Worker-Trail ABC
Introduction to theory & practice

Based on the requirements of real cattle herders in the working riding style, crossing a bridge is an important task in the terrain, which horse and rider should master calmly and calmly. The horse and rider pair thus demonstrate their partnership, courage and composure.

The slalom comes in two forms and thus represents two different trail obstacles that require the horse to bend, flex and manoeuvre at the same time: the simple slalom, in which the slalom is set up in a straight line, and the parallel slalom, in which the rider rides around two rows of slaloms in an arc.

Various Working Equitation trail obstacles can be constructed from the barrels: The 2-bay barrels ridden forwards and backwards as well as the 3-bay barrels. They are also part of the task of picking up and putting down the garrocha.

In southern European work riding, opening and closing a pasture gate is part of the daily requirements of a mounted cattle herder and his horse. The gate has to be opened and closed in a way that prevents a cow or even the whole herd from escaping through the gate.

The bull embodies the origins of Working Equitation like no other obstacle. The trail obstacle Ringstechen am Stier consists of various partial obstacles: In the first part, the rider picks up a garrocha from a barrel as he rides past, rides it towards the bull and tries to pick up the ring with the tip of the garrocha and then put it down again from the horse with the ring in a barrel.

The pen is another trail obstacle with a direct link to the work of cattle herders in the southern European working riding style. Visually striking dummies of animals are often placed in the centre of the pen, which the rider has to circle with his horse in the pen. This wild inner life challenges the horse's courage and composure.

The cattle herder working in the field should always be prepared for a small jump, e.g. over a small ditch or a tree trunk lying in the path, and be able to master it with confidence.

The Glockengasse is a trail obstacle that requires precision, manoeuvrability and at the same time a high degree of calm and control over every single step from the horse and rider pair.

PROST! The jug is not - as you might think at first glance - an obstacle that serves to refresh the rider on his long ride through the trail course.

The backwards slalom is an obstacle that demands concentration and skill from both horse and rider. Here, too, it becomes clear that riding backwards, even on curved lines, is part of the daily requirements of a working equitation horse and is almost as normal as riding forwards.

The trail obstacle "sideways over a pole" tests another elementary direction of movement in the working riding style - sideways. The cattle herder needs a willing and well-trained partner who can move flexibly in all directions when working the cattle in the field.

A cattle herder may of course encounter other obstacles in the open field that he has to pass with his horse. These could include different surfaces, difficult terrain or even a stream or ditch.
A working equitation rider may encounter these types of challenges in the form of a ditch, a wall, a tarpaulin or a gravel bed on the trail course.