The Fellows
The Fellows sit at the highest level of Alvará College. Their understanding of Working Equitation shapes the College, and the standard its Members are working towards.
At the Heart of the College
Working Equitation has been handed from rider to rider for generations. The knowledge held by one generation becomes the foundation from which the next learns, trains and eventually teaches. Alvará brings that line of knowledge directly into the education of the College.
The Alvará Fellows are riders of the highest international standing whose understanding of Working Equitation informs what the College teaches, how it examines, and the standard it asks its Members to work towards.
Their influence extends beyond the written curriculum. Through their riding, their horses, their teaching where they choose to give it, and their involvement in the College, Members can see how that understanding moves from study into practice.
The Fellowship therefore brings together three things: a complete understanding of Working Equitation, the ability to demonstrate that understanding at the highest level of the sport, and the ability to pass it accurately to another rider. The Founding Fellows establish that standard. Every Fellow admitted after them must meet the same one.
The Riders Who Establish the Standard
The Founding Fellows were appointed for the depth of their knowledge of Working Equitation and the standard they have demonstrated within the sport.
Together, they bring international championship success, generations within the Portuguese sport, the development of horses and riders, and a deep understanding of the Lusitano and the traditions from which Working Equitation developed.
Their role is to establish the first standard of Fellowship within Alvará College. Their perspective informs the College today, and the standard they embody becomes the reference for every Fellow who follows them.
Gilberto Filipe Silva
Three-time Individual World Champion and European Champion in Working Equitation. Gilberto's experience at the highest level of the international and Portuguese sport establishes the academic standard against which the College holds its teaching.
- 2026World Championship, Jerez de la Frontera — Individual Gold · Team Gold · 1st Dressage (79.136%) · 1st Ease of Handling · Morante
- 2025International CETI, Segovia · Master — 1st · winner of all three trials · Luar da Caniceira
- 2025Taça de Portugal, Golegã — 1st Masters · 1st Consagrados · 1st Debutantes
- 2024World Championship, Vendée — Team Gold · winner of Dressage and Maneability · Zinque das Lezírias
- 2024European Championship, Czech Republic — Individual Gold · Team Gold · Morante
- 2024Portuguese National Championship, Golegã — 1st Consagrados · 1st Debutantes · 3rd Masters
- 2024Taça de Portugal, Golegã — 1st Masters · 1st Consagrados · 1st Debutantes
- 2022World Championship, Les Herbiers — Individual Gold · Team Gold · Zinque das Lezírias
- 2018World Championship, Munich — Individual Gold · Zinque das Lezírias · winner of all three trials
Nicole Silva
World Team Champion and Individual Young Rider European Champion, Nicole represents a generation already carrying Portuguese Working Equitation successfully at international level.
- 2026World Championship, Jerez de la Frontera — Team Gold · 4th Individual · Inca
- 2026Working Equitation Championship of Spain · Initiation — Champion · Quito dos Arcos
- 2025WAWE European Championship, Juniors & Young Riders, Les Herbiers — Young Rider Individual Gold · Team Gold · Hábil de Sena
- 2024Portuguese National Championship, Golegã · Sub-20 — National Champion · Hábil de Sena
- 2023WAWE World Championship, Juniors & Young Riders, Ponte de Lima — Team Gold · Inca
The Fellowship Beyond the Founding Countries
The Founding Fellows establish the first standard. Márcio Aparecido Almeida is admitted to the Fellowship from outside the Founding Countries, extending it into the international sport.
Márcio Aparecido Almeida
Márcio is a multiple Brazilian Working Equitation champion, and represented Brazil at the 2026 WAWE World Championship in Jerez de la Frontera, riding Ibérico das Mangueiras.
- 2026Brazilian Team, 7th WAWE World Championship, Jerez de la Frontera · Ibérico das Mangueiras
- 2024Brazilian Championship · Principal — 1st, Brazilian Champion
- 2024Copa Brasil · Principal — 1st, Brasil Cup Champion
- 2023Brazilian Championship · Principal — 1st, Brazilian Champion
- 2021GP Brasil · Principal, virtual — 1st, GP Brasil Champion
- 2020Copa Brasil · Principal, virtual — 1st, Brasil Cup Champion
- 2011Brazilian Championship · Advanced — 1st, Brazilian Champion
- 2010Brazilian Championship · Advanced — 2nd, Vice-Champion
- 2009Brazilian Championship · Intermediate — 1st, Brazilian Champion
- 2008Brazilian Championship · Beginners — 1st, Brazilian Champion
Fellowship Candidates
Fellowship Candidacy recognises riders in whom the College sees the potential to reach the Fellowship standard, and brings the College and its Fellows around the next stage of that development. A Candidate is not yet a Fellow. Candidacy is reviewed annually as that rider continues to develop.
Tamara Patch
Australia
Tamara Patch came to Working Equitation in 2023, bringing with her a broad equestrian background spanning eventing, showing, showjumping and dressage. Just three years later, she is representing Australia at the 7th WAWE World Championship in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain — a remarkable progression in a relatively short time in the discipline.
At home in Australia, Tamara competes with Arcstan Antoinette, a Percheron × Warmblood mare she has owned and produced herself. Initially developed through eventing before making the transition to Working Equitation, the pair have progressed through the levels together, becoming Queensland State Consagrados 1 Champions in both 2024 and 2025.
Tamara’s journey to the World Championship has been largely self-driven. She has taken personal responsibility not only for her training and preparation, but also for creating the financial support required to pursue an international campaign. She has actively sought sponsorship, organised fundraising initiatives and generated support within her community to help fund the considerable costs of overseas training, travel and competition. That initiative and determination are as much a measure of her commitment as the results she has achieved.
