What is Working Equitation?

WE was developed in Europe in the mid-1990s as a fun pastime as well as a means of preserving the equestrian traditions in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France, where Iberian horses and other breeds served as hardy, nimble, brave mounts to work cattle. The horses’ ability to collect also made them natural choices for classical dressage.

“I describe [WE] as dressage with obstacles, or a trail course with dressage,” says Taylor Lindsten, of Taylor Made Sport Horses in Scottsdale, Ariz. Primarily a dressage trainer, Lindsten is a newer WE enthusiast—and her success proves that some horses can excel in both sports: A current mount, the Georgian Grande stallion Wallace G, not only notches wins in WE, but also competes at the FEI levels in dressage, earning the Intermediate I Open championship title at the 2023 U.S. Dressage Finals.

As Lindsten explains, WE consists of three “trials”: dressage, ease of handling, and speed, typically ridden all in one day. An optional fourth element, the cattle trial, is mandatory in more advanced competition, and entails working with other horse/rider combinations as a team to cut a designated cow from the herd and move it to a holding pen.

The Three Trials

Dressage

Modeled after the U.S. Equestrian/U.S. Dressage Federation’s tests and competition structure, WE dressage is ridden in a small dressage arena measuring 20×40 meters, the size often used for dressage tests in lower-level eventing (regulation size for dressage and upper-level eventing dressage tests is 20×60 meters).

The seven tests range in difficulty from Introductory (walk, trot, halt, and rein-back) to Masters (a test executed to music that includes canter work, pirouettes, extended gaits, and flying lead changes—all ridden one-handed!). Tests are judged using the established 0-10 scale of marks.

Ease of Handling

Horse and rider navigate an obstacle course that combines elements of several disciplines, including crossing a bridge, opening and closing a gate, hopping over a small jump, sidepassing over a pole, bending around poles or barrels, reining back through an “L,” and others.

Elements and required gaits increase in number and difficulty through the levels, and judges want to see competitors negotiate the obstacles “in a stylish and organized way,” Lindsten says.

Speed

The clock is the only thing that matters on this final obstacle course. Like jumping faults, riders are penalized for such errors as going off course, refusals, or even switching the hand used to handle an obstacle. In a nod to the sport’s origins, WE obstacle courses require riders to spear a ring with a long pole—shades of the garrocha that vaqueros use to maneuver cattle.

The Ideal Horse for Working Equitation

Dressage basics underlie WE, but the sport “develops a horse that is extremely versatile,” says USA Working Equitation (USAWE) Professional Instructor, technical delegate, and “L” judge Emily Kemp, who operates Kemp Horsemanship in Newton, Wisc.

A “smaller, handier” mount may have an advantage given the speed and agility requirements—Kemp successfully showed a 14.2-hand Haflinger, which she calls “an ideal size”—but all breeds are welcome. Even gaited horses may participate, substituting their gait for the trot. But a dressage background remains a competitive advantage because “balance is huge,” she says.

The reverse may also hold true: As Lindsten discovered, WE can actually be a boon to dressage training. While teaching Wallace G the flying changes a few years ago, she found that “he had a lot more interest in his work when we were working with the obstacles.”

She rode turns around barrels and poles to help teach him to bend and yield to her leg aids, and the obstacles provided “a purpose in what I was asking him to do, and a purpose for the lead changes.”

Who Can Ride It?

In WE, rider backgrounds are similarly varied. Kemp’s wheelhouses are natural horsemanship, cutting, and reining.

Competitors may show in any discipline’s tack and apparel: Kemp goes western, while Lindsten enters at A in full dressage garb. (Just don’t mix and match, Lindsten says; ride in the apparel that your tack denotes.)

Riders with physical disabilities may apply for dispensations to compete using adaptive equipment or allowances, as well.

Kemp says that most U.S. WE enthusiasts are adults, but USAWE is “trying to grow youth participation” by reaching out to Pony Club members and other youth-oriented groups. Currently “especially popular” in California and the Pacific Northwest, the sport is working to expand nationwide, she says.

Ambitious competitors may strive to reach the sport’s international levels. The World Association of Working Equitation, the sport’s international federation, holds a World Championships every four years. The U.S. hopes to send a team in 2026—and Lindsten, for one, hopes to be on it.

Ready to Try Working Equitation?

