What are the obstacles in Working Equitation?
The international rules define a pool of eighteen obstacles, and a competition course selects from it.
The international obstacle pool is fixed, while the course changes from one competition to another. The course designer chooses which obstacles to use, sets their order, and draws the lines between them, so no two courses are quite alike. At an international competition, the obstacles are selected from the WAWE pool below.
Only obstacles from the regulated pool may be used at an international competition.
National federations build their own courses around the same international base, and some keep additional tasks of their own.
I · Where the Obstacles Came From¶
Many of the obstacles reproduce practical tasks associated with mounted cattle work.
The bridge reproduces a crossing. The gate is opened and closed from the saddle. The pole obstacles use the Spanish garrocha. The pen reproduces an enclosure, while the water ditch and bank introduce changes of ground.
Competition gives those tasks a regulated form, dimensions and a defined method of judging or timing them.
II · How a Course Is Built¶
A course is drawn from the pool and assembled by a course designer.
How many. An international Speed course carries a minimum of fifteen obstacles. A Portuguese national course carries a minimum of eleven. The same obstacle may be used twice on one course, provided the repetition is ridden in the opposite direction.
How they are marked. The obstacles are numbered in the order they are ridden, with the number on the right of the entrance. Where an obstacle is flagged, the red flag stands on the right and the white on the left.
How one is completed. Three things have to happen. The horse passes between the entrance flags in the correct direction, performs the manoeuvre the obstacle requires, and leaves through the exit flags. All three conditions are required for the obstacle to be complete.
How far apart. Under the international rules the distance between obstacles is never less than ten metres, though it may be adapted to the size of the arena.
One-handed riding. An international course must be laid out so that it can be ridden with the reins carried in one hand.
III · How the Obstacles Change Through the Levels¶
The same obstacle can be asked differently as the level rises.
The straight slalom stands seven metres between posts for a young horse and closes to six for the Masters, where the simple change of lead allowed early becomes a flying change asked in the air. The bridge is crossed at the walk in Ease of Handling and taken as fast as the rules allow in the Speed trial. The figure eight is ridden forward at the lower categories and forward then backward at the top.
Read next How the obstacles change level by level
IV · The Eighteen International Obstacles¶
1 · Figure Eight Between Drums¶
Two drums standing free on the ground, and a single figure of eight ridden around them. The horse enters between the drums, circles one, crosses the imaginary line joining them, and circles the other.
Dimensions. Internationally, three metres apart, measured centre to centre, with a volte of three metres around each drum. In Portugal, three metres for Established Riders and Masters and four metres for the training categories.
How it rises. The change of lead is made on the centre line, and only there. At the senior Portuguese categories the figure must also be ridden in reverse, in rein-back, on circles of one and a half metres' radius.
2 · Wooden Bridge¶
A raised platform of planks the horse walks across.
Dimensions. Internationally, at least four metres by one and a half, with its highest part at least twenty centimetres above the ground. In Portugal, at least two metres long and one and a half wide, about twenty centimetres high.
How it is ridden. At the walk in Ease of Handling, with the transition to walk made before the entrance flags and the transition back to canter only after the exit flags. In the Speed trial it may be crossed in any pace. A horse that jumps the bridge without touching it is disqualified.
Read next
3 · Slalom Between Parallel Posts¶
Seven posts in two staggered rows, ridden as a series of half turns with a flying change between each.
Dimensions. Internationally, seven posts two metres high, the two rows six metres apart, with six metres between the four posts of one row and six between the three of the other, each of those three set halfway between its neighbours. In Portugal, six metres between rows for Established Riders and Masters and seven for the training categories.
What is judged. The number of strides between flying changes should remain constant through the obstacle.
4 · Jumping Over Bales of Straw¶
Three or four bales between two uprights with a pole on top, jumped from the canter.
Dimensions. The Portuguese rules set a minimum height of seventy centimetres at Masters. The bales may be replaced by natural material of no greater height.
