riding western

Question
This might sound really dumb, but I was trained to ride English and am now working with a horse that is trained Western.  I'm trying to get used to neck reining and sitting the trot isn't really a problem, but I really don't know what Western riders _do_ while working their horses.  We have a very small arena and no barrels, which is what comes to mind for me when thinking of Western riding.  When I worked my old horses, I'd do a lot of serpentines, lead changes, keg yielding, circles, things like that, but I was told Western riders don't do this, and it seemed to be pretty difficult for the horse.  What can I do to exercise him other than just walk/trot/cantering in circles around the arena?

Answer
Dear Kristen,
The good news is that there is absolutely no difference between the basic schooling of an English horse and a good western horse. The best western horses have much in common with FEI dressage horses in that they maintain self carriage.
There is no reason why you can't put a snaffle in this horse's mouth and use direct contact. Barrel horses are games horses and they represent a very small percentage of the western disiplines. Unless this horse is a trained games horse- I would no more expect a western pleasure horse to do barrels that I would expect a Grand Prix jumper to do a Prix St. George dressage test.
TYhe biggest difference between a western pleasure horse and, let's say an English Pleasure horse is: frame and rate of going. The western horse needs to mantain frame but on a longer, lower plane. The western horse's jog is slower that a working trot BUT must still have engagement from behind. The lope has much in common with the collected canter but again- in a lower frame- the engagement from behind is still a must.
Good western horses most definitely DO serpentines, leg yields, lead changes etc. and whoever told you differently has not spent much time around reiners (go on You tube and take a look at some reining patterns and note the similarities between reining and dressage!)or high level western horses.
If these skills are difficult for this particular horse- maybe he was never particularly highly schooled in the western discipline. What your horse wears (ie: tack) doesn't define who your horse is.I could put a western saddle and curb split ear bridle on my Show Hack mare but that wouldn't make her a western horse.
I think this horse will benefit from you English background. Try to stop second guessing yourself- good basic flat schooling is good schooling.
Best wishes,
S. Evans