This year was a spectacular one for fans of four-in-hand Driving. With two major FEI events — one in winter and one in summer — there was plenty of opportunity to see the world’s best in action.

Here’s a look back at the highlights of 2023 as we close out the year and get ready for another FEI Driving World Cup™ Final in February of 2024.

FEI Driving World Cup™ Final

The indoor Driving season is always a thrilling experience for spectators and athletes alike, with speed, agility, and communication tested on every course. The FEI Driving World Cup™ Final, traditionally held each winter, was the culmination of an exhilarating season that began in autumn — one in which some strong rivalries emerged.

In an electric atmosphere at the Jumping International de Bordeaux show, Australia’s Boyd Exell pipped defending champion Bram Chardon of the Netherlands in a nail-biting Round 1. Chardon’s time was faster, but Exell had no penalty points when he crossed the beam, whereas the Dutchman had picked up 4.

Who finished third on Day 1? Bram’s father, Ijsbrand Chardon, who is a Driving legend in his own right and former World Cup champion, having won most recently in 2016, also at Bordeaux.

Would Ijsbrand be a spoiler and snatch the title from what was shaping up to be a showdown between his son and Exell, who was bidding for a 10th championship? Exell had lost the crown twice to the younger Chardon — in 2019 and 2022 — and he wasn’t keen on letting it slip through his fingers again to either of his competitors wearing the orange.

With scores carried over from the first round after being converted to penalty points, Day 2’s finale on Hungarian Gábor Fintha’s challenging track once again had the audience on the edge of their seats. Only three advanced to the drive off: Exell and both Chardons.

In the End

In the end, though, Exell was the fastest and only one who went clear with his team of Emma Olsson as navigator and Hugh Scott-Barrett as backstepper. His total time of 239.37 seconds topped Bram’s of 243.41 and Ijsbrand’s of 253.39, each of whom had been snagged with 4 extra penalty points.

It was a record 10th title for Boyd, and the Champagne flew at the awards ceremony!
FEI Driving European Championship for Four-in-Hand Horses

The next big event on the international calendar was the FEI Driving European Championship for Four-in-Hand Horses held at Exloo in the Netherlands. The event also featured the FEI Para Driving World Championship.

Outdoor Driving very much resembles three-day Eventing in its structure, with phases for dressage, marathon (like the cross country), and cones (similar to arena jumping).

Rain at the Hippisch Centrum Exloo didn’t keep fans from filling the stands to see who would wear the European crown at the end of the week.

When the dressage segment concluded, it was Germany’s Mareike Harm in the lead ahead of 39 other carriages and a full point over defending champion Bram Chardon, who last won the title in 2021 at Budapest. Harm’s compatriot Anna Sandmann was in third place.

But the marathon day proved to be a shakeup to the leaderboard, as it often is. Chardon moved to the top of the standings, with a seventh-place finish in the marathon combined with his second in dressage. Harm dropped into fourth, whilst her countryman Michael Brauchle — dubbed the “Master of the Marathon” — had the best score of the day, putting him in second. Koos de Ronde of the Netherlands, 2013 winner of the World Cup, took over third place.

Double Gold

Day 3 decided the medals, and it was double gold for Chardon. His time on Jeroen Houterman’s cones course definitively put him in first place individually, and it also secured a Team gold for the Netherlands, thanks to stellar performances from de Ronde and Bram’s father, Ijsbrand.

When all the points were tallied, de Ronde took the Individual silver and Brauchle the bronze.

Team Germany, comprised of Brauchle, Sandmann, and Harm, were awarded second place. Belgium joined them on the podium, with Tom Stokmans, Dries Degrieck, and Glenn Geerts bringing home the bronze medal.

In the FEI Para Driving World Championship 2023, there was Team gold for Germany, who featured Heiner Lehter, Alexandra Roder and Patricia Grosserichter.

Germany’s Roder made it a golden double by securing the Grade II title. Two Dutch athletes, Ingmar Veneman and Aad van Marwijk, took silver and bronze respectively.

The Grade I prize was secured by USA’s Tracy Bowman, with Grosserichter and Australia’s Jodie McKeone also on the podium.

The 2023-2024 FEI Driving World Cup™ season will certainly be another one to put fans in the seats at Bordeaux when the Final commences on February 2nd and concludes on February 4th.

Both Bram Chardon and Boyd Exell have won multiple qualifying legs so far, but we can’t rule out a surprise victory by one of the other top Driving teams. Catch it all live on FEI TV!