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Working Equitation Trail – The Three Tons

The three barrels are a quick and easy-to-assemble obstacle from the Working Equitation Trail. How the task can be recreated without professional equipment, how it is ridden and what you should pay attention to can be found in this blog post, divided into:

  1. Construction
  2. Task
  3. Tips & Tricks
  4. The three tons in the tournament test

Construction

As the name suggests, the professional uses three barrels or drums for this obstacle. If you don't have anything like that to hand, you can use cones or jumping stands as an alternative. These are placed at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. To start with, a distance of 6 meters is recommended; if you want to increase the level of difficulty, you can reduce it to 3 meters. The distances are measured from the middle of the barrels or their alternative.



Task

The horse enters the middle of the barrels. At the tournament, this is the starting point for riding in. First, the barrel to the right of the horse is circled completely once. Then there is a change of hands and a left turn around the second barrel. However, this is not circled completely, but only up to the height of the third barrel. Here there is another change of hands to the right and the last barrel is circled completely once again. The obstacle is then left at the same point at which it was ridden into. The distance to the barrels should always remain as equal as possible and corresponds to about half the distance between two barrels. The figure ridden at the end looks something like a three-leaf clover.

Please note: this obstacle will only be ridden in the above-described version at the tournament. However, since a horse should always be worked evenly on both hands, it is recommended to ride the obstacle "upside down" for practice purposes, i.e. starting by circling the barrel to the horse's left.



Tips & Tricks

The three barrels again require a high level of concentration and precise execution from horse and rider. With the following tips, we would like to make the ride around the barrels easier for you and your four-legged partner:

1. What was the distance again?

At this obstacle, it is easy to lose the correct distance around the barrels, which makes the laps around the barrels misshapen. The line often shifts at the barrel that follows, too, and the whole ride looks uneven and ugly.

Here's how it works: Set up additional cones as a boundary around the barrels or their alternatives. Make sure that your auxiliary cones do not get in the way when you go around the other barrels. It is best to ride the obstacle once without any additional boundaries - this way you can find out whether you tend to ride too close or drift too far out. Accordingly, you can set up your auxiliary cones either as an inner or outer boundary.

2nd bend

This topic comes up with some obstacles. A good “cornering” of your horse is half the battle in this exercise too.

Here's how it works: Work on your horse accepting the inner leg and being able to convert it into the appropriate longitudinal bend. The outer leg limits the hindquarters and prevents them from swinging out. A parade into the corner of the mouth with a raised hand on the inside of the turn makes it easier for the horse to give in to the desired position and bend. When you change hands, the horse is repositioned and the aids are changed accordingly.


Photo: Nora Smith

The three tons in the tournament test

according to WED eV tournament regulations as of 2023

The three barrels are required from class WE upwards. The difficulty is defined by the distance between the barrels, the gait and the type of hand change. In the speed trail, knocking over a barrel costs the rider 5 penalty seconds.

  • Performance class WE: The side length of the isosceles triangle is 6 meters. The horse is ridden at a trot.
  • Performance class WA: The measurements are the same as in class WE, but the horse is ridden at a canter with a simple change of hand via walk or trot.
  • Performance class WL: The side lengths are still the same. Here, too, the obstacle is ridden at a canter, but now the change must be done at a walk or as a flying change.
  • Performance class WM: In this class, the distance is reduced to 4 meters for the first time. The barrels are approached and circled at a gallop. The change of hands is to be done with a flying change of canter.
  • Performance class WS: The measurements are now reduced again: to 3 meters distance. The ride takes place at a gallop with flying changes.

Skill instead of luck with the cloverleaf

The three barrels are a quick-to-set-up and easy-to-recreate obstacle from the Working Equitation Trail. The cloverleaf-shaped task requires a quick-thinking rider and a horse that responds well to the aids, especially with smaller dimensions and faster gaits. However, if you slowly and carefully work your way up the difficulty level, you will promote and challenge your horse's rideability. You don't need a four-leaf clover to successfully overcome the three barrels.


Here you will find a small selection of equipment that is very suitable for Working Equitation:

Leonie Bauer
Leonie Bauer

My name is Leonie Bauer, I was born in 1993 and come from the greater Munich area. I have been addicted to horses and equestrian sports for almost 20 years. From 2012 onwards I was lucky enough to be able to immerse myself more intensively in a real and horse-friendly riding lesson in a small but fine riding school. A year later I bought my then 5-year-old Lusitano stallion Desejo, whom I trained in many different ways with my trainer over the following years. Our focus is on dressage - but classical work in hand, lunging and small gymnastic jumps are also part of our training program. In 2018 we were able to get a taste of Working Equitation for the first time and were both immediately enthusiastic about this practical application of dressage. We are very happy that since 2020 we have had the opportunity to train more intensively in this area. Competitive sport has never appealed to me. For me, the ultimate goal is to promote and maintain healthy riding.

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