Carriage driving state championships will be at Monarto this weekend
The Southern Carriage Driving Society is gearing up to host SA's 2025 SA combined driving championships at Monarto.
This story was contributed by Penny Heighes.
The Southern Carriage Driving Society will be pleased to host a state championship event at the Monarto Sporting Complex this weekend.
Combined driving, like three-day eventing, is made up of three phases:
- Dressage: Beautiful, elegant and technical, it shows the training, suppleness and obedience of the horses
- Marathon, where the drivers take their teams through obstacles with varying difficulties and time requirements, showing their horses’ fitness, obedience and agility
- The cones, a fast-paced exercise where drivers manoeuvre through a series of cone “gates”; this is timed and shows the judges the agility and obedience of the equines and the precision of the driver
Driving is the oldest competitive equestrian sport in the world.
It’s elegant, it’s fast and, along with three-day eventing, is classed as one of the most dangerous equestrian sports.
Australia has a rich history in carriage driving and is proud to have a home-grown 11-time world champion, Boyd Excell, based in the Netherlands but originally from Bega, New South Wales.
Excell been honoured with an Order of Australia Medal in recognition of his services to equestrian sport, in particular four-in-hand carriage driving.
His success has reinvigorated the interest in carriage driving in Australia.
Competition at Monarto will be over Sunday and Monday, with local and interstate drivers and hosting some VSEs: very small equines.
It will be an exiting weekend.
Spectators will be welcome, entry will be free and there will be limited catering, with tea, coffee and soft drinks available for purchase.
- More information: Contact Penny Heighes on 0427 385 362 or search for the Southern Carriage Driving Society Monarto on Facebook.
