From August 8 to 10, Gerard Horst with Stapleford Shake A leg and Lynley Benneker as groom participated in the combined driving competition organized by the De Eschruiters driving club from Wierden. This was the last combined competition prior to the World Para Driving Championships in the first week of September.
On Friday, August 8, Gerard started the competition with the dressage test. This dressage test was held on the sand track. The sand track was a bit heavy, causing the pony to pull too much. The test was therefore given an average score of 70.67 penalty points by the three judges, resulting in an eighth and last place in the rankings. A disappointing result.
Saturday, August 9, a fairly warm day, was the day of the marathon. The A-course of the marathon was completed within the set times and therefore did not result in any penalty points.
In obstacle 1 of the B-course, an unrecovered course fault was made, which automatically resulted in elimination from the marathon.
On Sunday, August 10, Gerard had the cones test on the program. The sand track was wet and heavy. Stapleford Shake A Leg found the track too heavy and clearly did not feel like it. The course was eventually completed without faults, but at a much too slow pace, resulting in 21.57 penalty points for exceeding the time limit. Incidentally, no combination completed the cones test without faults on this day. All in all, this combined competition was not a good rehearsal for Gerard and Stapleford Shake A Leg for the World Championships.