Discipline Spotlight: Western Trail

Maneuverability, Willingness, Grace, Training, and Obedience

By Emily Harris

Opening gates, crossing bridges, navigating different terrain, and carrying objects are some of the things that may come to mind when you think of Western Trail. If you were to research the word “Trail’’ as a discipline, you will discover that there is more than just one type of riding that falls under the name. There is recreational trail riding, trail challenge, ranch trail, mountain trail, competitive trail, and obstacle challenges. With so many to choose from, and no national organization that governs all, the United States Pony Clubs Inc. had its own challenge when trying to add this discipline. With the desire to offer more for their members who ride Western, USPC came up with a solution. By combining the best elements of all, USPC has created a modified version of all the trail competitions.

Western Trail is the third Western discipline that USPC has added, although years before, this discipline helped form the bases for the Western Standards of Proficiency (SOP) and certifications. Now that it has become one of the competitive disciplines, western riders have another way to compete and be involved in USPC. There are many things that make Western Trail special and unique. One thing in particular that really stands out and that will make you want to try it yourself is that it has three phases. Just like in Eventing where there is Dressage, Show Jumping, and Cross Country, Western Trail has Classic Trail, Ranch Trail, and In the Open.

To give you an idea of what each phase is like, we will go over each one.

The Classic Trail phase is a test of the horse’s maneuverability and ability to cope with various situations. The horse is judged on willingness, ease, and grace. The horse and rider will walk, jog, and lope a pattern (course) of obstacles in a controlled manner that is not too quick or too slow. The Rookie-level is walk and jog only. The pattern requires the horse and rider team to be precise, correct, careful, and in harmony. There are three categories of obstacles used in the pattern that test the horse and rider in different aspects of their ability. Those categories are agility, calmness, and control. The obstacles vary and are painted in appearance and may have a variety of colors. The obstacles may be man made, like an arrangement of ground poles that the rider has to maneuver the horse through, doing such things as sidepasses, walkovers and turns. There may also be riding figures expected, like serpentines, cloverleaf, figure eights, etc.

Attire for this phase should be well-fitting, neat, and should complement you and your horse. If you want to have bling, silver, rhinestones, or other embellishments, that is totally okay! You can even choose whatever color you like. If you want your horse’s tack to stand out, that is fine as well. The sky is your limit! There is no harm in looking well put together with good taste. Just make sure that it is not overdone. You want the focus to be on the horse and your pattern.

Ranch Trail is similar to Classic Trail, but the difference is that this phase is meant to simulate everyday working life on a ranch. The horse will also be judged on willingness, ability to cope with different situations, efficiency, and smooth execution of the course. The horse and rider combo should move as if they were out of the confines of an arena. Horse and rider will walk, jog, and lope with the movement needing to be forward, free, and natural. Again, the Rookie-level is walk and jog.

Another difference between the Classic Trail and the Ranch Trail phases is the appearance of the obstacles. The obstacles are natural in color and are supposed to replicate the obstacles that a horse and rider would encounter every day while working on a ranch. Patterns must include at least two obstacles from the agility, calmness, and control categories. Obstacles you may encounter are platforms, drags, opening and carrying objects, serpentines, gates, and squeezes.

Attire for this phase should be workmanlike and suitable for working on a ranch. Bling, silver, or excessive decoration is discouraged for both attire and tack. You should look neat and ready for “work.” But that doesn’t mean you have to be plain. You can still be creative with your attire and coordinate colors with your horse. Just keep in mind that the idea is to simulate life out on a ranch, not to be a beauty pageant.

In the Open is a combination of the different trail challenges. If you are having a hard time envisioning it, think of it like Cross Country in western tack. The course can be up to two miles long and the obstacles will be spaced out. Each obstacle will have its own judge like in Eventing. The course must also include obstacles from the agility, calmness, and control categories. Obstacles found on course may be jumps, banks, ditches, bridges, water crossings, varied terrain or gates. Also, there may be more than one rider out on the course at a time, but they must be spaced out so as to prevent one from interfering with another. The horse and rider are judged on horsemanship, good manners, willingness, calmness, finesse, and speed.

Attire for this phase is pretty casual, and the same goes for the tack. You should look presentable and clean. Nothing should be torn or frayed. It doesn’t matter whether you wear short sleeves or long sleeves, bling or no bling, it’s all up to you! Just keep it within the boundaries of USPC’s rules for attire and you should be good.

Now that you know what to expect from each phase, the next thing to understand is the scoring. All of the phases are judged in the same way. Competitors are not scored based on time, but instead are scored using a point system based on the performance and execution of the patterns and courses. Round time is recorded however and is used as a tiebreaker when necessary. There are positive points and penalty points. For each obstacle, you can earn up to 20 points—10 based on the rider and the other 10 based on the horse. The rider is judged with an emphasis on equitation and horsemanship, while the horse is judged with an emphasis on manners, response to the rider, and quality of movement. The penalty points are assigned in ½ point, 1 point, and 2 point deductions. These are given in regards to how you execute an obstacle, for example, lightly hitting a log, breaking gait, letting go of the gate, and so on. To calculate a competitor’s score, all of the positive points for both horse and rider are totaled. Then the penalty points are added up and subtracted from the positive score to get your overall score. It might seem a bit complicated with all the steps but it really is quite simple. The goal with Western Trail is to create a horse that is versatile and able to handle whatever situation it may face. They should be confident, capable, and skilled.

The Western Trail horse and rider should move with the grace and precision of a dressage horse, have the maneuverability and promptness of a show jumper, and the agility and endurance of an eventer on cross country. It’s certainly a process, but it’s lots of fun and thrilling!