About Working Equitation
Working equitation was founded in Spain, France and Italy in 1996 and Portugal joined in 1997. The sport quickly expanded to Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and Brazil. WAWE was established in 2004 to promote and regulate the sport around the world.
Australia was affiliated with WAWE in 2016 and there are now 35 countries affiliated with WAWE.
The sport of working equitation was created to promote the different types of equitation techniques developed in countries that used the riding horse to work on farms and with livestock.
Working equitation is a fast-growing sport in Australia and is being embraced by riders of all disciplines and horses of all breeds who strive to demonstrate the precision and unity between horse and rider needed to succeed in working equitation. In 2024 ANWE conducted its first qualifying event for the WAWE World Championships to be held in Jerez Spain in September 2026.
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Four Phases
- Dressage – encourages harmony between horse and rider. Tests are conducted in a 20m x 40m arena
- Ease of Handling (EOH) – horse and rider demonstrate how calmly, precisely and stylishly they deal with obstacles.
- Speed – a test of speed, agility, athleticism using the same obstacles as the Ease of Handling phase.
- Cattle – tests the ability of the horse and rider to work cattle individually and with teammates
Compulsory phases for all competitions are Dressage, Ease Of Handling (EOH) and Speed.
World Association of Working Equitation WAWE
Australia hosted it's first WAWE qualifying event in 2024 with great success as NSW rider Mark Mason achieved a WAWE qualifying score.
Members of WAWE now include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Repuplic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Luxumbourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA
