Western ridding or equestrian ridding?

If you’re looking to get in shape and work hard. Then equestrian ridding is for you! As far as I'm concerned equestrian ridding is allot better then western ridding and I’ll tell you why:
Equestrian riding is more exercise compared to western. Show jumping is more exercise compared to barrel racing. Jumping requires a great amount of balance and coordination. When jumping you have to carry your horse over the fences using your muscles to get him to jump up and over the fences. A show jumping course takes about 2 minutes to complete, which requires a lot of leg and stomach muscles since they have to remain tight. You and your horse have to equally work hard in order to jump well. Barrel racing is simply steering your horse around two barrels, the horse does the majority of the work; you don’t have to be balanced because western saddles have a horn to hold on to. Barrel racing only takes about 20 seconds so you aren’t on your horse as long. Second of all, in equestrian riding you have to keep heels down at all times while riding where as in western you don’t have to do that. Keeping your heels down for a long period of time is hard on your calf muscles. So therefore it will make them stronger. Finally, Equestrian riding requires more muscle strength. Equestrian riding requires the rider to post in the trot and steer the horse with both legs and hands. Posture is very important in shows, where as western riding is done entirely in sitting trot (no rising) and the horse is steered by the reins which are held in only one hand.

Equestrian riding requires more strategy and intelligence as opposed to western riding. First of all, Equestrian riding requires a lot of memorization of courses for shows compared to western which is simply doing different gates. For show jumping you have to memorize up to 18 jumps and calculate the distance between each jump to get the right strides going into the fence. Also you have to make sure you make your turns correctly so you have enough time to get correct footing to the following jump. Also in dressage you have to memorize your test. If you go in the wrong direction or don’t do the proper transitions you will be disqualified, so memorization is very important. For western shows, reining and roping you simply have to be able to walk trot and canter you horse. There is no memorization involved. Second of all, Equestrian riding requires hand eye and leg coordination, where western riding is simply sitting and using your legs. When your riding equestrian you have to look where you going to let the horse know where to go while using your right rein to steer (right hand) your left rein to control the pass/energy (left hand), your right leg to create energy and your left leg to keep him bending in the correct position and to prevent his butt from turning out. All of these things must be used at the same time to work effectively. Western riders simply have to use both their legs to create the horses’ energy and use both reins to stop the horse (by pulling back on the reins).
If your want to start ridding but not sure what types is best for you, you should definitely try equestrian ridding, it's fun, allot of exercise and will help you develop good hard working habits.