Anneke de Vree: Working Equitation

On the weekend of September 7, local para-equestrian dressage rider Anneke de Vree participated in the ‘Working Equitation’ competition, where she represented Spain.

The competition, which took place in France, is relatively new. Its origins are the traditional practices of working horses with cattle that occurred in Italy, Spain, the South of France, and Portugal.

Working Equitation is made up of four distinct elements

It involves four distinct elements: the classic dressage test, a trail test featuring obstacles like gates, slaloms, bridges, barrels, garrochas, and bell ringing, a speed test where obstacles are navigated in a specific order against the clock, and finally, the inclusion of cows, although the presence of actual live cows is not always feasible.

Anneke, who resides in Altea, faced an exceptional challenge in this competition because her left hand is fifty per cent paralysed. This proved to be particularly difficult during the ‘ease of handling’ section, where she had to ride with one hand while using the other hand to manage tasks such as opening and closing gates and handling a garrocha, a long pole used for guiding cattle.

Anneke de Vree finishes 7th in Working Equitation

Even so, she put in a strong performance in both the dressage and trail tests and advanced to the final test, the speed test. However, despite her horse’s fantastic performance, the partnership did not deliver the result she was hoping for, owing to a fatal error on her part.

This had a detrimental effect on her final score and resulted in Anneke finishing 7^th overall.   Despite this setback, Anneke remained pragmatic, seeing it as a valuable learning experience from which she will surely bounce back.

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