We are grateful to Sara for writing this great blog piece! She is an integral part of the PonyGirlz team! Enjoy!
Recently, Waco and I have been dipping our toes (hooves) lightly into the Working Equitation world and have found a new universe to explore!
Wikipedia defines Working Equitation as,” a discipline intended to promote competition between traditional styles of riding used during fieldwork in various countries, and to act as a showcase for traditional riding costumes and equipment. The sport tests the horse and rider's partnership and ability to maneuver obstacles. There are four different levels of Working Equitation: Novice, Intermediate, Junior and Advanced. At advanced level, the rider must ride with just one hand, most commonly their left hand, on the reins.”
I discovered this phenomenon, as I usually do with our endeavors, by a clinic advertised online, this Spring, being hosted by a local barn. I immediately searched the discipline and looked for images and was intrigued enough to give the clinic try and sent off my deposit and a copy of Waco’s health papers that day!
On the day of the clinic, we were given a brief history and description of Working Equitation and learned that There are four disciplines in Working Equitation: Dressage, Ease of Handling, Speed Trail and Cattle Work. We would be working on the Ease of Handling portion which is an obstacle course that is judged on bend, balance, relaxation, energy and obedience. The obstacles include, opening and closing a gate, crossing a bridge, backing through poles and my favorite: retrieving a wooden pole from a barrel and spearing a ring in the horns of a wooden bull cut out!
There are also many rules to be aware of, such as: Competitors may use either the right or left hand when negotiating obstacles however, the same hand must be used consistently for every obstacle. Each obstacle has red and white markers and must be approached on the correct side with the red marker on your right. Use of Voice is a 2-point penalty for each occurrence. This includes verbal commands such as walk, trot, whoa, kissing or clucking.
This clinic focused on getting our horses comfortable with the obstacles and working through them slowly and with confidence. Waco is usually calm and steady when introduced to potential scary situations, but we struggled a bit with staying straight, especially at the rope gate. He wanted to swing his hind end and face it, which made it a particularly challenging to reach and resecure the rope. We worked on reinforcing the aids away from the obstacle, rather than making the obstacle the issue. And when we had control of that we gave it another try and did much better!
After this clinic I was intrigued with the sport and really wanted to try it again! Which led to our participation in next WE clinic which was slightly faster paced, and we were able to work more on completing the course with technical execution like our bend, balance and smoothness. We came away with some new areas to work on, like keeping a nice consistent pace and not hurrying, but taking time at each obstacle to breathe and think about our approach before rushing to carry it out.
I really enjoyed my experiences with this up-and-coming sport and look forward to continuing the journey, I love that it is a constant opportunity to preform better and more accurately and that even the same obstacle can offer a new set of challenges each time. Waco enjoys it because he likes a change of setting and gets bored easily with regular routines. It also seems to be better suited to his way of going; he has a high neck carriage and a lot of impulsion in his gaits, but, still maintains a stock horse look, so traditional Dressage and Western Pleasure aren’t truly a great fit for us. Working Equitation combines the elements we enjoy with Western Dressage and Ranch Riding with the fun and changing challenges of a trail class.
Working Equitation does not discriminate, all horses and riders in many different tack and attire styles can all enjoy what this sport has to offer! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something new and exciting to try with their horse!
Pictured here at a WE clinic are Lisa & Harry, Sara & Waco and Lynda & Amber
