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Wild Rose Competition Program

Our Wild Rose Competition Program is designed for riders like you! Whether you’d like to try out a competition just to have fun and see what it’s like, you are looking for a grassroots start to build your show profile, or you enjoy routinely evaluating your equestrian skills, a Wild Rose-sanctioned event is a great way to meet your goals.

Competitions, often called horse shows, are evaluations or tests for riders. Like all competitive sports, horse shows abide by a set of rules enforced for fair play and safety. For some it’s a way to validate skills and receive feedback, and for others it’s a structured, social outing with their equine partner. Depending on the level of competition and the discipline, a competition can be a casual event, or a high-level function with multiple factors at stake.

Entering a competition is a great way to have fun with your horse while evaluating or validating your riding and horse handling skills. It can be a part of your goal-setting process.

In Alberta there are several levels of competition offered throughout most communities. Many shows are sanctioned by a governing body like AEF or Equestrian Canada, which means the show structure, officials, safety, and rules must meet or exceed a certain standard.

For those looking to expand their showing to a national level, check out Equestrian Canada’s competition programs.

Benefits for riders

Why should you choose a Wild Rose competition?

  • Safety: A Wild Rose-sanctioned competition ensures someone other than the show organizer is responsible for overseeing the risk management for the competition.
  • Benefits: We offer cash incentives for sanctioned shows, competitors, and volunteers. Not to mention improved mental health from exercise and spending time with horses.
  • Officials: Officials preside over the competition to help maintain standards of ‘play.’ Wild Rose shows require validated officials, which means the judging meets a certain set of criteria.
  • Rules: These ensure everyone is playing the same game. Fair and square. And back to point number one – ensures a basic standard of safety.
  • Cost-effective: Wild Rose is grassroots, so it’s affordable for the show organizers, and that trickles up to the participants. It’s about the experience, not spending copious amounts on multiple fees and licenses.

Wild Rose shows ensure a credible and fair playing field for all participants while keeping the competition at a provincial, grassroots level.

Requirements for riders

AEF membership is all that is required by all exhibitors/participants/competitors.

Currently, random drug testing is only conducted at the Wild Rose Provincial Circuit levels, and there are no Equestrian Canada (EC) Sport License requirements at any level of Wild Rose competition.

Wild Rose Sanctioning

Sanctioning applications and documents can be downloaded as well as submitted online here:

Sanctioning a Wild Rose Competition

Classifications of Sanctioning

Coaching Requirements at
Wild Rose Competitions

Starting January 1, 2025, coaches at Wild Rose Provincial Circuit competitions will be required to obtain certification in order to coach at the event. Coaches must have either an NCCP Certification, or EC Coach License status, and will be issued an AEF Coach ID Badge which must be displayed while coaching on competition grounds.

Download the Coaching Requirements for Wild Rose Provincial Circuit Competitions factsheet.

Temporary Coaching Badges, valid for the duration of one competition, will be available for purchase.

To receive your mandatory AEF Coach ID Badge, complete this form.

Sanction a Wild Rose competition here.