Born in Bega, New South Wales, Boyd won the Australian Pairs Championship at the age of 16 and then at 21 moved to Britain to improve his riding and especially his carriage driving talent - with remarkable success.  Boyd is currently based in Leicester, England, where he is a professional carriage driving instructor and trainer, when he's not travelling around Europe competing in major competitions.

Recently Boyd attended Equitana in Sydney, where he competed in the Zilco Four In Hand Driving Challenge, conducted a Carriage Driving Masterclass, in addition to giving other demonstrations and lessons relating to driving and harness horses.

Jo Johnson caught up with Boyd during Equitana to find out more about this Aussie Champion!

Boyd, how did you first become involved with horses and driving?

From when I was six years old I always wanted to do something with horses, I don't know what the attraction was but I was fascinated by them.  My mother was a school teacher and my father a civil engineer and they weren't involved with horses at all.  Every birthday I used to pick going on a family trail ride for my present!  Then my school teacher introduced me to another school teacher's husband, who was Max Pearce and he had carriage horses.  When I first went there I was devastated because I wanted a chance to do pony club and jumping, not driving. So I was straight away into driving and didn't really do much riding until I moved to the UK, where I was inspired by the hunting and coaching prints.

What's the biggest challenge when training horses for four in hand driving?

The challenge is that it takes time.  Some of horses competing here at Equitana (in the Zilco Four In Hand Driving Challenge) were struggling as they were not experienced horses. In a team you need four horses who know how to work together. At the two and three year stage of their training, the horses are still having highs and lows in their performances. It takes four years to make a good national team and five years to make an international ready one.  By this stage you can rely on the horses and consistently get good results.  

How many teams of horses do you have?

I'll drive five teams a day, however, a team is not four horses.  When we go to a competition we take five horses because we can put in the extra horse at any stage during the event.  Each team that I have is made up of six, seven or sometimes eight horses. I have a good outdoor team who are my 'A' team, then I have a 'B' team, which are all young horses coming through.  Then I have an indoor racing World Cup team who are all older horses - some are aged 18, 20 and 23 in this team.  I usually put another team together of the spare ones that haven't been worked from the other teams.  We also have other customers horses that I train.  

What makes a great horse for carriage driving?

Originally I used to go for movement and matching, now I go for character and movement. character comes into it because in the top drivers there are a few of us who are all comparably similar in talent, but it's the horses that make the difference.  Who's got the best horse power to beat each other is the key.  Now I look for the character that can help me rather then me helping a horse with not such a good character. A horse with character is one that wants to please and is good under pressure.

Is there a particular breed that you prefer?

Originally I was running alot of Dutch Horses, now I run some German Holsteiners and modern Oldenburgs and I also run a couple of Russian Orlov Trotters - these are good in the cross country phase, where they bring me speed.  I actually don't mind what breed I drive, as long as it matches the others and has a good character, I'm happy.

How do you use different horses during a competition?

You're only allowed one change during a competition, that is, the fifth horse can take the place of one other.  So you can use this to compliment your dressage team or your cross country.  There are tactics involved with this change.  Technically the fifth horse is used in case one horse becomes ill or lame so you don't lose the competition, however, I use it to maximise performance whenever possible.

Do you have a favourite horse or team of horses?

I don't really have favourite horses, but I do have horses that I remember from different stages of my career. Diplomat was a great Irish cross horse that I used, who was a B Grade showjumper that I broke to harness and he gave me alot of success in the single, pairs and teams when I first started.  Then I had a very fancy horse, Blondie, who brought me a lot of success.  Another called Striker who came in later and was a really good character who helped me alot.  Now I've got a few more instrumental horses who help me with key performances.  So the ones who've proven themselves and been loyal are my favourites really.  I've had some very good horses.

You've had an amazing last few years of competition, which achievement has been the most rewarding?

Obviously winning the World Championship (at the 2010 World Equestrian Games in Kentucky) is what I've always wanted to do.  Although it wasn't that big a thrill to win it when it happened, but was more a relief to say we'd done it! Following a success, we have to very quickly move on to the next event.  We have won the FEI World Cup Driving three times now, which is indoor driving, similar to the competition held here at Equitana. There's a lot of pressure and then release when it's over.  Whereas what I did in Kentucky was management and damage control the whole time.  We couldn't afford to make any mistakes, we did a good dressage, which was a positive start, so from then on it really was damage control.  With indoor driving you have to push it.  I enjoy the indoor driving but both types of events go hand in hand really.  We've won Aachen three times in a row now and I'm now equal to Chardon, but I don't think anyone has won it four times in a row! Nobody has won the FEI World Cup four times in a row either.  It would be nice to win these events in 2012 but it's not the be all and end all.

