Is your horse happy when you're riding it?

I can tell when both of my horses are happy. One--my older horse who is for sale--does jumpers. He loves it. His ears prick, he goes faster, he's forward, and he just looks and feels happy. Then again, he's a naturally excitable, enthusiastic horse. If he were going along in a relaxed manner like a WP horse, I'd be worried.

My other horse is my WP/HUS horse. He's never going to look like my jumper when he's happy, because that's not his personality. But if he's unhappy, he bucks, grabs the bit, or pins his ears--he's a wimp, and he'll let me know immediately if something's bothering him. If he's moving forward and is relaxed--and if he's slow (yes, he stays slow if he's happy--if he's not happy, he wants to be too fast)--then I can tell he's happy.

To me, the horse in the video (Ona Good Impulse...I love that horse) does look happy. She doesn't have her head up, ears pricked, etc. because that's just not her. Most performance-bred QHs don't have conformation that results in heads being up. They typically have laid-back personalities--not lazy, just not excitable like you'd want in a jumper. If she wasn't happy, she'd probably have her head up, back tense, ears back, and rhythm messed up (probably too fast). The signs are different in different horses, and you can't expect a QH who does WP to look the same as a TB doing jumpers, whether they're happy or unhappy. Same for any discipline. My horse prefers going slow; my trainer has actually made me gallop him several times over the last six weeks to teach him how to move out because he was going too slow. He hated it and bucked endlessly for quite awhile until he figured out he couldn't get out of it--but he didn't totally relax until we let him go slow again. Sure, he doesn't go around with his head way up and his ears pricked like my jumper does--but he doesn't do that in the barn, when turned out, or anything like that, either. That's just not him. The horse in the video looks like the picture of relaxation--she's not tense and shows no signs of being upset or unhappy. She probably would be unhappy if her rider asked her to gallop, raise her head, etc. because it's just not her. It's like asking the kid who loves to cuddle up with a good book to go outside and run around--they won't be as happy. Another kid would prefer to be outside running around and would hate to come inside to read (I teach 3rd graders, and I have both of those types of kids!).

My QH is much more temperamental than my half-Arabian when it comes to his attitude and deciding if he likes something, and as a result, he refuses to put up with something he doesn't like (and since I refuse to let him be in charge, that means we occasionally butt heads!). I can tell if he's not happy because of the way he moves or acts, but no matter what happens--and no matter what I do on him (even when I was jumping, etc.--and that was before a lot of his WP training) he's not going to resemble my half-Arab jumper.

I think you've just convinced yourself that no WP horse can be happy or comfortable, and that's wrong. If that's the truth, then how do you know that a barrel horse is happy? What about a dressage horse? A driving horse? A cutting horse? A horse that is bred for and properly trained in his discipline will probably enjoy it because it's natural for him. Just because they only show in three gaits and go slow (which most prefer doing, by the way) doesn't mean they're unhappy. I know you said that YOUR horse much prefers eventing to WP, which is what she used to do, and that probably means she wasn't suited for WP. Some horses aren't. If I took my half-Arab jumper and tried to make him into a WP horse, it would be a total failure and he'd be miserable (as would I, for that matter). We did dressage for awhile and neither of us was totally happy there either. Jumpers is what he loves. With a good WP horse, it's the same thing--that's just what they do. They don't want to run around with their heads up anymore than a barrel horse wants to do a slow lope.

1

Horse Happy

I think it depends on the horse's mood that day as well as the particular horse and what you are doing at that time. My horse (usually) loves to be ridden, he comes up to you in the paddock, and when we begin our ride, his ears are pointed strongly forward, and his eyes are bright. As he gets more warmed up, he shifts his attention from the outside world to me, and his ears, like the horse i the video, tilt back toward me. Today, however, he was p**sy the whole ride, even to the point that we had a big fight about "lope off on cue." Maybe he was in a bad mood, or was sore somewhere. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. My horse is a WP horse also, and slow is his favorite gate. If he had to be pushed up into a working trot, or a canter, and on the bit all the time, I think he would feel resentment, and jumping???? I think he would refuse everytime.

I can tell by their ears and I can also feel if they are tensing up or not. Their ears are a great sign for me to tell what they are feeling. Also, if they give a heavy sigh or chew that means they are relaxed.

I think they horse is enjoying the ride. She looks relaxed, ears aren't pinned and she's moving smoothly. It seams like a pleasure for her and she seems to be doing quite well. I think this because there are no signs I can pick up on that say she is in pain or uncomfortable in anyway.

Hope this helps!

Edit:

I read your more details.. I know because of the bond I have with my horse and how much time I spend around them. It's like a mom and a baby. The mom knows what each scream, cry, etc. means, when to a stranger they have no clue what it means. It's the same with horses. You just learn to notice little details and know when your horse is happy and when it's not hapy.

Well, the horse isn't pinning its ears which at least means it isn't in pain or mad. My horse is so lazy she's just about asleep during the ride so I don't really get anything from her...lol I think any horse could get bored doing Western Pleasure, but you can tell if the horse is happy and enjoying the ride when its ears are moving around and it's looking around and interested in its surroundings.

