The sport of combined driving, which strives to keep alive the elegant and traditional aspects of carriage driving, returns to the Horse Park at Woodside Aug. 2-5 with the fifth combined driving event dedicated to the memory of Dr. Henry Boyd and sponsored by the Peninsula Carriage Driving Club.
The event, free and open to the public, honors the late Dr. Boyd, a veterinarian in Marin County, who pioneered combined driving events in Northern California.
The public is invited to attend free. Thursday and Friday are dressage events; Saturday is the marathon or cross-country phase, when carriages race through a series of hazards, such as water or gates made of different materials; and Sunday is the “cones” event: the goal is for carriages to negotiate the cones without knocking them down.
Events this year include singles, pairs, tandems of ponies and horses, and four-in-hand of horses, formerly belonging to the former world champion driver Michael Freund, but now owned and driven by Josh Rector of Arizona.
Among competitors are drivers whose mobility is seriously impaired, but who compete in their carriages on a level playing-field with others. Two of them have competed in Europe, representing the United States at the Disabled Driving Championships.
The Boyd Memorial benefits the United States Driving for the Disabled and BOK, a local therapeutic riding program for handicapped children.
The driving club, founded in 1982, “is more important than ever with the ongoing restoration efforts for the Folger Barn in Woodside,” said a spokesperson. “Our members use a wide variety of horses of which Morgans are the most popular.”
For more information, go to www.henryboydcde.com or call Ellie Ferrari at 650-85l-3543
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