Horses and carriages from as far away as Massachusetts, Montana and Canada will converge on the Horse Park at Woodside, September 22-24, to compete in the inaugural Woodside Combined Driving Event. The event will mark the first time the Horse Park has offered advanced-level classes, the highest level of combined driving competition.

Thirty-six drivers will compete their horses and ponies pulling carriages singly, in pairs or in teams over the course of the three-day event. Divisions offered include preliminary, intermediate and advanced. The dressage phase of the event begins at 8:00 a.m. Friday, the marathon, or cross-country, phase at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, and the cones, or obstacles, phase at 9:00 a.m. Sunday. The event is open to the public, and admission is free.

The marathon course was created by Margie Margentino, who has course-design credentials with the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), the U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF), and the Canadian Equestrian Federation. The Oklahoma-based course designer and clinician also has served as an advisor on the U.S. Equestrian Team Driving Selection Committee.

Gerald Fisher, organizer of the event and Woodside Horse Park Facilities Director, said, "Combined driving is becoming an established equestrian discipline on the West Coast, and the Horse Park is delighted to be playing a role in this process. With our new and upgraded obstacles for the advanced marathon division, and the challenging course designed by Margie Margentino, this event will serve as excellent preparation for the 2006 United States Pairs Championship competition at Shady Oaks Farm [in Loci, CA] in October."

Combined driving is designed to assess the versatility of horse and driver using a three-phase test. The first phase, dressage, is judged on the horse's way-of-going, ease of movement, impulsion and correctness of positioning. The second phase is a marathon, which the horse and driver must complete within a precise time, traversing lettered gates with tight twists, narrow openings, and "hazards," such as water crossings. In the third phase, drivers negotiate a series of narrowly spaced pairs of traffic-type cones in an arena; atop each cone sits a ball which the driver must avoid dislodging. Penalty points are incurred in each phase, and the competitor who accumulates the fewest points is the winner in his or her division.

For more information, visit www.horsepark.org.


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