Want to learn more about WE? Both Lindsten and Kemp recommend starting out by watching shows or clinics in your area. Find a calendar of events, rules, dressage tests, and a directory of instructors and officials on the USAWE’s website.

Kemp enthuses about the “great show environment” at WE competitions. Besides the friendly people, WE “has a way of leveling the playing field. You just keep competing until it’s done.”

The variety of skills required “takes out that super-competitive edge” found in some singular disciplines, Kemp adds, and the WE arena is one in which all breeds can compete as equals.

This article about working equitation appeared in the July 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Dates for the LA28 Olympic Games are July 14-30, 2028. The total quota of equestrian athletes for LA28 remains the same as for the Paris Olympic Games last year, 200 (75 for jumping, 65 for eventing and 60 for dressage). For countries who qualify to send teams, each of the three sports will have three athletes per team. And beyond that, some other countries will earn the right to send individual athletes.

FEI President Ingmar De Vos welcomed the announcement, citing the success of the equestrian events at the Paris 2024 Games. “We are extremely pleased with today’s IOC decision. The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games were a historic success for equestrian sport, which proved very popular with the live crowds and TV and online viewers worldwide. It’s great news that our numbers remain unchanged, and we are looking forward to delivering exciting sport at the same level of excellence.”

The qualification systems for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games were just discussed at the recent FEI Sports Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, on March 31 and April 1. The resulting proposals by the FEI General Assembly will be put forward to the IOC for discussion, and hopefully approval, later this year. A summary of FEI Sports Forum discussions, and the presentation made during the session dedicated to the LA28 Olympic qualification systems, are available here.

In 2026, the FEI will discuss and put forward to the IOC the rules for equestrian sports at the LA28 Games. Any day now, the IOC should confirm the equestrian venue for LA28. The Galway Downs facility just outside Temecula, Calif., and an equestrian venue in Moor Park, Calif., are being considered.

Similar confirmation announcements will be forthcoming for the LA28 Paralympics soon. The dates for the LA28 Paralympic Games will be August 15 to August 27, 2028.

Key Olympic Facts & Figures From The FEI

Equestrian will be one of the 31 sports on the program of the LA28 Olympic Games. The six medal equestrian events (3 team and 3 individual competitions, one for each sport) will be part of the 25 mixed events across all sports and the 351 events overall in LA28.

The LA28 program maintains the core athlete quota of 10,500, with an extra 698 allocated for the five new sports proposed by the LA28 Organizing Committee (baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash).

A record-breaking 50 nations participated in equestrian at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The number of nations at Paris 2024 was 49. The number of nations competing in equestrian in Los Angeles in 1984 was 30.

Equestrian sport is the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete as equals from grass roots all the way up to Olympic level.

With the completion of the 2028 Games, Los Angeles will have hosted the Olympics three times (1932, 1984, 2028). The only other three-time hosts are Paris (1900, 1924 and 2024) and London (1908, 1948 and 2012).

More Information on the LA28 Olympics

◆ LA 2028 Official Site

◆ Ticket Information

◆ FEI Olympic Games Page

◆ IOC LA 2028 Page

This article about equestrian sport at the LA 2028 Olympic Games is a web exclusive for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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As a senior in high school, however, my priorities changed. I focused on graduating, getting into college, and hanging out with my friends. Shortly before I left for university, I quit riding.

Circling Back as an Adult Equestrian

The next four years went by quickly and without regret. I then moved to New York City to work in publishing, and volunteered my time at the Central Park Zoo to experience nature. But when I moved back to New Jersey shortly after getting married, I dreamed of riding horses again.

Almost 15 years after I left horses behind, I returned as an adult equestrian, and began to take lessons again. Quickly, my barn time became the one thing I looked forward to every week, giving me sanity and solitude.

My lessons quickly escalated into becoming a working student, half-leasing, and soon after, owning my first horse. It was official: I became a returning adult equestrian, or “re-rider.”

More and more adults, especially women, are finding their way back into the saddle after years away. Stepping aside and coming back after a long time off proves how passionate we are about horses. It also gives us a fresh perspective.

Competing Demands

“I stopped riding when I started college,” says Linda Snyder, a western re-rider. “I lived in New York City. It wasn’t easy to find riding facilities, and I had very little time available. I trail rode on vacation. I came back to riding in my 50s after my two kids were independent, and I had some time and money to ride. Now living in New Jersey, there are more stables around to ride at and take lessons. I finally realized my dream and bought my first horse two-and-a-half years ago. My goals with Cooper are to develop a partnership and gain trust in each other.”

