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W
hen people come to me and
tell me they want an all-
around horse, I encourage
them to think about what that actually
means to them. When watching a good
all-around horse in the show pen, it may
look easy to go from class to class, but in
reality, horses and riders are expected to
handle long days that start long before
the sun rises and end well after sunset,
while competing in a handful of events
that all require different skill sets.
If you’re looking to add all-around
events to your repertoire, you need to set
your horse up for success by competing
in events that he excels at. It takes a spe-
cial horse to be able to handle the work
load an all-around horse has.
The following milestones will help you
find out what your horse’s limitations
are, and what he can and can’t do. These
steps will help you clarify if your horse is
ready to be an all-around horse or not.
Western Pleasure Foundation
For most all-around horses, Western
pleasure is the foundation event. Every
all-around horse has to walk, jog, and
lope with collection, which is why most
horses start with a rail class and gradual-
ly move on to pattern events. This class
also helps your horse understand the ba-
sics of body control, leg control, and face
control, so he can handle the maneuvers
that come with a pattern class.
I believe that you can tell by the level
of a horse’s brokenness and self-control
how good his foundation is. To me,
markers of that foundation include a
horse being able to extend his limbs
while under control of the rider. If your
horse can stay calm and put together
while you’re asking him to perform,
that’s a good sign.Quality of Movement
The number one thing an all-around
horse needs to have is quality of move-
ment. In some events, like horseman-
ship, part of the judge’s score sheet
includes a section for it.
However, quality of movement does
not mean that your horse has to be a
world-show level Western pleasure
mount. A cadenced, smooth-gaited
horse is all you need. If you can’t sit a
gait easily, and find yourself bouncing
all over the saddle, your horse might not
be the strongest mover. That natural
gait is something that may not improve
with training, and it’s nearly impossible
to show your horse at his best if you
can’t sit his strides to begin with.
A lot of the time you might run into a
scenario where your horse is stronger
at one gait over the other. It’s important
to preserve the gaits in which he excels
while you’re working to improve his
other gaits.
For example, if your horse is a goodjogger, and lopes great on the left lead,
but needs help with his right lead, I
would warm him up, jog him around,
start by loping around on the left lead,
and then spend some time working on
the right lead. You need to know what
the good lead feels like when you’re ma-
neuvering your horse around, and then
work to replicate that same movement
going the other direction.Turnarounds
Another important skill set to have is
a turnaround. Being able to complete
a 360-degree turn is a great start to
preparing your horse for all-around
classes, as you’ll have to use this skill set
to compete in events like horsemanship
and trail. It’ll even help you teach your
horse how to pivot for showmanship.
When you’re working on a turnaround,
your horse should be comfortable cross-
ing his outside front leg over his inside
front leg, without moving his haunches
around.
The only time your horse will swing
his haunches around in a turn-
around—unless you’re asking for a
turn on the forehand—is in an event
like trail where you’re asked to turn in
a box. You will have to move both your
front end and back end around to avoid
hitting the poles.
To see if your horse has a good grasp
of the turnaround, try performing a12