Riding Instructors are the unsung heroes of the horse world! WEUSA would like to bring these heroes into the lime light and recognize the instructor’s achievements through their student’s successes! WEUSA’s new Instructor Recognition and Awards Programs are supporting and rewarding the contribution our instructors make to the education of riders and their horses. The WEUSA Instructor Recognition Program allows WE instructors to gain “Star” or “Diamond” ratings when their students gain scores of 65% or better. The WEUSA Instructor Awards Program gives Instructor of the Year awards to the Instructor with the highest number of points earned by their students throughout the competition year.

Working Equitation is a sport that, while popular for years in other European and South American countries, is fairly new to the United States. WE competitions and training consist of three or four phases that test the abilities of the horse and rider that work in the woods and fields or with livestock. The three most common phases of competition are the Dressage phase, Ease of Handling phase, and the Speed phase.

WEUSA’s Recognized and Accredited Instructors must learn and teach a wide variety of skills. They must educate themselves about classical dressage as the Dressage phase of WE is all about rewarding the correct training. While the gaits of the WE horse must be pure and regular, the huge brilliant gaits that are rewarded in competitive dressage are not counted as a plus in working equitation and so the instructor must learn to distinguish correct training regardless of the different ways of moving in different types and breeds. The Ease of Handling phase is an obstacle course of challenges that simulate what the horse and rider will encounter in the field. Not only must the instructor know the intricacies of each obstacle but also the dressage training that must be accomplished to correctly navigate the obstacle. The Speed phase demands that the WE instructor have the ability to teach the rider to transform the power of engagement into the speediest route through the obstacles. The fourth phase of working equitation includes sorting livestock. The instructors that have students that enter this phase of competition also have to have the knowledge of how to teach their students to read different kinds of livestock. WE instructors also must be well schooled in different types and applications of tack and attire since their working equitation students may ride in western, dressage, hunt, or many other types of tack and the attire.

Working Equitation USA is proud to support its Recognized and Accredited Instructors! For more information about this program contact WEUSA at www.workingequitationusa.com.