Many returning adult equestrians share a similar trajectory with Snyder. Career and family demands compete for time and money with our horse habit, and often win—at least for a good chunk of time.

Mindset as an Adult Equestrian

The thing I noted most about my mindset when returning to horses was how timid I felt. As a young child and a teen, I always felt invincible, and when I fell, I bounced. Now, the fall is more of a splat. I have children and a husband that count on me to come home safely, and as a result, I am hesitant and less of a risk-taker.

My pony had a month-long vacation from riding this winter because of the snow and ice. It was unsafe to ride in our uncovered arena. Instead, we did groundwork and played in the snow at liberty.

When the weather cleared, I walked him in-hand, then longed him to assess his temperament before mounting up, and eased him into a workout to avoid any drama. Was I too careful? Perhaps. Yet over the years, I’ve learned to care less what other people think and do what is best for me.

Get Outside the Box

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. Sometimes when you work with horses as a career, the riding aspect fades. “I started riding at age 9 and lived on a horse until graduating high school, then it was on to college, moving to the big city, and starting a career,” says L.A. Sokolowski, an award-winning equine journalist. “When I was working full-time for the U.S. Equestrian Team and running press rooms for international horse shows, there was little time to ride.”

She never left horses, however. The priorities just shifted to her career. But like most adult equestrians, Sokolowski’s priorities shifted once again.

“I found opportunities to ride and exercise horses whose owners, because of age or injuries, couldn’t ride as much anymore,” she says. “I also wanted to introduce my partner Charles to riding, and to see the horse again through an enthusiastic beginner’s eyes has been glorious. My priority now is to ride horses long and low, bitless and spur-free, and preferably without stirrups, so my seat stays deep and my legs long. I put great value in riding on a longeline and earning my reins.”

Returning adult equestrians may gravitate toward their old disciplines when starting back in the saddle, for both comfort and familiarity. Yet some re-riders will venture outside their comfort zone and into a new discipline.

A friend of mine grew up in the hunter/jumper world. At 36, Michelle trained for an endurance race in Mongolia and quickly fell in love with the sport. Now she spends her weekends riding 50 miles, and has learned barrel racing, team penning, and cow sorting for fun.

Fresh Perspectives

I returned to horses after motherhood, having the desire to do something for myself. I wasn’t alone in that need, nor the transition in perspective.

I was out of shape and had an inconsistent ability to get to the barn. My goals weren’t the same as when I was younger, and the fear of getting injured was real. Now I had a small child relying on me.

Autumn Fiordland, a young mother who used to compete, agrees that time and consistency can be a challenge to manage.

“I rode seriously from age 10 through 16,” she says. “I purchased my horse at age 23. We trained five days a week, schooling jumpers and cross-country, and competed in the hunter/jumper ring. But two years later, I stopped riding because of my pregnancy. When I began again in 2020, I was inconsistent. It has been challenging getting us both into riding shape, but I enjoy the slower pace of walking rides, something I never took time to do while actively training.”

Fiordland had to adapt her lifestyle due to motherhood, but this is such a common occurrence, there is even a Facebook group dedicated to “Mama Equestrians.” Re-riders push horses to the back burner while they navigate college, a career, or motherhood. Still, the unifying aspect is they all return for one thing: love of the horse.

Age often makes us more afraid, realizing we can get hurt, yet also gives us a new sense of freedom to try something new. Life experience gave these women the freedom to explore what makes them happy, such as Sokolowski found in her return, or Fiordland taking off her competition hat and learning to enjoy the ride. For myself, I still ride at a hunter/jumper facility, but have incorporated ground training, liberty work, and positive reinforcement methods, known as R+, into my riding.

It’s common to see me riding in a western saddle and English hunter bridle because it works for us. As a woman in my 40s with three children at home, I make no apologies for riding my horse however I like while enjoying every minute. Because now I know what I was missing all those years.

This article about returning adult equestrians appeared in the June 2021 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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During her career as a trainer, horse show judge and clinician, Jennifer Woodruff of Port Richey, Fla., has always offered a comforting hand to young equestrians who might not have had the ride they expected. But, she says, that does not happen much anymore. At issue is the addition of SafeSport guidelines to equestrian sports.

