compulsory figures
Dressage/P&P
As we are all well aware HRH The Duke of Edinburgh was the founding father of our sport. In the late '60s and early '70s he was instrumental in creating the basis for competition carriage driving that we know today.
It has been well documented that he wanted the first phase to be 'Compulsory Figures' as he didn't consider Dressage appropriate for the driven horse, but the FEI preferred Dressage and so it was.
For the Certius Championships we have developed a test for the first phase which is a fusion of a traditional outdoor dressage test and an Indoor P&P test. The same 'footprint' is driven by all in a 30m x 60m arena. Novices drive the test predominantly in working trot with a walk and halt and one lengthened stride section. Open classes drive the same movements but in collected, working and extended trot, working and free walk, halt and rein back and one handed.
The test is marked with a 20-box score sheet with 17 movements and 3 collective marks.
To reflect the fusion of the two branches of driving and in respect for Prince Philip we will call our first phase Compulsory Figures.
The Novice test will be driven by:-
All specified Novice classes
All small pony classes
Intro
Juniors
Paras
Veterans
Cobs
The Open test will be driven by:-
All specified Open classes
Tandems
Teams
Prince Phillip's love of his animals and our sport was well illustrated by the predominance of the ponies and carriage at his funeral.
It was a poignant moment for all of us when the camera panned across the box seat with Prince Phillip's cap and gloves in place and the ponies sugar cube jar.