Debut show imminent for Working Equitation group
Find out more about the discipline at Laurel View this Sunday
Organisers are looking forward to their venture into Working Equitation with the first show being held this Sunday, June 8 at Laurel View Equestrian Centre, Templepatrick.
Training sessions have been running over the past three months for folk to come and work on their skills under the guidance of Una Clancy and Laurel Faloona. It is proving very popular with riders and horses of all different backgrounds, and provides a fun way of training and forming a bond with your horse.
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The discipline involves riding a short flatwork test in a 20m x 40m arena to include movements required in the Ease of Handling (obstacle course). This is marked in a similar way to Dressage, with flowing movements gaining the higher scores. This is followed by a fun Speed test over a shortened course, with time penalties added for errors.
If you haven’t already got involved, do come along and see the fun and join the Facebook page at Working Equitation Ireland Interest Group.
With over 300 members already, organisers are hoping to build on this and set up a Working Equitation Ireland Association.
Background
‘The Sport of Working Equitation evolved as a showcase of the skills in horsemanship needed on the cattle farms of Western Europe, particularly in the countries of Portugal, Spain and the South of France. These European stockmen have a long history of training their horses in the Classical Equitation manner, from which many of the modern Equestrian sports were derived. Working Equitation has been a sport in Europe for the past 30 years, and in 2004, the Working Equitation communities of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy came together to form the World Association for Working Equitation (WAWE), which soon attracted the other member countries of Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, Holland, Czech Republic, San Marino, Brazil, Colombia, Slovenia, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and USA.
As a rapidly-expanding international equestrian sport under WAWE, Working Equitation in each country has a common set of competition rules, which enables all member countries to participate equally at international competitions. These international competitions are an ethnographical and cultural showcase of both the different ways of riding used in practical working conditions in various countries, as well as showcasing each country’s traditional working clothing and working saddlery.
Working Equitation is not only a sport, but also an emerging training method for any “working” horse – that is, any horse that is ridden for any type of equestrian activity. The international slogan is “WORKING EQUITATION – the FUN way to train SERIOUSLY”.
This Equestrian Discipline does concentrate on the ability of a horse and rider partnership to negotiate various types of obstacles encountered on farms or ranches, which are similar world-wide. So, even a rider who takes their horse for a hack may well encounter these obstacles, and would benefit to add this Discipline to their training programme.’