“If I’m judging at an event where a kid is crying because his horse just didn’t perform the way he expected or because he was scared, I would go over to the kid, put a hand on his shoulder and say ‘It’s OK—you were fine,’” Woodruff explains. “But to tell you the truth, I think twice now. I don’t do it.”

That’s because trainers like Woodruff are fearful that even the best of their intentions will be misinterpreted into allegations that they have abused a young athlete under the U.S. Center for SafeSport rules.

How We Got Here

In September 2016, more than 200 female gymnasts, many of them members of the USA Gymnastics national team, shook the sports world when they claimed that over the course of two decades, they had been sexually assaulted by gym owners, coaches and staff members working in gymnastics programs nationwide.

The scandal culminated in the 2017 conviction of former USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nasser on multiple criminal charges, including felony child pornography and 10 counts of sexual assault in the first degree. He is currently incarcerated at the U.S. Penitentiary, Coleman.

In response to the scandal, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and SafeSport Authorization Act of 2017, also known as the SafeSport Authorization Act.

The legislation amended the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to extend the duty to report suspected child abuse, including sexual abuse, to adults who are authorized to interact with minor or amateur athletes at an amateur sports organization facility or at an event sanctioned by a national governing body (NGB), such as the U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF).

The measure also designates the United States Center for SafeSport to serve as the independent national safe sport organization. The Act was signed into law in February 2018.

SafeSport Suspensions and Bans in Equestrian Sports

Since then, a total of 22 equestrian trainers have been banned for life for misconduct under SafeSport or USEF rules. Another three have received interim suspensions pending the outcome of a formal investigation and final decision by SafeSport, and six have been given suspension periods by SafeSport or the USEF for violations of the SafeSport Code or Federation Rules.

SafeSport earned high-profile status in June 2019 when three-time World Cup Grand Prix champion Robert Gage died as the result of an apparent suicide shortly after he was banned from equestrian competitions for life after a SafeSport investigation found him to have engaged in sexual misconduct with minors.

The program became controversial again in August when legendary show jumping trainer and former Olympic coach George Morris, 81, was permanently banned by USEF from all competition, even as a spectator (currently pending appeal), after a recent accusation of sexual misconduct with a minor from 1968 to 1972.

Despite the controversy, some equestrian professionals believe that the effort to shed light on incidents of sexual abuse, assault and even bullying, is long overdue.

“It’s not in the dark anymore,” says international show jumper and five-time Olympian Anne Kursinski of Frenchtown, N.J., who is currently the chef d’equipe for the U.S. show jumping development program. “I know from firsthand experience. I was abused when I was 11 years old by a very well-known horseman, but I had nothing like SafeSport.”

As a result, Kursinski believes SafeSport rules put would-be abusers on notice that infractions aren’t likely to go unreported now.

“People know that they will get in trouble [if they violate the rules],” Kursinski says. “At the same time, it encourages the kids to speak up.”

Worries About Unfounded Allegations

Some believe that fear of unfounded allegations to SafeSport has fundamentally changed the way trainers and others interact with young people in equestrian settings.

“Everybody’s at risk,” says equine industry law specialist Krysia Carmel Nelson, Esq., of Charlottesville, Va.

“For example, if I’m in the barn and a kid walks in, I can’t help him lift a water bucket, because I can’t be alone in the stall with him,” she says. “I could be accused of violating the SafeSport Code or the athlete protection policies.”

The risk of an unfounded allegation discourages barn operators from allowing kids to trade barn work for horse-related experience.

“I used to have kids working for me in the past; they got experience and made some money, and I got help,” Nelson says. “Now I can’t hire a kid.”

Lawyer-turned-trainer Christine Messinger of Ocala, Fla., believes that innocent trainers and barn operators risk losing their careers when allegations against them are deemed unfounded.

“Once people see that a report has been filed, they don’t always find out if later that report is [deemed to be] ill-founded,” Messinger points out.

Still, Kursinski believes that just talking about SafeSport and its mission benefits young equestrians, as well as their parents.

“Now parents can talk to kids about what physical and verbal abuse like bullying is, and who they should tell, and that they will be believed when they tell their parents,” she says. “This kind of thing changes kids for the rest of their lives, and in the future, reporting it is just going to be the way you do things.”

Woodruff agrees. “It will change the industry.”

This article on SafeSport in equestrian sports originally appeared in the January 2020 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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