What are the rules of Working Equitation?

Working Equitation has international regulations and national rulebooks, with some differences between them.

The World Association for Working Equitation writes the international regulations. Its 2025 edition was approved in February 2025 and came into force that April, and it governs world and continental championships.

National federations write their own rules for competition at home. In Portugal that is the APSL, by delegation from the Portuguese Equestrian Federation. In the United States it is USA Working Equitation. Other countries govern their domestic competition through their own national bodies. National rules may use different level structures, dimensions and additional obstacles.

The core WAWE obstacle pool provides the international reference, while national rules may change dimensions, terminology or add national tasks.

The applicable rulebook depends on the competition and jurisdiction.

I · One-Handed Riding at the Senior Standard¶

At the top of the sport, the reins are carried in one hand.

The international regulations require every trial to be ridden with the reins in the rider's left hand, leaving the right hand free to work the obstacles. A transitional allowance lets riders reverse the hands until the end of 2026, if they ask and the organising committee agrees.

You are disqualified if your free hand touches the rein in front of the rein hand, or if it is seen to be giving any assistance. Any adjustment of the reins with the free hand has to be momentary.

Younger riders are treated differently. Juniors ride all three of their trials on two hands and two reins, using the right hand only to work the obstacles. Young Riders may choose one hand or two, but must declare the choice before each test and hold to it from beginning to end. A rider may ride one test on one hand and another on two.

In Portugal the same requirement falls on the Established Riders Series A and Masters categories, where the free hand coming in front of or behind the rein hand for longer than a rein adjustment takes is grounds for elimination. Established Riders Series B may use both hands in every test.

Read next One-handed riding, and how a rider arrives at it

II · The Arenas¶

Arena requirements differ by trial and, in some cases, by jurisdiction.

Both WAWE and APSL use a 20 × 40 metre Working Dressage arena. The shorter dimensions give the horse less distance between successive movements and transitions.

The dressage rectangle is bounded by a barrier no more than half a metre high, with an entrance about two metres wide in the middle of one short side, facing the President of the Jury. Spectators stand at least five metres back.

III · The Horse and the Rider¶

Age of the horse. International trials are open to horses of six years and older. Portugal sets it by category: five and older for most, seven and older for Masters.

Age of the rider. The international categories are Juniors, up to the year they turn sixteen; Young Riders, up to the year they turn twenty-one; and Seniors. A rider who moves up cannot move back down. Juniors do not ride the cattle trial.

Health and passport. Every horse carries an identity document and a veterinary certificate, and is inspected before the competition.

IV · Tack and Dress¶

Competitors ride in the national Working Equitation costume of their country, and in the tack that belongs to it. Each member nation sends a description of its dress and tack to the international body before a championship. A country that does not send one sees its riders marked down for presentation.

The equipment rules are specific.

The shank of a curb, pelham or traditional bit may be no longer than twelve centimetres, and the mouthpiece of a curb no thinner than twelve millimetres. Bits must have a smooth surface. Twisted and wire bits are forbidden, and no bit may place mechanical elements on the tongue. Bit guards may be up to nine centimetres across. A double bridle is allowed, with the snaffle rein lying loose on the horse's neck. Serretas are not allowed.

Nosebands must be soft leather. A noseband or curb chain may never be fastened tightly enough to harm the horse, and the paddock officer checks the tightness with a gloved index finger between the horse's cheek and the noseband, before and after each test.

Helmets are mandatory for Juniors and Young Riders in every test, in the warm-up and at the veterinary inspection, and recommended for Seniors.

Protective boots and bandages are allowed in Ease of Handling, Speed and Cattle. Overreach boots are allowed in Speed and Cattle.

A rider may carry a crop, held upright in the free hand. Touching the horse with it counts as outside assistance and brings disqualification.

Read next Dress and turnout in Working Equitation

V · Walking the Course¶

Riders walk the obstacle course on foot before they ride it, in competition dress.

