Okay ..... last night i was watching western riding on the TV and i have to say i was amazed. I'm a dressage rider and spend my life teaching horses to go sideways, backwards etc. It's not always easy and some horses find it hard to grasp the concept that they can go forward and sideways at the same time. So , as i said last night i was watching some western riding and all the horses went backwards and sideways with the greatest of ease. I would be really interested to know how a western rider would go about teaching a horse to go sideways and backwards?

probably the same way you do except (and dont take offence) we don't get in their mouthes about it. Western horses are expected to work independantly of hand cues and solely off leg and body position.

I'd have to agree with this post. It would be wierd if the western riders taught their horses any different from what the english riders teach. If they do it different from what the english riders do then I'm probably not familiar with it which is why I think it'd be quite wierd. It'd make sense for them to teach their horses to go forward and sideways just like english riders, but I don't know much about training since I'm a beginner rider and haven't started the whole training-my-own-horse process yet.