5 · Pen¶
An enclosure with an entrance, containing a smaller enclosure. Live animals (hens, geese, ducks, piglets) are used only when the organisers declare them in advance.
Dimensions. The Portuguese rules give an outer fence of six metres' diameter and an inner fence of three.
How it is ridden. The horse enters perpendicular to the line of entry, makes a complete circle in one direction, comes out, and re-enters perpendicular to make a second circle the other way. At the senior categories a half pirouette or half turn is shown between the two circles, and the obstacle is ridden at the canter. In the Speed trial only one circle is ridden, in whichever direction the rider chooses.
6 · Slalom Between Posts in a Straight Line¶
A line of posts, ridden alternately from side to side with a flying change between each pair.
Dimensions. Internationally, a minimum of five posts two metres high, six metres apart. In Portugal, a minimum of four posts, six metres apart for Established Riders and Masters and seven for the training categories.
Where the change falls. In the centre of the line between the posts, every time.
7 · Three Barrels¶
Three drums at the corners of an equilateral triangle, each circled in turn with a flying change on the line between them.
Dimensions. Internationally, three-metre sides measured centre to centre. In Portugal, three metres for Established Riders and Masters and four for the training categories.
The circles. The regulated reference is a symmetrical circle of one and a half metres' radius.
8 · Gate¶
A gate the rider opens, passes through and closes without dismounting, using the working hand while the reins stay in the other.
Dimensions. Internationally, wood and wire mesh closed with an iron hoop, with a latch that can be worked from horseback, between two uprights of natural material at least two metres wide and one and a half metres high. In Portugal, uprights at least one metre thirty high. A rope between two posts may be used instead of a solid gate. Under the Portuguese Speed rules, the gate is replaced by a rope.
How it is ridden. The horse approaches perpendicular to the gate, makes its transition to walk three to five metres out, halts alongside, and stands while the rider lifts the latch. The rider should not let go of the gate or the latch at any point. When the horse has passed through, it may back a step or two, and the latch is closed from a square halt before the pair leave at the canter.
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9 · Bell at the End of a Corridor¶
A narrow corridor with a bell at the far end. The horse enters, halts by the bell, the rider rings it by hand, and the horse backs the length of the corridor.
Dimensions. Internationally, two crossbars about four metres long on supports about sixty centimetres high, one and a half metres apart, with the bell at about two metres. In Portugal, the same, narrowing to one metre twenty for Masters, with the bell on the right at the far end.
What earns the higher mark. Entering at the canter rather than the walk. At Masters in Portugal the approach to the bell must be at the canter.
10 · Earthenware Jug¶
A table with a full jug on it. The rider halts alongside, lifts the jug above head height, and replaces it upright.
Dimensions. Internationally, a table about a metre high with a top about a metre twenty-five across. In Portugal, a top about a metre and a half.
One restriction. The jug is not performed in the Speed trial under the international rules.
11 · Rein-back Obstacle¶
The rein-back obstacle may be built as an "L" corridor or as a line of posts.
Dimensions. The "L" is two corridors of four metres, each one and a half metres wide. The post version is two lines of three posts, the posts three metres apart along each line and the lines one and a half metres apart, with a glass on a post about one metre sixty high at the far end.
How it is ridden. The horse enters straight, halts at the last post, the rider removes the glass, and the horse backs a slalom between the posts. It must leave with all four feet past the last pair, and the glass is replaced on the exit post from horseback. The first two and last two posts have to be left standing.
12 · Lateral Work Over a Log or Rail¶
The horse crosses a log sideways, in travers, with the log always between its front and hind feet and never touched.
Dimensions. Internationally, one, two or three logs no more than ten centimetres in diameter and about four metres long, set five to ten centimetres above the ground. Two or three logs may be set at ninety degrees or in a straight line with at least six metres between them, or parallel with at least four. In Portugal, ten centimetres of height at Masters.
At the walk. The horse must cross its legs.
