Caravan driver Mareike Meier: Pioneer with four horsepower

"When we started, people said that it wouldn't work as a woman, that you couldn't do it," recalls team driver Mareike Meier in an interview with DW.

She has to smile when she thinks about how little confidence her coaches and male colleagues had in her back then.

"But somehow we managed it pretty well," she says, smiling even wider. "I don't think they say that anymore."

Male domain four-in-hand - the premier class of carriage driving

Mareike Meier is a true pioneer in her equestrian discipline. After previously competing successfully with single and pair horses, she switched to four-in-hand driving in 2012.

Four-in-hand driving is the premier class of carriage driving. The classic competition takes place outdoors and consists of three disciplines: dressage, obstacle, and marathon.

In dressage, the precise execution of various gaits, how harmoniously and evenly the four horses move, and how they respond to the driver's aids are evaluated, among other things. The presentation of the entire team—horses, harness, carriage, and driver—also contributes to the assessment.

In the marathon, the aim is to complete a cross-country course with bridges, ramparts and moats as quickly and as error-free as possible.

Finally, there is an obstacle course against the clock through a course of narrow cone gates.

In addition to the classic triathlon, there are other formats, such as the Indoor World Cup, a shortened competition with combined elements of marathon and obstacle.

Strong in dressage, strong nerves

Meier's strengths lie in dressage—the discipline she enjoys most. She has trained all of her horses as dressage horses herself.

"Mareike has incredibly good nerves," Rene Poensgen, the team leader of the German carriage drivers, praised DW. "She has very well-trained horses and is known for her excellent dressage, but to achieve a good result by Sunday, you need strong nerves. She's very professional."

Although Meier was not the first woman to compete in four-in-hand driving, she was the first German driver to establish herself at the top international level.

One World Championship silver medal (2022) and three second-place finishes at the European Championships (2017, 2021, 2023), each with the team, testify to her class. Meier has also achieved top individual placings at World and European Championships in recent years.

In 2019, she also became the first woman to compete as a driver in a four-in-hand World Cup – a prestigious indoor competition previously reserved for men.

However, Meier doesn't see herself as a pioneer: "I wasn't even aware that I was the first woman. I just wanted to do it, we tried it, and it worked."

Mother as supporter and co-driver

Meier, who was still known as Mareike Harm until her wedding in 2024, was always particularly supported by her mother, Andrea Harm. Together with her, Meier runs a stable for training dressage horses in the state of Schleswig-Holstein .

"My mother said, 'If you want to try it, then do it!'" Meier recalls. Andrea Harm sent her daughter and her horses for four weeks to Michael Freund, one of the best and most successful carriage drivers in the world with five World Championship victories.

Freund trained Meier and helped her combine four successful single horses into a four-in-hand team. Shortly thereafter, she began competing in her first four-in-hand competitions—with her mother on board, supporting her, sponsoring her, and co-driving.

"We competed in all our early four-in-hand competitions together," Meier recalls. "She stood behind me in the carriage and supported me."

"Why shouldn't a woman be able to do that?"

Her mother, Andrea, no longer rides with her. Instead, Meier forms an all-female team with her co-drivers Linda Tödten and Nicole Bielemeier—the only one among the world's elite.

The co-drivers have important tasks, especially on the marathon course in the countryside: Tödten announces the direction as navigator, Bielemeier maintains balance at the back of the carriage and puts weight on the inside rear wheel in tight corners.

"Standing on the back is usually a man's job—but why shouldn't a woman be able to do it?" says Meier. "Nicole rides a motorcycle and has incredibly good balance." Although Bielemeier is lighter than the men competing, "she does it well with technique, and we've always done well with it."

Team boss Poensgen still sees potential in Meier's cross-country riding. "Perhaps she needs to be a bit more courageous," he says. "If she were a bit more confident, I think she could score even more points."

Hardly any female role models

When Mareike Meier started racing four-in-hands, there were no female drivers – at least not in Germany – to whom she could align herself. For years now, she has been a leading figure and role model for young female drivers – and is no longer the only one in the German four-in-hand team.

With Anna Sandmann, the German team has had a second female rider for several years. "I'm very happy that Anna is part of it," says Meier. "It's a great feeling that we can keep up with the men."

At the CHIO Aachen , Meier will compete in the individual competition, and Sandmann will be one of three teams in the team. Aachen is one of the last trials before the European Championships, which will take place in September in the small community of Lähden in Lower Saxony .

Meier's sporting goal is clear: the top eight: "Here in Aachen, the 25 best in the world are competing. If you place among the top eight, that's fantastic."

Daughter next in the “trailer driver dynasty”?

In her private life, however, much revolves around her little daughter Lina, who was born in 2023 - and with whom the next generation of the "cart-driving dynasty" Harms/Meier is essentially secured.

"She really enjoys riding with me," says Meier. "But I'm trying to steer it toward riding at the moment, because driving is a lot of effort."

Her daughter already has a small pony, but what if she ends up driving four-in-hands like her mother and grandmother? "Then I'd be happy too," says Mareike Meier, laughing.