On 21 and 22 June, the Sterruiters from Haaksbergen organised its annual combined driving competition. The Dutch Championship Para driving 2025 will also be held at this competition.
Gerard Horst took part in this championship with the pony Stapleford Shake A Leg, with Raymond Letteboer as groom and Lynley Benneker as ground-groom.
On Saturday afternoon, 21 June, Gerard started his competition by driving the dressage test. The dressage test went satisfactorily, for us it was a good dressage test with few faults. By the 3 judges, the driven test was judged with an average of 57.8%, or 67.60 penalty points and thus a 6th place.
Afterwards, Gerard drove the cones test. In this test, 3 balls were unfortunately thrown off, which were entirely due to driver errors. In addition, 6.30 penalty points were incurred for time overrun, making a total of 15.30 penalty points. Incidentally, the differences were not so great in the cones test, as none of the para drivers managed to clear it.
The marathon was driven on Sunday, 22 June. Due to the expected heat, with temperatures well above 30 degrees, it was decided by organisers to allow one minute extra time for running both the A and B sections in the marathon. The A section of the marathon was run within the set times and thus did not result in any penalties. In the 6 obstacles in the B route, no penalty points were incurred (though that required 2 escape manoeuvres !). However, with the heat, the obstacle course was a tough one for the Hackney pony. All in all, (too) many time penalty points were incurred, 134.15 points.
With a total penalty points of 217.05, a 6th place in the final ranking was eventually achieved.