Our Journey to the Working Equitation European Championships

Hello,

My name is Lynne and this is my amazing horse Hermes. We are proud and very excited to be representing Great Britain as individuals in the 2024 Working Equitation European Championships in Lowe, Czech Republic this September.

Working Equitation is the fastest growing equestrian sport in Europe but is still very small over here and as such we are sadly not eligible for any UK sports funding, so we are currently almost entirely self-funded. I started competing in WE 9 years ago, when the Association for British Working Equitation started up in the UK. I became totally hooked on how fun and versatile the sport was and how it rewarded harmony and partnership with your horse. I slowly made my way up through the levels with a lot of blood, sweat, heartache, fun, laughter and supportive friends and WE family.

As current UK Advanced National champions Hermes and I look forward to doing our best against the top horse and rider combinations in Europe, whilst having an amazing fun time together and hopefully doing everyone back home proud.

We plan to drive ourselves (as official transport costs for one horse are too expensive) and it is such a long way (2000miles round trip!) so this alone is a massive cost. A few of the others are

Fuel £600

EU lorry certification £1200

EU grooms’ certificate (to drive horses in Europe) £150

Vets fees and paperwork/Carnet/Stabling en route £900

Ferry crossing £600

Insurance/ breakdown cover £450

Total £3900

I feel very uncomfortable asking for help, but as you can see even the basics start to mount up to a huge amount of money, so any help no matter how large or small is greatly appreciated. Please keep sharing with your friends!

Hermes is a 15.1hh pocket rocket Pure Lusitano gelding bred by the Abbatiale Stud. We have been together since 2020 and also compete at British Dressage alongside the WE. Hermes loves his work and is always enthusiastic (sometimes a little too much) He’s a cheeky chap in the stable and loves scratches and bananas, well any food really! I look forward to sharing our journey with anyone who would like to follow along here #HermesJourneyWEEuropeanChamps24

For those who don’t know me or the sport, Working Equitation is a real test of the horses’ temperament and training, the riders skill and ability and of course the relationship, trust and harmony between horse and rider.

Horses were originally domesticated and trained for farming and herding purposes, work which required them to respond to their rider whatever terrain and difficulties they may face. The sport is a highly refined and sophisticated demonstration of these activities, but with the added required quality of elegance and speed of execution.

Working Equitation comprises 3 phases –

Dressage, Freestyle to music (at PSG level but with only one hand!)

Ease of Handling, consists of a course of obstacles, replicating those that may be found when working in the countryside, for example a gate, a bridge and a jump. Other more technical obstacles such as the parallel slalom, straight slalom and barrels all of which at Advanced level require the horse and rider to perform flying changes in specific places in order to perform the obstacle correctly and again all with one hand. Riders are given a mark out of ten for precision, submission and ease of movement for each obstacle.

The Speed round - involves some or all of the same obstacles tackled in the ease of handling test, but is purely marked on the time it takes for the horse and rider to complete the course. Time faults and bonuses can occur according to specific obstacles.