Spekavots International Consultants

For those who live the "western" lifestyle?

By admin on Mar. 1, 2010.

Recently I have taken an interest in the "western" style of riding and am finding that I have some questions regarding the "lifestyle". They are as follows:

1) When I look through western clothing/decor catalogs I find that there are very few choices. The "rock and roll" or "Harley Davidson" style seems to be predominant, or sometimes the old west 1800′s type style is present. Why is the western riding culture now centering around motorcycles and rock n’ roll instead of horses and country and blue grass music like it used to?

2) The last few rodeos, stock shows, or other western events I have attended have had far fewer spectators than what I remember from growing up.

3) Growing up cowboys/cowgirls were always presented to me and the equine community I participated in as the highest form of horsemanship (dressage too…just different disciplines). I was taught to respect these hard working men and women and learn from their ways to polish my skills. Now when I attend events like the ones above I have found the level of general horsemanship, riding skills, and equine knowledge has dropped drastically from when I was young. I have even whitnessed a growing amount of "roughness" and abuse toward the animals that I have never before in my life seen at rodeos/western equine events.

This concerns me. I love western and would like things to understand why these changes have come about. The clothing style is not concerning, just puzzling.

Can anyone offer an explanation for this culture change?
Courtney, you never have to be rough with any animal to gain respect. Coming from a completely scientific and experience point of view being rough even a "little" with an animal, especially a large animal, only causes them to fear you. In the case of horses this fear breeds an unhealthy and increasingly dangerous environment. I should know. I have extensive experience working with veterinarians as a vet tech, and some of the top trainers in my area as a student and as an assistant. I also own my own equine business and have attended many equine science lectures in pursuit of an equine science degree. Also, I was not referring to the skill level and knowledge dropping in the equine community across the board, only in the western community. In the "English" disciplines (which I have been a part of most of my life) the knowledge level both grows and is applied daily.
PS. Everyone keeps saying that attendance must be down due to the economic times…I guess I didn’t explain this part thoroughly enough. I have found that attendance to western events in my area (and the surrounding ones that I am able to drive to) have been dropping over say the last 10 years that I have noticed. It is truly sad. Rodeos for instance are so fun, and the show segments between competitions are always so great to watch, especially for the kids.
Yohanson- I have been going to pro rodeo events since I was a child. The events I am referring to are pro rodeo PRCA, IPRA, WPRA, and APRA. In fact I have whitnessed much less abuse, tacky clothing, and ignorance at local level "training" rodeos! Also, you are getting a thumbs down for the nasty way you "speak".
Royce…I really don’t know what to say other than this: Stop answering questions just to earn a measly few points!!! Your answer was rude and completely irrelevant to the question.

There are many different and connected reasons for this change. I will answer them in the order that you asked.

1) This is due to the fact that western lifestyle, has become contaminated by foreign elements (wannabes) that have detracted from the true origins. These rock and rollers are people that wanted to be cowboys when they were five, couldn’t become one, but never out-grew the phase. There are people who still keep to the true roots like myself, who still keep it about the horses and the heartland. Not about having everyone looking at you.

2) Far fewer people are attending rodeos and stock shows, one due to the economy and two the current pop culture is to blame. Due to the new fashion and music trends, it is now considered in many parts of the country to be "gay" to ride horses or to even like them. No "gangsta," "thug," "pot-head," "stoner," "skater," or "rocker" would be caught dead at a rodeo or with in 500 yrds of a horse for that matter. There is a new trend of "rednecks" who think that they are cowboys just because they wear boots and a hat. They don’t mind to be at or compete in riding events but this causes problems, which I will answer your third question with.

3) This is a very sad topic, one that causes me great sadness for both the horse and the overall image of the western riding community. Yes, the true cowboys and cowgirls from the West were the end all when it came to American horsemanship. There methods were learned from the vaqueros of mexico and the old spanish west, and passed down for over 150 years. These vaquero’s knew how to train their horses and train them well. Now a days there is a new trend of the above mentioned "rednecks" infecting this once prestigious lifestyle. They jump on a horse, throw horsemanship to the wind, and just go mainly so everyone will look at them. They abuse the horses, and actually don’t look that good doing any of the events, and this tarninshes the old prestige that the american cowboy used to have. People these days, get on a horse and think that they know everything, they don’t need a trainer becuase "hey, it can’t be that hard." It is a sad fact that the american cowboy is a dying breed, rubbed out by ignorant people who know nothing about what they are doing. I used to compete in rodeo events but became disgusted by the treatment of the horses. I would take almost a year and a half to finish a rope horse, and now we have these ignorant, incompetent riders who say they can finish one in 90 days. If a horse is "finished" in 90 days…then it ain’t really finished, because any true horseman knows you can’t finish any horse in only 90 days.

There ARE a select FEW times when it is okay to get rough with a horse, namely when they are being truely dangerous i.e. kicking, biting, stallion aggression and stuff like that. For visual affect I would put it like this, if I am saddleing a horse and it kicks out when I tighten the cinch, yes, I will kick it in the belly (thats what Alpha-mare would do with aggressive behavior in a herd situation). If, however, the horse only bloats persay, I won’t do anything, it doesn’t harm anything, it just takes you a little longer to cinch up the horse. There is a BIG difference between more aggressive reprimanding for a dangerous offense and just wanton abuse.

If you read carfully, you will see there is a pattern…it all has a root cause in people wanting to look good, and not caring that they really don’t belong, and that they need to actually know something before they just go out there and do it. It is a sad but true fact that the real western lifestyle is dead, carried on by the few remaining traditionalists who still keep it about the horses, hard work, honesty, God, country and honor. I appologize if I seem bitter, but thats what happens when you see people destroy the thing you love and not be able to do much about it.