As an equestrian, I have been riding for almost 7 years now but in that short time I have tried numerous disciplines; from hunter pleasure to saddleseat, and dressage to western. Each of these disciplines had something to teach me to help with another and they all helped to make me a well rounded rider. Even if you have been riding one discipline your whole life I encourage you to try something new whenever the opportunity arises.
I was originally taught as a hunter pleasure rider (very different from hunter/jumper). We focused a lot on equitation and self-carriage of the horse, much like dressage does. This is why when I became a student at Lake Erie College it made sense for me to join the dressage team. I used to think dressage was boring like a lot of riders, but once I started riding it, I fell in love with it. Dressage taught me to use my seat correctly and how to truly get self-carriage of my horse with my body. Every time I go home I use these fundamentals when I sit in a hunt seat saddle.
Saddleseat was also a discipline that taught me a lot about body position. Riding saddleseat I learned to sit with my head up and chest high, posed like a queen. It showed me how to carry myself and rely on my muscles more. The saddle used in saddleseat is called a cutback and there is almost nothing to it - just a flat piece of leather with no knee rolls. It forced me to have my own balance, not using the horse or the saddle. Saddleseat was also a blast because we had the chance to trot big and whoop and holler at our horses.
Finally, this year I tried western and it's really been growing on me. I was always that rider who thought, "I'll never do western, they always go so slow." I have now learned that it's a lot more similar to the other disciplines than I realized. It carries over the fundamentals of self-carriage that all riding styles do but tackles it in a different way. Riding western taught me to use my seat even more and forced me to ride off my leg. All of the other ways of riding encourage you to use your legs but nothing gets the job done like taking your direct rein away. It taught me how to get the correct bend using my lower body. Riding western also helped me with my equitation and patterns much like dressage did but in a different way.
As you can see all of these disciplines have helped me in a slightly different way. In actually riding them, I learned how much they are the same. I strongly encourage you to go out and try new things, not to be stuck somewhere always doing the same thing over and over. You may find that you enjoy one of these riding styles more than you thought you would and that it suites your body type better. It could even help you with a problem you have in your current discipline, much like it did for me. After all, we all get on from the same side of the horse and have a lot more in common than you realize.
