And then I was reminded yesterday that we also get to do the speed round! I will be doing the slowest speed round ever, and will have to choose my music…
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Heck yeah it means speed round hahaha and cattle if you have them! The shows I went to earlier this month didn’t have any crazy goes in the speed round. Most riders still took their time for the most part and weren’t galloping over bridges or between obstacles.
Im bummed, the third and fourth shows in my local series were cancelled for August 
I would have loved to try and rack up some more points for the USAWE leaderboards. There is a show thats about 4 hours away in August, but I get worn out from the local shows pretty bad. I am tempted, but I don’t think I’ll do it.
Working Equitation.
What a strange name to call it.
Looks like a trail class on speed. Also looks like it would be a blast to ride 
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It is a riding discipline formed by countries with a riding tradition of working cattle off horseback, eg., the Italians, Spain, Portugal, and France… The name “working” opposed to traditional dressage requires the horse to perform functional movements required of a “working horse.”
It is more than a “trail class on speed.” The competition has 3 phases (for individual) and 4 phases for team competition.
The 3 phases are Dressage, Obstacles (or ease of handling) and Obstacles at Speed. For the team competition you add a 4th phase of working cattle.
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I think maybe just because at least in the USA we’ve boxed “equitation” into a specific discipline. The actual definition of equitation is " 1. the art and practice of horsemanship and horse riding." So then the name “working equitation” makes a lot of sense because it is the art of horsemanship for horses that are working [cattle].
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Too true. My experience with equitation classes were English and Western . That was along, long time ago!
I’ve also heard it referred to as “dressage for the fearless” 
. There are some good t shirts on Etsy!
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Oh my, had my first run at a Speed around yesterday, I even managed to do a dash for the finish, fastest I have gone for many’s a year. Even managed to complete the obstacles in a quick fashion…this is just such fun.
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@KBC Weeeeeee! How fun!
SO made us some poles so I set up a short double slalom, rounding posts, and BO had a set of cones she brought down to the “toy pile” so we made a pen. I don’t know that we will ever be a great speed pair but we cantered between obstacles yesterday and he did really well! He is much more willing to pick up a more balanced canter from a walk if he knows we’re on a mission!
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For sone reason his ears are making me laugh!
Nice arena to practice in, but makes me appreciate how lucky we are that we’re a WE facility, there are usually a few obstacles set up to play with. Of course this means that I don’t practice my dressage enough, because it’s more fun playing.
We have an Instagram friend that loves his ears . They are so tiny and fuzzy!
We “painted” yesterday too and got a cute ears comment on this one!
The only things we don’t have yet are a proper bull, a proper bridge, a proper bell corridor, and a proper gate (I practice with our pasture ones). Between SO, BO’s husband, and neighbor, we will get there.
I’m one of 5 boarders, two of which have some interest but I’m the only one that actively trains. I think I spend more time dragging everything out and dragging is back than I spend riding it 
. It would definitely be nice to not have to do it all myself, but we still have a blast with it. BO/riding instructor is a dressage/western dressage judge and super interested in WE so that’s awesome! She’s gotten up to speed on a lot of the obstacles very quickly.
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Love the color palette on there!
Well did my first Level 2 this weekend, and pretty happy. Dressage didn’t go so well, but did giggle at this:
Scores 5 for halt and back up, with comment “looked at judge” well yes he did 
people aren’t meant to sit there!
Did score an 8 for turn out though!
Came 3rd in EOH, with nice scores all through, apart from rider fumble, when I dropped the gate…dropped me out of 2nd place I think.
Speed round, my first ever, was a blast, had such fun, and while not fast, was a HUGE step for me, 2 months ago I couldn’t imagine loping at all let alone through most of a course. Yes there is much to improve, but that’s why we are in a program
This sport is a total blast, and Braam is a superstar.
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What a great ride!!! It looks like you’re having a blast 
The looking at the judge was great
Say I want to get dressed up and ride in a saddle that is arguably harder to fall out of than my regular dressage saddle. Is there a US circuit for Portuguese working eq?
The rules for WE state that your turnout has to match the equestrian cultural tradition of the country. Eg., if you want to ride in a Portugues saddle, the rest of your turnout has to match…so like this.
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No updates for a while here.
Just had the last show of the year, and it was great fun, fancy dress. Still struggling with rather dressage, though scored a 62 this time, best of the year so far, a good one to end on.
EOH is our thing, he rocks that, and so far the pilot hasn’t made any grave errors, though we do lose points taking long routes to get our lope in, but now getting sharper at that.
Sped round, so so, we aren’t the fastest, he is big and clumsy, and I am just getting better at moving him out…the brave pants are working.
Speed in the summer
Fancy dress, in all elements at the last show.
Realization at my lesson yesterday, it’s not that I suck, it’s that it is hard to make this look like effortless elegance, especially when you are a big boned pair
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Love that costume.
Getting a score for turnout kind of makes me want to do this. Why doesn’t turnout have a score in traditional dressage? It would make us feel better on the days when we’re embracing the suck!
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