Ease of Handling: The Obstacle Trial in Working Equitation

Ease of Handling is the second trial: a course of obstacles, ridden in order, and marked out of ten for the quality with which each one is ridden.

The international rules also call it Maneability. Both names describe the same trial.

The word Ease describes the quality of the round. The horse remains available to the rider before, during and after each obstacle while maintaining rhythm, balance and responsiveness as the demands change.

The trial's stated object is to show that horse and rider can perform obstacles that reproduce the difficulties of the working day.

I · Why Obstacles Make Accuracy Visible¶

An obstacle gives the rider exact physical boundaries. The bridge has edges, the gate has a fixed position, and the barrels and poles define the space the horse has to travel through.

The judge therefore assesses the quality of the execution within those boundaries, not simply whether the obstacle was completed.

II · Every Course Is New¶

There is no single standard course layout. The selected obstacles, their order and the lines between them change between competitions.

The regulated obstacle pool remains familiar even though the course itself changes.

The distance between obstacles is never less than ten metres under the international rules, though it can be adapted to the arena.

The maximum time is calculated rather than fixed. Both rulebooks calculate it the same way: the distance of the course ridden at a working canter of 250 metres a minute, plus an allowance for each obstacle: seven seconds for the bridge, ten for the gate, fifteen for the pen, and so on. The figure is given to the riders when they walk the course. In Portugal, every second over costs one point.

The main obstacles - the gate, pole obstacle, bridge and pen, including animals where they are used, must be available in the warm-up arena on the day before the Maneability test.

III · Walking the Course¶

The rider walks the course on foot before riding it, in competition dress.

The arena opens for at least fifteen minutes, and the President of the Jury signals the opening and the closing with a bell. Only judges, delegates, riders, chefs d'équipe and coaches may take part. Nothing about the course may be changed after the closing signal, and the trial begins no less than ten minutes later.

The rider studies the ground and plans each approach and departure, deciding where the horse will need to collect, turn, halt or move forward. The course map goes up at least two hours beforehand and reaches the competing nations a week in advance.

IV · How an Obstacle Is Completed¶

Three things have to happen, in order.

The horse passes between the entrance flags in the correct direction. It performs the manoeuvre the obstacle requires. It leaves through the exit flags.

The obstacles are numbered in the order they are ridden, with the number on the right of the entrance, and red flags stand on the right with white on the left.

An international course must be laid out so it can be ridden with the reins in one hand.

V · How Each Obstacle Is Marked¶

Each obstacle receives a mark from 0 to 10, on the same scale used in the dressage.

The mark assesses the quality of the execution. Take the gate. Two riders both open it, pass through and close it. One horse stays straight, attentive and balanced, and the rider finishes the task in a few quiet steps. The other loses its alignment, swings its quarters, resists the contact and rushes away. Both have completed the gate, but the first execution would receive the stronger quality mark.

Every obstacle is assessed against the same general qualities before its own particular ones: the rhythm, freedom and regularity of the paces, the impulsion, and the submission.

Alongside the obstacle marks, the judge reads the horse for the regularity of its movements, the quality of its canter departs, its submission and response to the aids, its collection and the harmony of its movement, and reads the rider for position in the saddle, ease of movement and stability, use and effectiveness of the aids, and, in the senior classes, the exclusive use of the left hand.

Portugal also uses a Course Score. The Manageability test carries a Course Score from 1 to 10, with a coefficient of two, judging the round as a whole.

VI · The Pace Between Obstacles¶

Under the Portuguese rules the required pace between obstacles is the canter, and trot is severely penalised.

The Portuguese regulation specifically states that the work uses walk and canter and therefore requires canter between obstacles. Lateral work may be shown without being penalised for the time it takes.

At Preliminary level, the permitted paces are broader. A Portuguese Preliminary course may be ridden across walk, trot and canter, with changes of rein replaced by transitions, and the judges give particular value to the transitions.

VII · What Ends a Round¶

Beyond the general grounds that apply to every trial, three faults are particular to the obstacle course.

Three refusals at the same obstacle. Refusing to advance for more than fifteen seconds. An error of course left uncorrected.

An error of course is a fault in the approach to an obstacle, or riding the obstacles out of sequence. It is confirmed when the rider begins the next obstacle without having corrected the last. A rider may correct the error by beginning the obstacle again, provided they have not yet entered the next one.

Knocking down an obstacle that has not yet been ridden disqualifies. Showing an obstacle to the horse disqualifies. Changing the working hand during the test disqualifies.

VIII · The Same Course, Tomorrow, Against the Clock¶

The Speed trial uses the obstacle course differently because the result is determined by adjusted time rather than quality marks.

The bridge is crossed at walk in Ease of Handling and may be taken at another pace in Speed. The gate becomes a rope. The pen is circled in both directions in Ease of Handling and once in Speed. In Speed, the judge no longer gives a quality mark for each obstacle.

Read next The Speed trial

IX · What the Obstacle Reveals About the Riding¶

An Ease of Handling obstacle gives the horse and rider a physical question with boundaries the judge can see.

Take a circle around a drum. Its size, line and point of return are visible. Within that shape, the judge can also see whether the horse stays balanced through the turn, whether the rhythm changes, whether the shoulders or quarters leave the intended line and how much reorganising the rider needs to do.

That is what makes the obstacles so useful as a test of the riding.

A technically completed obstacle can still receive a low mark if rhythm, balance, responsiveness or the quality of the execution is lost while it is being ridden.

For College Members, the obstacle therefore becomes a way of separating several questions that can look like one from outside the arena. What was the task? What line did it require? What happened to the horse inside that line? What quality was carried from the approach through to the departure?

The physical boundary makes those changes easier to recognise. A loss of balance has somewhere to appear. An inaccurate line has a reference against which it can be seen. A delayed response changes what happens next.

Branch Three takes that reading into competition, where the rider begins to connect execution with course decisions and the judge's view of the work.

Ease of Handling gives Members something especially clear to study: the obstacle provides the shape, and the horse and rider show the quality inside it.

What does Ease of Handling mean in Working Equitation?