Driving and vaulting: the FEI's other two disciplines.

A note on the sources

The FEI's Driving and Vaulting Rules sit on its own website, which refused our requests, and a copy of the 2026 FEI Vaulting Guidelines hosted elsewhere was too large to open. This page therefore relies on a state driving body, press reports and Wikipedia, each named. Where they disagree on a scoring detail, both figures are given; the FEI's current rules have the final word.

Driving

Driving Queensland, part of Equestrian Queensland, describes FEI driving as built mainly around combined driving events of two or three phases, similar to eventing: dressage, marathon and cones. Drivers compete with a single horse, a pair or a four-in-hand.

The three phases

Dressage

A set sequence of movements in an arena larger than a riding dressage arena, each scored out of 10, with penalties for errors such as incorrect movements or grooms dismounting (Driving Queensland).

Marathon

A timed course of up to 22 km with obstacles such as water, mazes, gates, slopes and tight turns. Some sections have compulsory veterinary halts, and penalties apply for finishing outside the allowed times (Driving Queensland). A search summary of Horse and Hound adds that the marathon has no clear round, because drivers are penalised for every second spent in the obstacles; we could not read the article, so that is unconfirmed.

Cones

Up to 20 pairs of cones, each topped with a ball, on a timed course of up to 800 m. Penalties are given for a ball dislodged by a wheel or the horse, for exceeding the time limit and for taking gates out of sequence. Driving Queensland says the clearance can be as little as 10 cm on each side of the carriage.

The sources disagree on the cones penalty: Wikipedia, a secondary source, gives three penalties for each ball down, while a search summary of Horse and Hound gives five. We could not read the FEI Driving Rules to settle it.

Wikipedia describes the overall scoring: the dressage produces a penalty score, the marathon and cones penalties are added to it, and the lowest total wins. It also says that in international driving, ponies must not exceed 148 cm, and larger animals count as horses.

History and recent changes

According to Wikipedia, driving became an FEI discipline in 1970, when FEI President Prince Philip produced the first rulebook, and the first World Driving Championships, in 1972, were for four-in-hand teams only. Wikipedia also dates the FEI driving World Cup to 2001.

For 2026, HQ Magazine (5 February 2026) reports that FEI Driving Rules Articles 919 to 925, on championship entries, were completely revised, and that the Para Driving rules were updated in parallel. Under the FEI General Regulations (Art 140.1, 2026), as US Equestrian's outline describes them, properly fastened protective headgear is mandatory for driving athletes and grooms in the marathon. Search summaries of FEI notices also report 2025 changes, renaming "back protectors" as "body protectors" for the marathon and combined marathon, and adding elimination for failing to cross the start line after the bell before an obstacle, or the finish line before leaving the arena; we could not open those notices, so that wording is unconfirmed.

Vaulting

Wikipedia, a secondary source, describes vaulting as gymnastics and dance on a moving horse, which a lunger controls on a circle about 30 m across. The lunger, the vaulter and the horse are all judged. Competitions are held for individuals, pas de deux (pairs) and squads.

Compulsories and freestyles

Compulsories are fixed exercises performed in a set order. Wikipedia lists seven: mount, basic seat, flag, mill, scissors, stand and flank. Freestyles are performed to music the athlete chooses, and Wikipedia gives their length as one minute for individuals, two for pas de deux and four for squads.

How scores are made up

HorseSport.com, reporting from the 2022 World Championships in Herning on 7 August 2022, said scores were on a 1 to 10 scale made up of the horse (25%), technique (50%) and artistic expression (25%), and that four judges sat, two of them concentrating on technique. Two points are disputed:

History and 2026 rules

Wikipedia says vaulting appeared at the 1920 Antwerp Games, became an FEI-recognised discipline in 1983, held its first World Championship in Bulle, Switzerland, in 1986, and was a demonstration sport in 1984 and 1996. The FEI vaulting World Cup began in 2010, also per Wikipedia. From 2026, US Equestrian's outline reports, the FEI Veterinary Regulations set minimum stable sizes for vaulting horses, which depend on how many consecutive nights they are stabled. In Britain, British Equestrian Vaulting is one of British Equestrian's member bodies.

What about reining?

Reining is not an FEI discipline. EquNews reported that the FEI General Assembly removed it in November 2021. It continues under national rules; Equestrian Canada, for example, keeps a Section K for reining and para reining in its rulebook. The FEI page sets out why it left.