The College named Tamara a Candidate not simply because of the speed of her progression, but because of the way she has approached it. She actively seeks correction, takes it seriously and returns having worked to improve. Her horses’ wellbeing remains central to the decisions she makes, while the knowledge and experience she gains are readily shared with the riders around her.
Her decision to seek training and competition opportunities beyond Australia has also allowed her to broaden her understanding of Working Equitation at an international level. Rather than waiting for those opportunities to come to her, she has actively pursued the coaching, experience and competition exposure needed to continue developing as both a rider and horsewoman.
That combination of ambition, horsemanship, openness to learning, personal initiative and willingness to bring others forward reflects what the Fellowship asks of a rider beyond the riding itself.
- 2026Australian Team, 7th WAWE World Championship, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
- 2025WAWE World Ranking · Masters — 118th in the world · Arcstan Antoinette
- 2025Queensland State Championship — Consagrados 1 Champion
- 2025Blayney WAWE Qualifier · Australia — 2nd overall
- 2024Queensland State Championship — Consagrados 1 Champion
- 2023Queensland State Championship — Debutante F Champion · Arcstan Antoinette
- 2023Commenced competing in Working Equitation
The Standard for Those Who Follow
The Founding Fellows establish the first standard of Fellowship. The first rider from outside the Founding Countries has now been admitted, and the College's ambition is for others to follow.
Fellowship is deliberately rare. It is the College's highest distinction, reserved for riders whose understanding of Working Equitation is matched by their ability to practise it at the highest level and pass that understanding accurately to others. The route towards it begins much earlier.
Along that route, the College also sees the person behind the results: their ability to learn, the standard of their riding, their horsemanship, their tenacity and what they do with the opportunities they are given. For a very small number, those things may eventually come together at the level required for Fellowship.
The Standard Passed Forward
The knowledge held by the Fellows has value because it can be passed on.
Carminho Filipe represents that next generation. She grew up within Portuguese Working Equitation, learning inside a tradition already established around her, and has carried that education into international competition.
In 2023, she became the youngest rider to represent Portugal at a Working Equitation World Championship, helping Portugal to team gold and finishing fourth individually on Zig Zag. In 2025, she became Junior European Champion on Horigami, winning individual and team gold. Alongside Working Equitation, she now competes internationally in FEI Children dressage.
Carminho Filipe
Carminho's record is important to Alvará for a reason beyond the results themselves. It shows what becomes possible when a young rider has good horses, serious training and generations of knowledge around them from the beginning. The rider develops with that standard around them throughout their education. That is something Alvará wants to make possible for more riders.
Over time, those riders become part of the next generation themselves. Some will compete. Some will train horses. Some will teach. And a very small number may eventually reach the standard required to join the Fellowship.
- 2026CDI Companhia das Lezírias · FEI Children Dressage — 1st Children Preliminary Test, 72.697% · 1st Children Team Test, 74.300% · Ibérico das Mangueiras
- 2025WAWE European Championship, Juniors & Young Riders, Les Herbiers — Junior Individual Gold · Team Gold · Horigami
- 2025Portuguese National Championship · Junior — National Champion · Horigami
- 2023WAWE World Championship, Juniors & Young Riders, Ponte de Lima — Team Gold · 4th Individual · Zig Zag
Educated by the Fellows
The Fellows pass their knowledge through riders. They also pass it through horses.
An exceptional horse reaches its potential through an exceptional education. Some of the Lusitanos within Alvará are produced by the Fellows towards Masters and international competition, where their ability allows. In those horses, the Fellow's understanding of the discipline becomes something another rider can eventually feel.
A horse trained and competed at that level by a Fellow has years of high-level training already established. It understands the work, knows the aids and has developed the balance, strength and experience required to perform it. That horse can then become part of the education of the next rider.
The rider who gains access to that horse is already capable. They have built enough knowledge and riding of their own to benefit from what an educated horse can show them.
Riding a horse with that depth of training gives them access to work and experience at a level they are now working towards themselves. They still have to prepare correctly, give the right aids, maintain the balance and make the decisions. When they do, the horse has the education to respond.
Exceptional horses are developed by the Fellows. Those horses compete at the highest level their ability allows. In time, the education the Fellow has established in the horse can become part of the education of the next exceptional rider.
That rider takes the experience forward into the horses they train, the competitions they ride and, for some, the riders they eventually teach. This is how generations of equestrian knowledge have always travelled: through people and horses together. Alvará gives that process a structure, so the knowledge held by today's leading riders can become part of the education of those who follow.
For Members who reach the required standard, the Applied Residency provides access to that world.
The Path to Fellowship
How a Rider Comes Towards Fellowship
Fellowship can be reached through the College, but it is deliberately rare. It asks for more than examination results or competition success: a rider must understand the discipline deeply, practise it at the highest level, and be able to pass that understanding accurately to others.
Understand the discipline. Practise it at the highest level. Pass that understanding to others.
Begin Your Study
Alvará - The College of Working Equitation · Est. 2026
The Fellows hold the standard of Alvará College. Every Member follows the same Working Equitation curriculum; Membership decides how closely the College, and the Fellows themselves, stand around that study.
For the Member who wants to study independently, sit the examinations and develop their Bands in their own time.
Adds more of the College around that study: examination feedback, riding reviews, the Journal, live teaching and greater access to the opportunities around the College.
Brings the Fellows directly into the Member’s study and riding, with the closest access the College offers.
Working Equitation must be understood before it can be preserved.
The governing principle of Alvará College