help (eyes on the ground are always useful) to improve your Dressage movements. You will be amazed how this helps your Ease of Handling! Make sure of the details—circles are round and the correct size, for example—and be accurate at the markers.
For the Ease of Handling, learn the correct way to approach and perform each obstacle, and most importantly, when you walk the course, walk the exact line you are going to take—this helps you create a smooth-flowing pattern with the correct angles for optimum points. Think about your leads on approach, and plan beforehand where you need to change leads.
I find practicing the movements at home without the actual obstacles helps to avoid anticipation on the part of the horse.
The biggest mistake I see in the Speed phase is people going too fast. It is not the fastest gallop that wins, but the quickest around the obstacles. This is where your Dressage training really comes in! Any time you are pulling your horse to make a turn, you are losing time. Train, train, train! The more supple, relaxed, and obedient your horse is, the faster you will be.
As a judge—this is my criteria—whatever your level, I have the picture in my mind of a perfect Masters run. I am judging whether or not you and your horse, if you continue as you are riding in front of me now, are going to be able to progress to that perfect Masters ride as you go through the levels. This is why it is so important to spend time teaching correctly at the very beginning. I cannot emphasize this enough.
I am delighted to see the growth of this sport all over the U.S.A, and I can see a lot of improvement in the standard of horsemanship. It is also important to keep a sense of sportsmanship, cheer your fellow competitors on, support everyone trying to organize events, clinics, etc. – if you can’t afford to ride, audit or volunteer. This is what will help this sport grow. Let’s make Working Equitation the #1 equine competition!
For more information about Working
Equitation,
please visit
our website
Tornado XXVIII, IMPORTED 2011. PRE dressage horse.
Bellalena Boonsmal, Australian QH
rulebook! This will help in so many ways and avoid a lot of unnecessary disappointment.
The second thing I would like to address is the importance of the basic schooling, i.e., Dressage. The tests are designed to develop the movements required in the Ease of Handling—if you cannot do the Dressage movements correctly, you cannot do the Ease of Handling correctly. Spend the time getting help (eyes on the ground are always useful) to improve your Dressage movements. You will be amazed how this helps your Ease of Handling! Make sure of the details—circles are round and the correct size, for example—and be accurate at the markers.
The incomparable Bellalena Boonsmal, Australian QH, imported from Australia in 2001, prolific winner in the NCHA and now competing in WE at age 19!
About the author:
Working Equitation judge, trainer, and competitor Rebecca Algar brings a full lifetime of experience to her judge duties. In this article, she shares her background and her advice on Working Equitation.