Just under 50 competitors from across Australia and New Zealand gathered at Longwood in Victoria over Easter for the 2025 Australian Combined Driving Championships.

The event was hosted by the Longwood Carriage Driving Club on behalf of the Australian Carriage Driving Society and featured some of the best driving talent in the country.

For those unfamiliar with combined driving, it’s basically horse trials in harness, with teams tested in dressage, cross country and cones.

It is the main competition discipline of the Australian Carriage Driving Society, which was formed in 1971 after R.M. Williams invited a group of prominent harness exhibitors to discuss the formation of an organisation to promote harness activities.

Now 40 years on, the society consists of six state branches, approximately 50 clubs and more than 1200 members across Australia.

The first Victorian Combined Driving Event was held by Oaklands Hunt Club in 1976, with John Mullenger as one of the organisers.

His son Jason competed at Longwood this year winning the novice horse class with Dominion Park Lawson.

Other famous families who contributed to the establishment of the sport also had representatives competing.

Ruby Lawrence is Diana Lawrence’s grand-daughter, Michelle Jones is Mike Thill’s daughter and Matthew Marriott is Max Marriott’s nephew.

Among the highlights of the championships was the Concours d’Elegance class, which always adds to the spectacle of a carriage event.

The class gets its name from the days of horse drawn carriages when the French aristocracy paraded them in the parks of Paris during summer weekends and holidays.

In the 17th century this pastime became known as the Concours d’Elegance, a “competition of elegance”.

The winners were Andrew Pollock and Merricks Stedinger Crusade in the singles event and Deb Hoffrichter driving Forge Farm Heathcliff and Tinker Hill Smokey Jack in the multiples.

In the action events, competitors showed some showed some impressive driving skills in all three disciplines over the three days.

The dressage (section A) was held on the Saturday, the marathon/obstacles (section B) on the Sunday and the competition finished up with cones/precision driving (section C) on the Monday.

Close scores after the first two days of competition made for an exciting last day, with some classes having only one or two penalties separating winners and placegetters.

Find the results and more photos at The Regional.
View and purchase Diane Boardman’s images from this event.
This article appeared on The Regional on 7 May 2025.

Stories on The Regional’s website are free to read and always will be.

If you enjoyed this article you can show your support by joining our mailing list
(either by filling out the form on our Home page or sending us an email or message).

We’d also get very excited if you put a “like” on our Facebook page.