Regarding costs, I too was interested. Yesterday, I sat with a member of the Belgian team, and he kindly answered all my stupid questions. He said it costs more than $100,000 just to get them all here to the WEGs. They brought 5 horses, and the team consisted of 11 people (one whose job was to clean/polish all that tack). He said they are financed through sponsors and the long time it takes to meld a team together of physically matching talented horses, which know their job and function as a team, makes it hard to retain a sponsor because they of course want results for their money sooner. As I drove back to the RV from yesterdayâs WEGs I recalled my hunter showingâcanât imagine having four horses to bathe and braid each day!
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Yep, multiples are exponentially more work at every level. Putting a nice pair together is difficult, iveI never tried for more.
Also, scoring on the marathon. Itâs run like a old style long format event. The first 3 sections are strictly optimum time at different speeds, 2 slower sections 1 at a forward trot.
The last section is the part with the obstacles. The teams need to finish the section within the optimum time to avoid extra time penalties. Most of the time penalties are from the obstacles where teams get assessed a penalty point for every 5 seconds in the obstacle. This is why they fly through them. Also, I think they cannot canter or gallop outside of the obstacles. This used to be the case, not sure if itâs still the rule.
Iâm watching it now (West Coast) and it appears that the U.S. teams are made of up very wealthy people. Question - what breed of horse is generally used at this level? They look like warmbloods?
I just found this on NBC Olympic channel. The marathon carriages have to weigh one ton! I canât imagine the shipping costs of that.
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If you ever wanted to see the monied âwhoâ that make up the 4-in-hand world, go to the Devon Horse Show for the coaching classes, or (even higher on the food chain) Newport, RI for the coaching weekend. You can often match the names of the owners/whip with industry owners/leaders. They ooze Class. Rich will buy you what you need, but Class sets the tone when you sit on the box seat, holly whip in hand, gray top hat (for the owner/whip), and your coach horn (the name for the person who plays the coaching horn) standing at the groomâs seat tootling those old familiar coaching melodies. HINT: if the Whip (driver) is wearing a black top hat, heâs not the owner. The gray top hat is traditionally reserved for the owner/whip.
The sponsors for the competitive driving are usually industry.
The older marathon carriages used to weigh as much as a car, and it was common to hear them referred to as âtanksâ because they could take endless punishment (ie smashing into obstacles as a way of getting around minus the finesse) without falling to pieces. But those were wearing on the horses, in more ways than one. Not so now - the materials for competition vehicles are lighter so the horses (wheelers more than leaders) arenât having to draft (pull) as much weight on the ground without compromising the structure of the vehicle. Expensive buggers, tho. If you are local to PA, go to Martinâs Carriage Auction in Lancaster this coming October 19th, and check out - up close and personal - the marathon carriages they will have listed for the sale. Might be your only chance to ever sit on one and pretend you have the reins to a pair or team in front of you!
(I have been driving a pair of Welsh Sec. B for over 30 years, groomed for several coaching friends at Devon (tho didnât get to play my horn in the classes - not practiced enough to do it in public - those high notes are a killer), and have authored numerous articles on carriages and recreational driving for ADS and CAA publications in the past 25 years. Not a huge fan of competitive driving, tho. I prefer the traditional. :))
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Pretty much. The breed of choice generally is Dutch Warmblood or any of the German Warmblood types that have a moderate dash of old coaching blood in them, something born with natural âself-carriageâ. Certain countries will use their traditional breed carriage horses, but overall youâll see more Warmblood than any other type.
Minimum weight for the 4 in hand horses is 600 kg or 1320 lbs.
I canât offer any info as to the costs or sponsorships of driving, but Chester Weberâs financial backing is public knowledge:http://www.ocala.com/news/20110320/3-billionaires-on-forbes-list-have-ties-to-area.
Then you need to add the weight of driver, plus required navigator and groom. Wheelerâs have to be strong, very fit, since they usually do about 98% of entire vehicle pulling. Lead horses are out of draft (not pulling) in any turns and hazards. They might pull a little on straight-aways, but otherwise they are kind of out there for decoration. We drive a Four, so are experienced with how to drive them in CDE competition situations. Actually, making leaders pull will get everything in trouble during any turns, might sweep the feet out from under the wheelers, knocking them down with the pole!
Rein handling has to be automatic, driver has no time to be looking at their hands. If driver has to look down, at reins they are going to hit something in a hazard or go off course during Dressage or cones. I love watching Boyd drive, so very smooth with his reins!