Do you participate in other horse sports?

I really enjoy hunting every winter, with the Fernie Hunt, across good Leicestershire countryside! The first meet was last week.

Is there a horse sport you'd love to try?

I was doing a lot of jumping prior to 2010 World Equestrian Games and broke my hand doing cross country jumping, which I really enjoy. After Kentucky I threatened to change disciplines to eventing but I had a few accidents and ended up in Hospital. It was a bit hard on my wife, always having to nurse me and our two children - it was like she had three children.  So I decided not to take that path, because I push myself with whatever I do and more than likely I would make mistakes.  Even though I'd learn from them, I'd probably knock myself about a bit during the process and it would continue to be hard on my wife!

If someone is an accomplished rider, does this mean they will be good at driving? 

I've had very accomplished riders such as William Fox-Pitt, Oliver Townend, David Broome and Mark Todd who have driven my teams.  I've seen them at World Cup Shows and they've said 'we'd love to have a drive!' They're a little bit confused to begin with but then I tell them to forget about the fact you're in a carriage and do flat work like you would with a saddle horse, shoulder-in, leg yielding, etc, do whatever you would normally. Once they find a way to perform the same exercises in the carriage as from the saddle, good riders seem to do well.  Once you get past thinking you're in a carriage, a horse is a horse.

Is there anything else you can compare to driving flat out across country in competitions?

I windsurf, sail and water ski a lot so am used to the adrenalin feeling when you're surfing or racing (I have a semi-race speedboat) on water.  You get the thrill from the machinery or from the waves.  It's a bit different with driving.  When driving cross country and the horses are thinking for themselves, doing it at speed and you can just watch them doing their job, that's a pretty incredible and incomparable feeling.  You just tell them early what you want and then sit back and let them do it.  That can happen in training as well as in competition, the speed bit isn't the thrill.  The thrill is when the horses work for themselves, thinking under pressure and giving to you voluntarily and naturally, so the speed part is actually easy.

What do you think of Equitana this year?

I'm surprised really, over the four days there's been a constant flow of the people.  I know it's the first time in Sydney, but it seems very popular and they've supported driving.  There's been a big driving following with a lot of tickets purchased specifically for the driving.  That's good! 

What's been the highlight of Equitana for you?

I've enjoyed that they've put a lot of content into the show, I'm surprised that people have been coming for three and four days.  The only reason these people keep coming back is the content of the program, which must be the attraction.  Eight arenas going all day is fantastic.

Shout out to Aussie supporters who have helped you at Equitana?

Obviously with a team of horses there's a big work crew. Bob Edwards has been training horses for three to four months for me to drive, so he and his family put in a big effort.  Max Pearce has been helping me.  Lorraine Cairns and Elizabeth Lawrence from Victoria, have been coming to Europe consistently now every summer, so I asked them to help here as well. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes who have been working very hard!

What do you think of the future of Driving in Australia?

I know Equestrian Australia has now put driving into the High Performance Program, so driving has got a recognition for the future. I think driving in Australia has a big following. I don't think it's particularly big in competition or showing right now, but driving generally, pleasure driving etc, is actually bigger than sports driving.

Are the parties better here or in Europe?

It's a little bit like saying that Australians are good drinkers, but when you go to Britain they can knock back spirits like it's going out of fashion, whereas Australians are more beer and wine drinkers. We don't touch the sides compared to the European drinkers! It's the same with the parties, like last night, we had the thrill of competition and afterwards everywhere was shut.  So we struggled to find somewhere to party last night!  In Europe there would always be somewhere to go.

Where to from here on the competition front?

Next weekend is Stuttgart then it's on to Stockholm, Budapest, Geneva, Olympia and Mechelen before heading home to Australia for a holiday with my family in January.

On the topic of Olympia, I heard that Jodie Kidd has been for a driving lesson and is going to help you out at this show?

Yes, Jodie loves polo and driving fast motor cars so she thought driving was brilliant.  She picked it up quickly and did a good job of it and even when the cameras were turned off she wanted to go faster! So that was good fun and then she was keen to come along to the show at Olympia and ride along for the competition. This year is a test event - they're hoping to run a World Cup next year, so the usual process is to run a test event and make it a really slick show for the public.  London Olympia is always sold out and people have been crying out for something different and they wanted driving!