Working equitation

Working equitation is an equestrian discipline. The world regulatory body is the World Association for Working Equitation.

Within the United States, WE United is a nonprofit organization that provides rules, competition licensing, and a variety of educational initiatives for people interested in the sport in North America.

The Working Equitation discipline is intended to celebrate traditional styles of working riding used in various countries, and also to act as a showcase for traditional riding costumes and equipment.

Competition events may be for individuals or for teams, and include three or four trials:

• Dressage, in which at the highest levels the horses perform obligatory movements to music for around 7 minutes. At lower levels, horse/rider teams are judged as they complete a series of movements outlined in published dressage tests.

• Ease of Handling, is an event that uses obstacles to demonstrate the quality of the horse/rider pair as they work together to demonstrate their athleticism and partnership. In this trial, the obstacles used are similar to those likely to appear in the field, such as bridges and gates. A complete list of obstacles, including photographs and descriptions of how they should be ridden, can be found on the WE United website..

• The Speed trial uses similar obstacles, but rather than being judged on the quality of the performance, competitors race against the clock.

• In the Cow trial (only for team competitions), team members separate a specific numbered cow from a group.^[1]

The Team event at the 2010 European Working Equitation Championships was won by riders from Portugal.^[2]

World Championships

The first Working Equitation World Championship was held from 11–13 October 2002 at Beja, Portugal, with teams from Brazil, France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.^[3] The team from Portugal won the team event, and the individual competition was won by Fabio Lombardo of Brazil on Brilho do Rimo with 100 points.^[4]

In the second Working Equitation World Championship in Lisbon from 26 to 29 October 2006, there were teams from France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The Portuguese team won the team event for the second time in a row^[5] and David Duarte Oliveira of Portugal won the individual event with his horse Mulato.^[6]

The third World Championship was held five years later, from 26–30 October 2011, in Lyon, France. There were six national teams and 25 individual riders from 8 different countries.The team from Portugal again won the team event, and Pedro Torres of Portugal won the individual event on Oxidado.^[7][8]

At the fourth World Championship, held at Ebreichsdorf in Austria from 5–8 June 2014, there were 28 individual entries from 10 different countries, but only four national teams. The Portuguese team again won the team event and the four members of the team took the first four places in the individual event, which was won by Bruno Pica da Conceição and Trinco.^[9][10]

References

1. Working Equitation. WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
2. Team Championship after Cow. WAWE. Accessed March 2011.
3. I Campeonato Mundial de Equitação de Trabalho: Classificação Geral por Equipas (in Portuguese). WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
4. I Campeonato Mundial de Equitação de Trabalho: Classificação Geral Individual (in Portuguese). WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
5. II Campeonato Mundial de Equitação de Trabalho: Classificação Geral por Equipas (in Portuguese). WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
6. II Campeonato Mundial de Equitação de Trabalho: Classificação Geral Individual (in Portuguese). WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
7. III World Working Equitation Championship: Overall Individual Classification. WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
8. III World Working Equitation Championship: Teams General Classification. WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
9. IV World Working Equitation Championship: Teams General Classification. WAWE. Accessed June 2015.
10. IV World Working Equitation Championship: Overall Individual Classification. WAWE. Accessed June 2015.