I think the horse doesnt mind it at all. Her ears are back a little bit but thats only because shes listening for a cue from the rider.

As far as my horses go I have 7, 28 yo appy, 27 yo QP, 23 yo paint, 13 yo pony, 7 yo QH, 7 yo QP/ Hafligner, 6 yo paint. The appy, QP, paint, pony and QH love to be rode depending on what your doing. They all do it but would rather be doing something else like trail riding. The 7 yo QP/ haflinger is in training (He is a foster that was abandoned in a field) And we havent done much with him because of the snow but he does what we want (For now) The 6 yo paint is in training (He was abused and starting to recover and has threw 2 ppl off so were taking training slow due to his past and we just got him last year and he wasnt broke at the time) and he hasnt had a lot done with him but hes doing pretty good, He get frusterated sometimes but thats normal in training horses.

Trust me, there may be not anything fallacious approximately no longer displaying your horse. I experience a four yr historic who's flawlessly glad being taken out on trails and gambling round within the area. They would possibly not become bored so long as you've gotten a type of matters to do with them. The equal path everyday gets uninteresting, but when you're taking them out at the avenue, or do foolish matters within the area, tips, they are going to be very glad horses.

Well that horse doesn't look thrilled or excited or anything, but it doesn't look pissed or annoyed either. It looks relaxed and content and like it knows it's job. I'd say that that horse would probably rather be in a field nibbling grass, but doesn't dislike being ridden.

My horse always lets me know when he's happy. He's very expressive and take his job very seriously. His two favorite things are running barrels and working cattle. With the barrels, he tries to do it on his own and gets very serious about doing it right. He also gets very excited haha.

With cattle, he takes it personally. When a cow tries to get past him, he pins his ears squints his eyes, gives it the angry face, arches his neck, gets real low, and turns the cow back to the herd in an instant. He knows cattle very well, and when a cow tries to get away, he's on it like a spark to gasoline. My horse is very well bred for cow work, and he's just like his dad; very serous about his job. He watches the cattle intently and knows how to work them intinctively. He's the smartest little horse i've ever met. (I'm sooooooo excited because we haven't had cows for a couple months and the new cows just arrived yesterday!!!!!!! So we get to start working them soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

When he doesn't like something, he fights it. He just tries not to do it. But when he likes something, he tries to do it well and make me happy.

I enjoy what my horse enjoys. It's no fun riding a horse that is unhappy. So we tested out many different disciplines that i liked until i found the ones that my horse really enjoys.

My horse is happier doing some things than others. When we're working on down transitions, she tolerates it... she's not particularly pleased with what we're doing but it's not hurting her or anything so she will tolerate it. When we practice flying lead changes, she's very happy and gets much more excited. She loves flying lead changes! She's also happier on trails than in the ring... so it really depends what we're doing. She likes jumping a lot, which is convenient because I show hunters.

As for that horse- I don't think it's in pain or anything and I definitely don't think what they're doing is cruel. However, the horse looks bored... I think it's like your favorite subject in school. WP is like that horse's least favorite school subject... it's unfortunate because the horse obviously has the conformation and breeding for WP, but it doesn't look as though WP is its "calling" mentally. You have to remember that a horse may be physically cut out for a job, but that doesn't mean it mentally wants to do that.

The horse DOES prick its ears at the end (when they win) and looks pleased a little, lol.

ADD-- I know my horse enjoys jumping (at least somewhat) for a few reasons. First of all, she will NEVER refuse a fence no matter how bad the spot is and no matter what her rider does wrong. She may not jump it well, but she will do her absolute best to get herself over it. She learned jumping very quickly and always seemed natural at it. With flying lead changes, I didn't have to work hard at all to train them, she learned in one days' work and now has a flawless lead change.

You can't really tell what they like/dislike, but you can tell what they like more than other things.

This whole thing reminds me of an experiment ran by an animal rights group. They said that a certain chicken egg laying farm was cruel because the chickens only stood on chicken wire. So they took a dozen chickens and put them in a pen with their choice of standing on either grass or chicken wire. The chickens all chose to stand on grass 100% of the time. So the animal rights group takes their findings to the farm and says, "you're cruel, obviously these chickens hate standing on chicken wire!"... the farm replied, "no, they just prefer grass to chicken wire, you can't prove they dislike chicken wire, just that they prefer grass over chicken wire".

I think both of my horses are fine and happy being rode.

The horse will clearly let you know if it's unhappy, in pain, bord, etc.

As far as QH western pleasure goes - It's not my cup of tea. At all. I don't like it.. Now, I'm an Arab person. And I like Country English and Park.

So, I'm not going to compare them, as they're two ENTIRELY different breeds and styles of riding.

I'm not going to sit here and say "OMG, QH WP is soooo stoopid. That's so un-natural. I bet those horses are soooo unhappy. Ew."

Don't bash something until you know a lot about it.

You can't say that every horse in that video isn't enjoying what it's doing and isn't happy. Just because it doesn't look "enjoyable" or "pleasureable" to you, doesn't mean it's not and that the horse is in pain, etc.