[ H14 ] THE WESTERN EQUITATION - THE HISTORY(STORY)   

B] [ H14 ] SEE ALSO PAGES: western Equitation and we this against!
B] Western equitation, a myth, a reality … Which has no dreamed one day, to be on its horse, crossing areas  as far as the eye can see, to move a herd, to bivouac in Texas or Arizona, rocked by the music Country.

In 19th century, the conquest of the big American West is going full swing... A single vehicle, a single means of transportation: the Horse. In this time everybody is rider. But America is big, the immense farms, the cattle numerous and the enormous distances.  

And so the Western equitation find his origin.
it is necessary to be able to remain on horseback  whole days without fatigue, in comfortable speedsOf this working equitation is [ b ] been born an equitation of leisure , then from sport, finally from competition.
  
Today, [ b ] the leisure constitutes  the base of the Western equitation in the world. Practised on 5 continents, we count hundreds of thousand followers of the leisure in western saddle. Dices the end of the 19th century, we assist the beginnings of the rodeo, and horse-races.
They are competitions improvised within the staff of the same ranch, or inter ranches.

Very fast, the Americans turn to good account their faculty of organization to finalize competitions based on the use of the horse in its work. The playful side urges the Americans to select the previous history according to the capacities of their horses, whether it is the sorting of the cattle, the stamina, the speed, etc
And here is the Western Equitation which forms itself, created the official competitions with very quickly more than 10 different disciplines.

B] In Western equitation, the horse has to execute the demands of the man, not by the strong submission, but by the acceptance, by acting of itself, without permanent support. What makes that the rider has then a role of constant surveillance, to perfect and correct the answers

The man who practises the Western equitation has to learn(teach) and like " speaking and thinking of horse ".

Extract of the web site of the French association of the western equitation