# Transitioning a horse from western to english



## corinowalk (Apr 26, 2010)

Depends on what you mean by english riding. Any horse can carry an english saddle and rider. If you intend to do dressage/jumping/eventing, you will need further training...if you want to succeed in any of the above, you will need a professional. If you just want to ride english the only thing you will need to make her comfortable with is bit contact. Primarily western riders ride with as little contact as possible whereas english riders ride with contact. On trail, it doesn't much matter.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

she should be fine. If she has good basics it should be no problem for her! And even then, the saddle shouldn't upset her very much at all. 
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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Okay, I hear this a lot and generally it's the other way around. Sometimes the English horses get upset by the extra length of the saddle....But as a general rule a horse doesn't care what's on their back. With every horse I've ever had in my life I've just randomly decided that one day I wanted to ride them a differant style. Never had any problems. I just got on and rode like every other day, even with my two/three year olds.
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## DressageIsToDance (Jun 10, 2010)

Quite frankly, it's not the saddle that matters, it's what you are doing with them. A horse could care less if you are in an english saddle or a western saddle.

If you just want to RIDE english, just put the saddle on and go. She will be fine. If you want to do a specific english discipline, you'll need more extensive training anyway. But that goes both ways - if you wanted to do ANY discipline, and she's green right now, you'll need to have her in training. So honestly, there IS no transition, especially if she isn't "finished" yet. Point her in the direction you want to go is all.


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