The arena opens for at least fifteen minutes, and the President of the Jury signals the opening and closing with a bell. Only judges, delegates, riders, chefs d'équipe and coaches may take part. Nobody may stay in the arena after the closing signal, nothing about the course may be changed after it, and the trial begins no less than ten minutes later. A rider who enters the arena outside the scheduled time is disqualified.

The course map goes up at least two hours before the trial, alongside the entry order, and reaches the competing nations at least a week in advance.

VI · What Ends a Round¶

Some faults carry a penalty in marks or seconds. Others result in disqualification or elimination.

In every trial. Entering the arena before the President of the Jury consents. Taking more than a minute to enter after the bell. All four hooves leaving the arena. Using two hands to guide the horse, except for Juniors and Young Riders. Touching the horse with the crop. The fall of horse or rider. Stroking or touching the horse's neck in front of the reins three times. An overtight noseband or curb chain. Incorrect bits, harness or equipment. Blood on the horse's nostrils or flanks, or evidence of lameness.

In Ease of Handling and Speed as well. Failing to correct an error of course. Crossing the start or finish line in the wrong direction. Three refusals at the same obstacle. Refusing to advance for more than fifteen seconds. Showing an obstacle to the horse. Crossing an obstacle not yet performed. Knocking down an obstacle not yet performed. Changing the working hand during the test.

In the cattle trial as well. Five cows other than the nominated one crossing the containment line. Mistreating the cattle. A helper staying inside the containment zone for more than five seconds.

And beyond disqualification. A rider who mistreats a horse at any point in the competition is eliminated, as is a rider who behaves inappropriately. So is a rider disqualified twice for signs of lameness.

VII · Errors of Course¶

An error of course is a fault in the approach to an obstacle, or riding the obstacles out of sequence.

It becomes an error when the rider begins the next obstacle without having corrected the approach to the last one, or without having performed it. The rider may correct the error: a rider who makes an error inside an obstacle may begin that obstacle again, provided they have not yet entered the next one.

For an error inside an obstacle to be treated as an error rather than a disqualification, the rider has to have begun the obstacle correctly.

Internationally, each error inside an obstacle costs five penalty points in the final average, up to a maximum of two. The third error disqualifies.

In Portugal the dressage test is treated differently again: the first error costs two points, the second costs four, and the third disqualifies.

Read next How the marks and penalties become a placing

VIII · The Welfare Rules¶

The welfare rules include enforceable grounds for disqualification and elimination.

A rider who mistreats a horse at any point is eliminated. A rider whose horse shows blood at the nostrils or flanks is disqualified. The horse is checked before and after every test, in a marked zone at the entrance to the arena, and only the paddock officer and their staff may be in it.

In the cattle trial the welfare of the animals is treated the same way. A rider who endangers the safety of the horse or the cattle is disqualified for mishandling. Cattle prods may only be used if they cause no injury, and any sign of injury or blood caused by a rider disqualifies them. A veterinary surgeon is present from the arrival of the cattle until they are loaded again, and water and a shaded rest area have to be provided.

IX · The Rule Has a Reason¶

Rules tell a rider what is required. Understanding a discipline also means learning to see what the rule is protecting.

A gate has to be left in a particular condition. Equipment has limits. A course has to be ridden in the prescribed order. Welfare rules determine what can happen even when competition is at stake.

Each one shapes the sport that appears in the arena.

For College Members, the rules become something to read as well as follow.

The deeper study asks what a rule controls, what part of the discipline it preserves and what changes in the riding when that rule comes into play. Some protect fairness between competitors. Some protect the horse. Others preserve a working requirement that has travelled into modern competition.

That gives the rulebook another purpose. It remains the authority for what the rider may do, while the Member study begins to put those individual rules back into the discipline they were written to govern.

Knowing the rule gives the requirement. What the later study asks is what that requirement is governing inside the round. Branch One gives Members the discipline and the reasons behind much of what appears in it, and Branch Three takes that understanding into competition, where the rules become the framework within which horse and rider have to produce the work.