  Western saddles were designed primarily as
stock saddles for working cattle in the American west.  They are characterized
by a horn around which a rope was often wrapped or dallied while roping
cattle, large swells on either side of the pommel which are designed to make
it more difficult to be thrown from the saddle, and large leather skirts.  Some 
different types of western saddle are pleasure, reining, cutting, barrel 
racing and roping saddles.  These differ primarily in the seat, the weight, 
the shape of the skirts and the type of horn.  English saddles were designed
as an offshoot of cavalry saddles for all day travel cross country.  They
are characterized by a smooth pommel (no horn), no skirts, large flaps that
often have knee rolls for support while jumping.  English saddles include 
dressage, all-purpose, jumping, and cross country or event saddles.
These saddles differ primarily in the placement of the leg and whether the
seat tends to shift you into a more forward (jumping) position or a more
upright dressage position.  Australian stock saddles differ from English 
and Western saddles by having thigh blocks which make it very difficult for 
a rider to be pulled off their horse or thrown from the horse.  They act 
similarly to the swells of a Western saddle.  An Aussie may have a horn or 
not.  There are regional saddles which are used by people in a particular 
region, for example, the saddle used by vaqueros in Spain, or the Egyptian 
dancing horse saddle used to show dancing horses in Egypt.
 
>What is jumpseat?  
	I believe this is what people commonly call forward seat or huntseat
style of riding.  In it the rider leans a little forward, in what is
termed 2-point position, while at the same time maintaining their center
of gravity over the horse's center of gravity.  When the horse jumps the
rider comes slightly up out of the saddle and sits again after the jump,
the whole time maintaining the center of gravity over the horse's.
 
>What is saddleseat?  
	Saddleseat is a very formal style of English riding which over the
years has primarily been replaced by huntseat except at Arabian, Morgan, 
Saddlebred, Tennessee Walker and National Show Horse shows.  The saddle
used with this is sometimes called a cutback show saddle, or park saddle.
It is a kind of very flat English saddle which has no padding in the flaps
at all.  There is some argument over the developement of this style of
riding some saying it has its roots in dressage, others that it developed
from plantation riding.  In any case the style as it is now practiced
is designed to show off a high-stepping trotting horse and everything
is done toward this end.  The body is positioned very upright, somewhat
behind the horse's center of gravity, the legs are either out in front
of the rider, or slightly in front, the hands are held high to facilitate
'lifting' or raising the horse's front end.

>Are there any other kinds of seats? I know there are sore seats :-)
	Yes, stockseat refers to the way one rides a Western horse,
particularly a reining or stock horse.  Dressage seat refers to the
way one positions oneself for dressage, which is more upright than
huntseat, but unlike saddleseat has the leg more underneath the rider
and the hands are held lower with the line from elbow to the horse's
mouth forming one straight continuous line.

>Can anyone reccommend some good books to answer all this stuff?
	There are many good books about all of these subjects but not
one to answer all questions.  I recommend going to the library and
picking out a bunch of different books on these subjects.  The good
books out number the bad so just read everything you can get your
hands on.

>I have had two riding lessons so far.  How does one transit from the lowly ranks
>of the 'beginner' to the exalted status of 'novice'?  What's next?

	Time and miles.  That's all it is.  Take more lessons and don't get
discouraged.

					Tracy and Bruce (beautiful man) and
					Cachet (7 year old Arabian mare) and
					Mithril (2 year old Arabian filly) and
					The Cats