As mentioned, Multiples are âmore everything!â Exponential is a good way to describe things to do with them! We double all the tack, two harnesses for each horse, special whips for each section, two carriages, dress up clothes for us, stall accessories, feed and hay times 4 (not hauling a spare) for several days, all packed for a CDE. We donât even need to pack it for overseas! Then stuffing everything, load horses, into the semi trailer to go.
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For shipping and buying purposes the 600 kg is the important number. The shipping was what I was referring to. Very true the horses are pulling much more than that on course.
Also I showed pairs and never understood how a pair could be SO MUCH more work to get ready for a show than a single. It seems like 3-4 times as much :lol:. I would LOVE to drive a four, but have no interest in getting the turnout cleaned up for a competition
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Who was the woman commentator?
There are generally three sections in the Marathon. A walk section, a trot section, and the obstacles section. Each section IS timed, and there are maximum and minimum times for each section. When I was navigating, there was a starter and finisher at each section who filled in our time card. I also kept separate times on a watch and stopwatch as backup. In each section, I would advise my whip on how close we were to the time window, if we needed to pick up pace or slow.
Each obstacle has an in gate and an out gate; teams are timed from the moment they enter in the in gate until they pass through the out gate. There are obstacle judges who ensure that the gates are taken in correct sequential order, none are missed or taken out of order. The navigator is there to assist the whip with the path they have chosen to take through the obstacle. And also to be ârail meatâ, using body weight to stabilize the carriage from tipping and shift it over if needed. 
A good driver may not try to get through the obstacles at a canter, because of the many changes in direction and tight turns. Instead, youâll see a lot of trotting to keep a smooth and flowing course.
On the time sheets, each section has a time recorded, and each obstacle has a time recorded. Any penalties are also recorded. I would love to compare score/time sheets for this Marathon!
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Thatâs what grooms are for!
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He said it costs a million a year to compete. Not to buy the horses and equipment, but to get them to all the competitions it takes to be consistently ranked in the top 5 in the world. In all fairness he also compared that to the cost of buying a racehorse, something the Weberâs do a lot of. So his annual budget is like buying 1 yearling at the sales. Or maybe 2. Or maybe just the tail of a yearling.
The good thing about driving is thereâs a lot of range from that level to entry level. God knows itâs not like hunters these days where you feel like you must be a 10 percenter to play at the local show level. Also if you are not going to walk those marathon courses and donât have the space in your rig to bring a golf cart or ATV, a scooter can generally get the job done and fits in the other trailer stall. You just have to know how to ride a scooter off pavement (my navigator and I âwalkâ the course together the first time, so both of us are on the scooter going through all the CTFs. We referred to that as the most dangerous part of the weekend ).
But most of all, after decades of showing breed shows with apps, QH, arabs, pleasure driving, doing xc, dressage, showing horses on the line, hunter paces, hunters, western dressage (and probably a few things I canât remember), I can honestly say I have NEVER had as much fun as I did at my first driving trial a few weeks ago. Iâve had it on my bucket list for years to âget back into driving, only for realzâ and now I am kicking myself for waiting this long!
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Keyfins, thanks for the marathon explanation. The one driving competition I saw was at the Colorado Horse Park.
Learned something here that the navigator is the âcoordinatorâ while the whip drives; both important but I thought the whip was âin chargeâ and used the navigator for, what did you call it, rail meat. 
I also saw the navigator have to get off the carriage a few times to get the horse(s) into the water :lol:
One of the obstacles IIRC was a âbunchâ of large cement pillars (guessing, maybe 5â+) that the horses had to navigate through. There it was easy to see how one of the speciality marathon carts were more navigable than the lower budget teams that were using more of a driving cart.
One of my desktop backgrounds is a lovely pair of greys in one of the water obstacles. I also got a great shot of a chestnut in the same water obstacle. It was placed perfect to get some nice photos. The other water was much harder as the good places to stand were kinda in the way 
Probably my Bad - I was judging arena length based on the 40m circles - started at B & then E - that took (to my Newb eye) 1/3 of the ring as part of the test.
Bet they each took up a bit more than the 1/3 I eyeballed.
letâs just say both the 80 and 100 diagonals look veeeeeeeery long when your pony is just starting to be Netflix (on demand) with his lengtheningsâŠ
here you go!
https://results.hippodata.de/2018/1587/docs/result_-driving-_marathon_v_sunday.pdf
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