# How to gallop- western



## nrhareiner

Would depend on how the horse is trained. 

Also I am guessing you are talking about loping? You will find that in western it is a more laid back easy type things. Your seat does not come out of the saddle like it does in English. You also would not lean forward. Not even sure that would be correct English until you are jumping. When I ask for a lope off. I move my horses rear over depending on which lead I wish to take and then ask. They lope off from a walk or stand still. When I want more speed I move my hand forward up their neck move it back to slow down. I also kiss for speed and hum to slow down. Also will change how fast I ride or do not ride depending on what speed I want from my horse. Since western horses are tried so much off of seat and legs the reins have little to do with anything really.


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## SorrelHorse

Actual galloping is differant than loping. Nrhareiner covered the lope so let me cover the gallop. Just in case.

When I ask my horses to run I move my hand forward up the neck and I use the purring vocal cue. A lot of my trainers horses are taught this way as well. You should sort of situp a bit, but not like you would in English. It's more of just sitting up straighter....not sure how to explain it. But don't lean forward, just adopt a more upright position. 

Um, does that make sense? lol I'm lacking in dictionary terms at the present moment 
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## franknbeans

I do it like NRHA reiner does-but like Sorrelhorse clarified, English is more of a half seat-not really a 2 point (which would be for jumping).


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## nrhareiner

Keep in mind that in western it is a lope even when speed is increases which I did cover I stated when you move your hand further up the neck the horse should increase in speed. In English it is a gallop. Just like the difference between a trot or job. One English one western. 

Also at least on reiners no one that I know of shortens their stirrups. Makes to too hard to stop and do other maneuvers. You should be able to move any any speed with the same length stirrups.


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## Sunny

No. ^^ In English, it's canter. In Western, it's lope. Gallop is the same in both styles. Canter/lope is a three-beat gait. Gallop is a four-beat. There are no different terms for gallop in the different styles. So, lope and gallop are NOT the same.
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## nrhareiner

Gotcha. Do not use the term gallop for anything nor have I herd it uses out side of the English shows I shoot.


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## xShilohxLovex

With western, galloping is NOT a lope. A lope and a canter are equivalent. 
It really depends on how the horse is trained and how you were trained. To get my horse to move faster, I just lift the reins higher. The higher I lift them, the faster he'll go.


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## smrobs

When I ask my horse to reach out and run, I will take more of a forward seat and sqeeze with my legs. If they really need encouragement, I will smooch to them. Also, what type of seat I have really depends on what the terrain is like. For ground that is pretty level and smooth, I will generally keep a deep seat. However, if the ground is really rough with drops and steep hills, I will take up kindof a modified 2-point position. That way, I can get off their back and make it easier for them to jump and move over the rough terrain.


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## Gidget

Lope is western and canter is english.


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## Lovehorsesandrunning

thanks haha all I did today at the fun show was musical bags and I was bad hahaha but it was fun I was really nervous cuz I don't really rode western but it's al good now I can canter and k think I got the hang of western(; thanks anyway ha
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