On July, 14 2025, KNHS national team coach Ad Aarts announced his selection for the World Championship para driving from 3 to 7 September 2025 in Lähden (Germany).
This World Championship will be organised at the same place as the European Four-in-hand Championships in Lähden.
With the selection of Gerard Horst with the Hackney pony Stapleford Shake A Leg, is a boyhood dream of his now coming true ? To some extent yes, at least an “old boy” dream.
Gerard Horst has been involved in the harnessed sport in one way or another almost all his life. Only when he thought he had found more time and space to take part in the equestrian sport, his health let him down. So seriously, in fact, that he eventually became completely wheelchair-dependent as a result of a spinal cord injury.
Equestrian sports, even keeping horses and/or ponies, no longer seemed possible for him. But the latter proved possible thanks to support from his family in slimmed-down form. He also eventually managed to pick up driving again. First kept on the sidelines by Corona for a while, he eventually picked up the driving sport again (with the necessary helping hands around him). After competing in the National Para-driving in 2023 and 2024, he had set his sights on being selected for the World Cup in 2025 and focused his training and participation in competitions on that. In early 2025, some dark clouds marked the horizon. Health problems again and, as a result, surgery ahead, having to rest for at least six weeks and thus having to miss the first observation matches. But after the operation and a successful recovery and compulsory rest period, training and driving competitions were resumed from last May. In any case, the progression has been such that participation in the World Cup in 2025 is in the picture !
Last decades completely out of the picture, indeed an ‘old boys' dream is now coming into view after all. And for that, preparations and training are now in full swing.