13 · Removing the Pole from a Drum¶
The rider takes the pole from its drum while maintaining the required line and pace.
The line. The international rules specify the approach at right canter.
14 · Placing the Pole in a Drum¶
The rider returns the pole to the drum.
The condition. The pole must stay in the drum, and the drum upright, until the rider enters the next obstacle. A rider who drops the pole must dismount, retrieve it, remount, and place it from horseback before continuing.
15 · Skewering a Ring with the Pole¶
The rider carries the tip of the pole through a suspended ring at the canter.
Dimensions. A ring of fifteen centimetres, on bases at various heights, with up to three of them. In Portugal, ten centimetres at Masters.
In the Speed trial. A speared ring is worth a five-second bonus, provided it goes into the drum together with the pole. It is the only way to take time off the clock.
Read next The garrocha, and where it came from
16 · Riding Through a Water-Filled Ditch¶
A shallow ditch the horse walks through.
Dimensions. The water is no more than twenty centimetres deep.
How it is ridden. At the walk in Ease of Handling.
17 · Bank¶
An embankment of natural material with a drop on the far side.
Dimensions. No more than sixty centimetres above ground level.
How it is ridden. Up or down, as the course requires. In the Speed trial a horse that takes more than twenty seconds over it is disqualified.
18 · Switching the Glass Between Posts¶
Two upright posts with a glass on one. The horse halts on the line between them and the rider moves the glass across.
Dimensions. Two posts two metres high, one metre twenty apart.
How it is ridden. Approached at the walk or the canter, with the forelegs past the line and the hind legs behind it. The horse stands still while the glass is moved, then leaves at the canter from the halt. In the Speed trial no halt is needed.
V · The Portuguese National Additions¶
Four further tasks appear in the Portuguese rules and are not among the eighteen WAWE obstacles.
The Single Pole, or Rounding Post. A single pole circled with a change of direction of more than one hundred and thirty-five degrees.
Pirouette in a Triangle. Three poles form a right-angled triangle with three-metre legs. The horse enters at canter, crosses one side and performs a three-quarter pirouette before leaving through the other side. The obstacle may be set symmetrically.
Dismounting and Mounting Without Assistance. The rider dismounts, walks around the horse or collects an object about three metres away, and remounts while the horse remains in place.
Herding Livestock. A Portuguese national task using two gated areas and pole handling with livestock.
VI · National Forms and Variants¶
Some national arrangements are variants of the regulated obstacles above.
The reverse slalom with the glass is a form of the rein-back obstacle. The sidepass rail is a national form of the lateral work over a log. The gate may be solid or a rope, according to the trial and the rulebook. The rein-back may be an "L", a figure eight between posts, or a national arrangement. The lateral elements may be on the ground or raised, straight or angled, one log or several. Three Drums and Three Barrels are the same obstacle under two national names.
They are labelled by jurisdiction so that national variants remain distinct from the WAWE international pool.
VII · The Same Obstacle Can Earn a Different Mark¶
Placing the garrocha in the drum gives a useful lesson in how an Ease of Handling judge reads an obstacle.
The task can be completed in more than one way. What changes is the quality of the line the rider presents.
Ride straight past the drum, place the pole in passing and continue on the line, and that approach is scored higher. Turn around the drum to make the placement and the obstacle can still be completed, but the line is scored lower.
The difference is useful because the pole ends up in the drum in both cases. The judge therefore has more to read than the final result.
A straight line asks the rider to have the canter settled before reaching the drum, make the placement as part of the line and continue the ride beyond it. Turning around the drum changes that line in order to complete the same task.
For College Members, Article 4 starts to make distinctions like this explicit. The obstacle has a requirement, and the riding used to meet that requirement gives the judge another layer of information.
That is how a rider can begin moving from knowing the obstacles to reading the decisions inside them.
Article 4 is still being completed obstacle by obstacle. The Library therefore carries the verified obstacle pool and specifications available now, while the fuller judging reference continues to be developed.