What are your feelings about the World Championships in Aachen bringing six disciplines together?

Boyd Exell: Well, it’s always exciting. It adds to the occasion because your national countries follow it more, so they’re more interested in performance and results. So that adds something to the show, of course. But once we’re competing, we focus on what we’re doing and not think about everything else going on.

Bram Chardon: It’s good for the visibility of our sport. As the disciplines are all together, you also get people that originally came for jumping but then stay to watch the driving which means we get a new audience to our discipline. So the amount of spectators expected also for driving will be enormous. It’s kind of World Equestrian Games again. I think Aachen was very successful in 2006, and this is a proven perfect location to do it all over again.

What is it like to compete in Aachen? Can you take us with you into the stadium, but also onto the cross-country course where you have your marathon?

Bram Chardon: It’s very inspiring for us as drivers to be together with the top of the world in each discipline. And to see other people giving a performance under full pressure, and then you go out on the course yourself – the whole atmosphere here is the heart of equestrian sport. All the athletes here feel a little bit extra tension because of the place where you are. And then the marathon. When you see the water obstacles, you see rows of people, and even alongside the section, you are never alone. There’s always people there cheering for you which is very special.

Boyd Exell: It’s a lot of thousands of people and you can really hear the volume of the people. Of course, that adds a lot of atmosphere to the driving. You’re kind of absorbing the atmosphere. But we also always try to keep our focus.

What is your plan for the last weeks leading up to the World Championships?

Boyd Exell: Well, we both have a few more competitions. In our plan, everything works backwards from Aachen, we’re sort of building to it. The most important thing is to keep the horses fit. That means not too many competitions and not too few. Just a good balance.

Bram Chardon: We have an idea which five horses we want to take, so for each horse, we made a plan from the start of the season to Aachen, what would be the individual best schedule to have them in top shape. And it’s interesting – of course, things go wrong, so then you might have to adjust your plan towards the World Championships. We know the venue in Aachen so we know what to prepare for. And we know that the whole week of Aachen requires extremely fit horses.

What is the special thing about four-in-hand driving?

Boyd Exell: It’s just the most fun you can have sitting down! And it’s also a big team of people. A horse owner of a show jumper or an eventing horse will watch the rider go and perform on it, whereas we can have our sponsors or our owners or our friends undercarriage with us. They’re part of the competition experience. It’s not just individual drivers, it’s your group of people. So that’s a unique thing about our sport, means we have ten or twelve people at the competitions on each team. It’s a big job, but many hands make light work.

Bram Chardon: And the team is also involved in the tactics while on course. In marathon and in cones there’s a lot of communication between driver and grooms, they really have a very active and important role in your result – you have the people on the ground checking on the scores, keeping you updated on the split times and so on. That’s not only my job, but it’s a whole team.

You want to experience the special atmosphere of driving competitions in Aachen? Be there up close and live when titles are defended, dreams are born and legends continue to be? Then, secure your ticket today from the online ticket shop, via the ticket hotline on +49 241 9171111 or from the offices of the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein. The FEI World Championships Aachen 2026 stand for goosebumps, history and memorable moments.