Horse riding boots are among the horseback riding tools that will directly affect the performance of a rider. The choice of footwear is always a matter of comfort, style, flexibility, durability, and conformity to riding style.
Western riding, unlike English riding, is not a very formal style of horseback riding. Whereas the English style demands formal and traditional clothing, a white shirt, jeans, Western horse riding boots and a hat complete a cowboy’s outfit. They necessarily do not comply to some clothing guidelines because the Western form of riding is involved with some dirty work. It always involves riding techniques which originated from the Old Wild West, where one of the most common jobs for men is to travel across towns to deliver cattle. With that job, it means lots of quick turns, non-stop saddling on a horse, the need to ride on one hand while the other waves the hat or rope to keep any herd animal from leaving the flock.
Some common forms of riding disciplines under the umbrella of Western riding are the following:
1.Pleasure. A rider exhibits control over his horse while guiding the horse at a walk, jog and lope. The demonstration must show that the horse is a pleasure to ride, balanced and fit to look at by the audience.
2.Cutting. It requires the rider to use his horse alone to choose and separate a cow from a small herd of about 10 to 20 cattle. The rider will then lose the reins and from this point it is all up to the horse to keep the cow from returning to the herd.
3.Reining. The contestant in this event is required to to perform a standard routine that combines spins, stops, rollbacks, circle, flying changes, and a backup. The rider’s control over his horse must be exhibited because when a horse works on its own there are corresponding deductions.
4.Freestyle. The term may seem easy but riders are required to perform a number of moves with music on the background but in a bareback form of riding and sometimes without any tack for support that the discipline becomes difficult for inadequately trained contestants.
