The 29 horse-drawn carriages at the Calgary Polo Club this weekend won’t be like the ones you see on those romantic flicks of a couple riding through Central Park.
The couples riding in the marathon of the combined driving event will be on terrain fit for the First World War jingle that goes: “Over hill, Over dale, we have hit the dusty trail…”
The marathon will be one of three events held at the High Country Carriage Driving Club’s combined driving event Sept. 1-3 at the polo club northwest of Okotoks on Secondary Highway 552X.
The marathon consists of the driver navigating his or her horse and buggy through an approximately eight-kilometre course with obstacles including water, bridges, sand traps and others.
They get some help from their groom, who is along for the ride.
“During the marathon the groom actually leans on the carriage and keeps it on the ground,” said Ken McLellan of the High Country Driving Club. “Meanwhile, the driver’s job is to get the horses at the front of the carriage through the obstacle gates.”
The groom is also the navigator — keeping time and ensuring the driver stays on course and goes through the obstacles in the proper direction.
Each obstacle has gates marked A, B, C, and D, depicting the order in which they are supposed to go through.
McLellan, a DeWinton resident, is a veteran driver, however, he admitted he would take the wrong turn now and then without a navigator guiding him.
“The driver usually memorizes the full course and it sounds silly, but you can lose track,” McLellan said. “In the heat of the battle you sure need that extra set of eyes. The navigator is an important part of the team.”
For the spectacular four-horse carriages, there are two grooms — one to give the driver directions, the other leaning in the back to keep the carriage upright.
“We do have a few tips now and then,” McLellan said.
The drivers are timed for how quickly they complete the entire course. The amount of time they spend on each obstacle is then tacked on to that time. If a driver takes more than five minutes to get through the obstacle, he or she is disqualified.
The horse and carriage travels at around 15 kilometers per hour. However, they often gallop through the obstacles because the driver is penalized for the time inside the obstacle.
The horse’s safety is paramount on the course.
“During marathon there is a vet check,” McLellan said. “The drivers will go on a four-kilometre ‘A’ section when the horses will go at a 15-kilometre-per-hour clip. The vet will then check the horse’s pulse and if it doesn’t go down, it can’t go on the “B” section which is the obstacle course.”
The combined driving event consists of dressage, the marathon and the cones.
Dressage is when the carriage driver is judged on how he or she can perform certain manoeuvers. Although it is not as interesting a spectator sport as the marathon, it is a needed procedure.
“Over the years I have learned dressage is a necessary evil,” McLellan said. “It is all the expertise required to do all the other activities.”
During the dressage the buggy, the horses and the drivers are dressed in their Sunday best.
The final event is the cones in which the carriages are driven through an obstacle course consisting of traffic cones with balls on top. If a ball is toppled, the driver is penalized.
There are 29 competitors from across western Canada and the northwest United States competing this year.
The schedule for the combined driving event is dressage on Saturday, marathon on Sunday and cones on Monday.
The Calgary Polo Club is located northwest of Okotoks on Secondary Highway 552X, near Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School. For more information about the High Country Carriage Driving Club go to www.whipswest.ca
