ALVARÁ
Entry to Alvará College will next take place on 7 December 2026. Those wishing to become Members at that intake may register their interest below.
The Fellows Maintain the Standard
The Alvará Fellows are riders of the highest international standing whose knowledge of Working Equitation informs the curriculum, its training and its examinations, and the standard the College carries forward. Their knowledge is woven through every Article, and the curriculum is held to their standard.
Working Equitation Must Be Understood Before It Can Be Preserved
Working Equitation is now ridden, taught and competed across the world. As the sport grows, Alvará exists to ensure that the knowledge behind it travels with it: the working origins, the principles, the training of the horse, the education of the rider, the purpose of the obstacles and the standard of riding that connects them all. The aim is to keep that knowledge intact, give riders everywhere a way to understand it, and pass it forward to the generations that follow.
The Study, Applied
The Residencies take what the Member has studied and bring it into the saddle. Members travel to train directly with the Fellows and ride horses produced for Working Equitation. This is where something studied in the curriculum becomes something the rider can see and feel: the preparation before a movement, the quality of the pace, the balance through a turn, the organisation before an obstacle and the effect one decision has on what happens next. Beside them is a Fellow who has produced this work at the highest level. Underneath them is a horse trained for it.
The Training Residency follows Branch One. The Extended Residency brings more time with the Fellows and more advanced horses. The Applied Residency is the highest stage of the pathway and can lead, for riders who go further, into international competition. As the Member progresses, they begin to see more of what the Fellows see, understand more of the decisions behind the work and make more of those decisions for themselves .
Where It Can Lead
Every Member begins with the same Working Equitation curriculum and works towards the same College standard. Where they take that education can be very different. For some, it means understanding the discipline more deeply and becoming a more knowledgeable and independent rider. Others will work directly with the Fellows, follow the Residency Pathway, teach or compete.
A smaller number may eventually progress towards Fellowship and become part of passing that knowledge on themselves. What they all share is the same education, developed around the knowledge of riders already working at the highest level of the sport. The standard stays fixed. The time it takes to reach it belongs to the individual.
A Clear Standard At Every Step
The Alvará Bands record the level of understanding a Member has demonstrated through examination and show where they are within the College:
D · C · B · A
Every Member works towards the same standard. As their understanding develops, they can return to the curriculum, Retest and raise the Band held in their College Record.
at this stage
The Member’s first recorded level of understanding.
The examination shows what they already understand and where further study will develop that understanding.
at this stage
The Member returns to the relevant Articles and Retests as their knowledge develops.
Threshold
at this stage
The Member has demonstrated a sound understanding of the foundations.
Opens the next Article. At Branch level, it also begins to open practical parts of the College, including the Training Residency after Branch One.The threshold to progress.
at this stage
This is where study and practical education begin to come together.The threshold to progress.
at this stage
The Member is making stronger connections across the discipline.
They can relate the training of the horse to the work they see, recognise the same principle in different situations and use knowledge from one part of the curriculum to understand another.
at this stage
At this level, further parts of the College begin to open.
at this stage
Band A is the College’s highest recorded level of understanding.
The Member can bring the discipline together as a whole, connecting its principles, the training of the horse, the riding and what happens in competition.
at this stage
Opens the highest stages of the Residency and teaching pathways and forms part of the route towards Fellowship..
A Member can return to an examination and improve their result as their understanding develops. A higher result replaces the previous result and the highest Band reached is always retained.
After two re-sits at the same Article, the Member is required to take live video tuition before re-sitting.
The Target at Masters level is 65% and will rise gradually to 70% as the College develops.
Every examination and every Band is kept permanently in the Member’s College Record, showing how their understanding develops through the curriculum and what they are ready for next.
Begin Your Study
Alvará College · Est. 2026
Alvará has been developed with the Fellows: riders competing at World Championship level whose knowledge sits behind the curriculum and the standard of the College.
Every Member studies that same curriculum and works towards that same standard. Membership determines how much guidance, review, practical training and direct access to the Fellows surrounds their study.
Entry to Alvará College will next take place on 7 December 2026. Those wishing to become Members at that intake may register their interest below.
For the Member who wants to study independently, sit the examinations and develop their Bands in their own time.
Adds more of the College around that study: examination feedback, riding reviews, the Journal, live teaching and greater access to the opportunities around the College.
Brings the Fellows directly into the Member’s study and riding, with the closest access the College offers.
Working Equitation must be understood before it can be preserved.
The governing principle of Alvará College