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Hi

My name is Mick Ward and I am a current member of the GBR Para Equestrian Carriage-driving Squad. I have been in the Squad since 2011 and represented the country in 2 World  Championships, one in Breda Holland 2012, where I came 7th and was the highest ranked GBR Para Driver winning a team bronze that year.   I also competed at Sandringham England 2014 where I came 3rd winning an individual bronze.

This year is a World Championship year for the Para carriage drivers and is going to be held in Kronenberg Holland from the 28th August to the 1st of September alongside the World Single Horses. As well as my success I have been the British open Para Champion 4 times.   The team will be announced after our next qualifying event which is next weekend at Blandings Carriage driving centre in Chippenham.

What is carriage driving ?

It is essential 3 day eventing with horses and carriages. The first day we all drive a dressage test which is marked by 2 or more judges sat around a 100m x 40m arena The scores are added up then divided by the number of judges then times by a magical number, then what left is your penalties.

The next phase is the marathon which is normally between 14 and 17 kilometres and is in 3 sections. Section a is normally between 5 and 7 kilometres and is timed at 15kmh for horses and 14 kmh  for ponies. There is a 2 minute window you can finish this section with out incurring any penalties if you are to quick or two slow they soon add up. After this, there is a transfer section which is not timed any more which is between 800m and 1k. At the end of the transfer, you are asked to trot for the vet and the animals heart rate is taken and then we can give water and start to cool them down.

There is a rest period of 10 mins before the fun of section B starts. This section is run at a slower kmh 14 kmh for horses and 13kmh for ponies and is up to 8k long. In section b there are 7 to 8 hazards which can be flagged with as many as 6 gates marked from ‘A’ to ‘F’  The object is to get around the hazards as quickly as you can, whilst driving through the gates in order and turn the clock off every 4 seconds in the hazard is a penalty point. If you drive any of the gates out of turn and correct it say ‘a b d c d e f ‘you get 20 penalties for correcting your course if you drove ‘a b d e f’ it’s elimination. As well as all that going on you’ve got to remember you’ve got a 3 minute to finish in again been earlier or later will get you penalties

On the Sunday we drive a cone course which is the equivalent of the show jumping phase for ridden Eventing. It is a timed course where you try and beat the clock and not to knock any balls off the top of the cones.  All carriages are a set width for the single horses and ponies and the cones and times are set for each class meaning the novices have a slower time and wider cones from the open class. Every ball knocked down is 3 penalties and every second over time is .5 penalties. After this, the penalties from all 3 phases are added together and the lowest score wins

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