The Scurry Driving Association

The full name of Scurry Driving is Double Harness Scurry Driving, which means two ponies pulling a carriage through pairs of cones at full gallop. Balls sit on top of the cones and any balls knocked off incur time penalty points. Sporting drivers compete against each other to get the fastest time possible at shows throughout Great Britain.

A form of Scurry Driving first started as far back as the 1950’s. It started in America with 4 wheel chuck wagons and using barrels to go through. It later came to England using single ponies and the barrels used were red Watney’s beer barrels.

The sport then progressed to using pairs of ponies and red cones. Drivers mainly trotted through the cones with some cantering. The original vehicles had wooden wheels and solid tyres. Metal wheels came in about 15 years ago. As drivers became braver and vehicles were adapted the sport became faster. The width of the vehicles between at least one set of wheels must be no less than 130cms and the cones are set at 170cms apart. At a gallop this needs a great deal of accuracy. The course is made up of between 10 and 14 obstacles including a box and slalom. The ponies are in 2 sections; under 12hh and over 12hh under 14.2hh.

The scurry driving sport was run by the British Horse Driving Trials Association (BHDTA) from as far back as the mid 1960s and in 2001 the Scurry Driving Association was formed, endorsed by the BHDTA. Scurry driving was then recognised as a separate sport in its own right.

There are now approximately 25 major shows throughout the country and 3 main championships to qualify for; The Living Heritage Champion, The National Champion and the Grand League Points Champion.

The Scurry Driving Association are now sending 12 pairs to Paard & Koets to wrap up the season with an exciting competition of accuracy and speed.