Georgia Shone

Working Equitation was started in Great Britain in 2000 by a group of enthusiasts under the name of Working Equitation UK. Great Britain attended a Championship with a team for the first time at the 1st World Championships which took place in 2002 in Beja, Portugal. Since then, Great Britain have had riders at every Senior World and European Championship excluding 2014. In 2007, Great Britain hosted the European Championships which was held at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire.

In 2013 The Association for British Working Equitation (ABWE) was formed and became the official governing body for the sport in Great Britain. Since then, we have hosted 5 judge courses with international WAWE judges, 2 National judge courses, qualified 7 National judges and have candidates joining each year. We also have 48 approved instructors and run 2 instructors courses each year for new instructors to gain approval. 

At this time, in 2023, we have over 200 members affiliated to the association. We run between 5 and 8 national competitions per year which culminate in a final. This year we also have our first regional league with a minimum of 3 competitions in each region throughout the year with a regional team championship at the end of the year. The British Working Equitation Development Squad is a team pathway providing free training and support for up to 10 riders per year who show team potential in either Juniors/YR or Seniors and in 2019 the British Junior/YR team finished in 2nd place overall and 1st place in the cow trail at the European Championships held at Ponte de Lima in Portugal. 

ABWE continue their work to promote and expand Working Equitation in Great Britain with the ultimate goal of becoming a recognised discipline by British Equestrian.