The World Championships for Four-in-Hand Driving in Szilvásvárad, Hungary, kick off tomorrow with the veterinary inspection. The dressage tests will be held over Thursday and Friday. The marathon will take place on Saturday, followed by the final driving phase on Sunday. From now until September 8, the best four-in-hand teams from fourteen countries around the world will compete for medals. In eleven teams from participating countries, one or more KWPN horses will pull the carriage. In total, 114 Dutch horses will be seen at the championship.

The KWPN participants at this World Championship are divided into five dressage horses, one Gelderland horse, one showjumper, and as many as 107 horses registered as driving horses. The participating KWPN horses were bred by 98 different breeders. While most horses were bred by various breeders, there are also a few breeders who have multiple offspring competing at this World Championship for Four-in-Hand Driving, which is quite an achievement. Notably, three horses were bred by P. de Groot and Harry Tonnaer. The following breeders have produced two participating horses each: P. Rietberg, A. Doornbos, E. Kruiswijk, Joop van Wessel, and Sander Daniëls.

Always on the lookout
Chester Weber, who was present at the National Driving Horses Day and is now in Hungary with a KWPN four-in-hand driving team, said: "No one aims to breed a bad horse; everyone dreams of a champion. I think the breeders of the horses competing in Hungary should be very proud of their breeding products, which have developed into the horses they always dreamed of! The breeder is at the beginning of the cycle, and I, as the user, am at the end of that cycle. I used to prefer carefully trained, mature horses, but they are not often available. That's why I'm now also looking for three-year-olds. I can then train and educate them in my own way. If you breed a horse that you think would suit me, let me know."

Cizandro leads the list
In terms of pedigrees, Cizandro is the top contributor at this World Championship for Four-in-Hand Driving. The stallion has thirteen offspring competing. Additionally, Eebert with six offspring, and Delviro HBC, Torino, and Unieko with five offspring each, are also among the top sires at this championship. As a maternal grandsire, Manno appears nineteen times, Patijn eight times, Fabricius seven times, Waterman six times, and Vaandrager HBC five times.

Orange contenders
Of course, the Dutch competitors at this World Championship, namely: father and son, IJsbrand and Bram Chardon, Edwin van der Graaf, Hans Heus, and Koos de Ronde, also have KWPN horses, mostly harness horses, for the carriage. They undoubtedly have a strong reputation, and many world titles have gone to a Dutch driver or the Dutch team. It promises to be an incredibly exciting competition!

You can follow the performance of these horses through the media guide. Follow the World Four-in-Hand Driving Championships in Szilvásvárad via KWPN.org.

GJ for KWPN