Help represent Canada at Pony World Championships
Donation protected
My name is Carina Crawford. I have been connected with horses for almost 50 years. Starting out grooming my favorite horse "Toria" in the 'Hamburger Reiterverein' in Hamburg, Germany in exchange for short rides started my passion.
After years of learning I was finally able to compete in ridden dressage - which I did for years.
In 2004 life took me to British Columbia, Canada. I immigrated with 3 children, lived in a rural area and reconnected with the horses immediately.
A life long dream came true: I started carriage driving.
The sport of carriage driving was developed out of tradition and the need to get around. Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philipp the Duke of Edinburgh was and still is a passionate driver. He developed the "Combined Driving Events" (CDE) which we compete in now.
The CDE has three phases:
1. A driven dressage test - the difficulties vary with the level you are driving; this test is being driven in a traditional looking carriage with conservative attire (hat, traditional jacket, gloves, driving apron)
2. A cross country course in which you have to negotiate obstacles. This phase is being timed and driven in a very technical refined sturdy carriage.
3. An obstacle course built with 20 set of cones with balls on top. The goal is to go fast through the cones in sequence without knocking balls down and stay within a given time. This is driven again in the same carriage you used for the dressage test.
I finally started competing in CDEs in 2007. I travelled to Washington, Oregon, California and as far as Florida to learn how to do it right.
Patiently I moved through the levels of Training, Preliminary, Intermediate and Advanced to reach the top: the International FEI level.
As a Canadian citizen I qualified myself and my ponies for the
Pony Driving World Championship to be held in Aszbar Kisber in Hungary Septmeber 25 - 29, 2019.
The plan is to take the ponies and their equipment (harnesses, carriages, blankets, grooming etc.) to the Netherlands beginning of July - for the finishing training.
That and the final trip to Hungary is a huge financial commitment .
Unfortunately the Canadian National Federation will not provide any funding and/or support.
I need YOUR help to let this dream come true. YOUR financial help will be used to make the journey of the ponies most comfortable: as well as the flight across the "pond" as well as their accommodation overseas.
I would be the first Canadian Pony Pair Driver in more than a decade to attend the Pony Driving World Championships.
My goal is to promote the sport of Combined Driving and to encourage young and upcoming equine enthusiasts that "the sky is the limit"!
Thank you for supporting my ponies Noble Boy, Nixon, Dr. Dolittle and Don Ruedi - and myself!
Carina Crawford
After years of learning I was finally able to compete in ridden dressage - which I did for years.
In 2004 life took me to British Columbia, Canada. I immigrated with 3 children, lived in a rural area and reconnected with the horses immediately.
A life long dream came true: I started carriage driving.
The sport of carriage driving was developed out of tradition and the need to get around. Queen Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philipp the Duke of Edinburgh was and still is a passionate driver. He developed the "Combined Driving Events" (CDE) which we compete in now.
The CDE has three phases:
1. A driven dressage test - the difficulties vary with the level you are driving; this test is being driven in a traditional looking carriage with conservative attire (hat, traditional jacket, gloves, driving apron)
2. A cross country course in which you have to negotiate obstacles. This phase is being timed and driven in a very technical refined sturdy carriage.
3. An obstacle course built with 20 set of cones with balls on top. The goal is to go fast through the cones in sequence without knocking balls down and stay within a given time. This is driven again in the same carriage you used for the dressage test.
I finally started competing in CDEs in 2007. I travelled to Washington, Oregon, California and as far as Florida to learn how to do it right.
Patiently I moved through the levels of Training, Preliminary, Intermediate and Advanced to reach the top: the International FEI level.
As a Canadian citizen I qualified myself and my ponies for the
Pony Driving World Championship to be held in Aszbar Kisber in Hungary Septmeber 25 - 29, 2019.
The plan is to take the ponies and their equipment (harnesses, carriages, blankets, grooming etc.) to the Netherlands beginning of July - for the finishing training.
That and the final trip to Hungary is a huge financial commitment .
Unfortunately the Canadian National Federation will not provide any funding and/or support.
I need YOUR help to let this dream come true. YOUR financial help will be used to make the journey of the ponies most comfortable: as well as the flight across the "pond" as well as their accommodation overseas.
I would be the first Canadian Pony Pair Driver in more than a decade to attend the Pony Driving World Championships.
My goal is to promote the sport of Combined Driving and to encourage young and upcoming equine enthusiasts that "the sky is the limit"!
Thank you for supporting my ponies Noble Boy, Nixon, Dr. Dolittle and Don Ruedi - and myself!
Carina Crawford
Organizer
Carina Crawford
Organizer
Windsor, SC
