“Whether you drive with a two or eight span. When everything coincides, it really gives a kick.” Erik Evers from Oudenbosch is speaking. Four times he was the coachman of the royal couple during Prinsjesdag. This year the honor of his colleague. Although Erik Prinsjesdag still regards ‘the icing on the cake’, his heart is increasingly going to his second big passion, the human sport.
Erik was introduced to the love for horses through his grandfathers. He followed the renowned Equestrian education in Deurne and then quickly joined the Royal Stables in The Hague. He climbed there as the first coachman. In 2012 he was allowed to sit on the goat for the first time of the then Golden Carriage.
“I like to see how she has developed, I also enjoy that.”
The Glass Carriage is controlled this year by his female colleague. Erik taught her the tricks of the trade. “I accompanied her when driving with an eight -span. We practice inside for that, but we also drive outside to Wassenaar or Scheveningen for example. I think it is nice to see how she has developed. She has done it all by herself, I also enjoy it.”
At home, Erik puts his free hours in the training of his own horses. Now that he is not a coach on Prinsjesdag, he has more time for that. “As a coachman of the Glass Carriage you have to work hard, that requires one hundred percent attention. You can’t combine that with competitions for which I am also on the road seven weeks a year. I now have such beautiful horses to be able to participate in the top. I really want to get further with that.”
“You want your horses to shine at his most beautiful at that one moment.”
Together with his wife Judith, daughter Sophie and his friend Ferdy, Erik forms his own two -span team with which he achieved success in national and international men’s competitions in recent years. During the World Cup for Tweenspans in Beekbergen last month, he achieved a bronze medal with the Dutch team. He finished in eighth place individually.
In the meantime, Erik has already started preparing the World Cup in 2027 in Hungary. “You want to make your horses shine at his most beautiful at that one moment. They must have visible fun. Then you see that all efforts and training courses come together. If I look at it like this, you could compare competitions in that sense with the performance on Prinsjesdag.”
“When the horses are at ease, the entire game more or less rolls automatically.”
Yet, according to Erik, there is also an important difference: while in competitions he is mainly dependent on himself, he is also more a kind of manager during Prinsjesdag. During the driving tour, the coachman is surrounded by eight colleagues who walk next to the horses. In addition, De Koetsier is in close connection with the so -called Postiljon that is on the front left draft horse as a rider.
“So there is a lot involved. That is why it is important to ensure that everyone is having a good time. When there is peace in the group, you don’t have to be nervous either. When the horses are at ease, the whole game more or less rolls automatically.”
“Prinsjesdag certainly remains a challenge and for a coachman it is the most beautiful to be allowed to do.”
After 2012, 2014 and 2016, 2018 was the last year that Erik was Koetsier van de Glazen Koets. Whether he returns to the goat during Prinsjesdag? Erik keeps it open. “I think it is important that others get a chance. After all, we do it together. A chance will come by again, but it should not stand in the way of my sport. Prinsjesdag will certainly remain a challenge and for a coachman it is the most beautiful to be allowed to do.”
On Tuesday, Erik walks next to the rear Frisian horse of the eight -span in front of the glass carriage. “In this position I am closest to the coachman to catch any small things. So I still have a little bit of the finger in the porridge,” he jokes with a wink.
What is the human sport?
In a two -span match, a man (coachman) takes part with two horses. The prestressed horses draw a so -called men’s car. The competitions consist of different parts:
- Dressage: a skill where exactly according to certain rules must be driven.
- Mennen through the site (marathon): a part with a trail through the forest or over a field, often with natural obstacles.
- Being: a part in which the mixer has to maneuver through a trail with small posts (cones).
The goal is to get through the parts as quickly and error -free as possible. It requires close collaboration between men and horses.