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A brave decision equals happy drivers

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  A brave decision by organiser Paul Hart resulted in happy drivers at the recent Midlands Carriagedriving’s event at Anslow, Derbyshire (16 June). Originally scheduled as a One-Day Event, thanks to unending wet ground conditions, the informal competition morphed into a successful ‘PlayDay’.   Having battled the elements for several days plus heavy overnight rain, Paul stuck to his guns and gave the go ahead. Despite deep going in the dressage and cones arenas, those who made the most of the opportunity all emerged with smiling faces. Other than regular Anslow competitor Margaret Wharmby’s pony, all the equines were new to outdoor driving trials or, as in Joseph Adams’s case, in a new pairing.   Grateful thanks to Paul – who now has the task of repairing the ground! – and Ann Hart, who provided a wonderful lunch, as well as the judges and stewards who helped the day go ahead. There will be a final ODE at Anslow on Saturday 24 August.   Next up on the calendar is Onley Grounds in
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Summer shines on Thoresby

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Midlands Carriagedriving shook off the grim Spring weather to enjoy it’s season’s opener at Thoresby Park in sunshine during the warmest weekend of the year so far (11 and 12 May). Dressage took place in front of the impressive Thoresby Park House while Section A of the marathon enjoyed a new route past the lake and through some woods. Quality of competitors over quantity was the order of the day although the cones course proved somewhat fiendish for some. Robert Buck, driving two outfits, finished with a one-two taking the class with Charlee, owned by Midlands’ stalwart Elisabeth Greensmith. His dressage scores of 46.38 and 48.85 were closely followed by Sandra Ormerod on 49.99. However, it was Megan Wheeldon, lying fourth after the first phase, who came closest to chasing Robert home, finishing third overall. Chris Ainscough, current Open Horse National Champion, continued his winning ways in that class, starting with the best dressage score of the day (32.96) before sweeping all bef
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2024 – Bring it on!

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 With longer daylight hours and, hopefully, warmer, drier, weather to come, the 2024 outdoor carriage driving season will soon be here – and at Midlands Carriagedriving, it’s a case of ‘Bring It On!’ To begin, for the first time since 2019 (pre-Covid), the club will be presenting over 20 trophies and shields across all classes at its Championships to be held at Oasby in August; the Points League is to be revamped with some classy new-style rosettes awarded at the AGM in November. Kicking off the season will be the first of four One-Day Events at Anslow in Derbyshire. These are popular competitions open to all, even the smallest equine, and ideal for getting going, bringing on a novice animal – or driver – and refreshing the brain. Dates in 2024 will be Sundays 28 April, 19 May and 16 June plus Saturday 24 August which will end the season. The club’s Two-Day Events begin at Thoresby in Nottinghamshire (11 – 12 May), a great venue with the dressage, cones and obstacles set in parkland. T
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In Memory of ‘Madge’ Edwards

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 Those of you of a certain age will remember ‘Madge’ Edwards who passed away in December 2023.  I met Madge when I started carriage driving with the Wolverley Driving Club and enjoyed her guidance and enthusiasm for weekend driving rallies, traditional driving and, most of all, driving trials. Madge was later elected Honorary President of Wolverley Driving Club. In the 1990’s we drove our lorries, sometimes in tandem for reassurance, throughout the summer months to compete at the excellent two-day trials, run by the then Midlands Driving Trials Group, to venues like Chatsworth, Frog Hall and the Silverstone area. This was Madge’s heyday, a keen single pony driver and regular winner with the excellent Georgie. Madge delighted in getting her ponies fit in the forest behind her home and, when she hung up her harness, her enthusiasm transferred to my ponies, grooming for me in the forest and country lanes of Worcestershire. Madge was the manufacturer of ‘Forest Harness’, arguably the best
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Midlands enjoys a solid 2023 and looks forward to next season

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 Midlands Carriagedriving held its AGM and Conference on Sunday 26 November, attended by around 20 members. The club’s finances remain in good health, having made a small profit on the year thanks to a tremendous entry for the Onley Regional, Para, Club and British Young Drivers’ Championship classes. Dave Wheeldon stood down from the committee and Jon White was duly elected as his replacement, there being no other candidates; both Ben Smith and Angela Flanagan were re-elected for a further term. Jon White has joined the MC Committee (Credit Kingswood Associates) Chairman Paul Hart gave a summary of the year, saying it had been a challenging time for all concerned since the loss of Dave West and with Lesley moving away as they had done so much for the club. He thanked Dave Wheeldon for standing in as chairman for an interim period, ably supported by his partner Tracy and daughter Megan. Midlands is very grateful to several ‘old stagers’ who had returned to support the club, not only as
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1-2-3 for Midlands’ ponies at the National Championships

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 It was a clean sweep for three Midlands Carriagedriving ponies at the 2023 British Carriagedriving National Championships, held 15 to 17 September, at Ashfields Polo and Carriage Driving Grounds in Essex. Cath Brockie held her nerve in the final cones phase to take the Open Pony crown with Robert Buck driving Elisabeth Greensmith’s Charlee in second and Megan Wheeldon completing in third place. Cath was lying in sixth place after dressage but a scorching drive through the obstacles put her in the lead prior to cones by just 0.71 of a penalty from Robert who, after coming fourth in dressage, also put up a strong obstacle performance. However, his 14.27 added penalties in cones gave Cath some breathing space and two down inside the time were enough to secure the 2023 title. Megan, who languished in an unfamiliar 12 th place after dressage, pulled herself up to overnight fifth after the obstacles and added 1.71 time penalties to make it a 1-2-3 of Midland ponies. Photo: Cath Brockie Phot
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Glorious weather at Oasby

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Glorious weather greeted competitors and stewards alike at Midlands Carriagedriving’s final event of the season, at Oasby in Lincolnshire, over the weekend of 2 and 3 September. This was the club’s third visit to the venue and the new organising team of Chris and Jenny Doughty and Bob and Ruth Auton had gained permission from the landowner to open up new tracks for Section A of the marathon as well as creating three new obstacles on Section B. While one or two drivers opted for shortened marathons with the imminent National Championships in mind, the Open Horse class provided a close finish between Sue Mart, with her promising new horse, and Wendy Wyatt. Sue took the lead in the dressage phase with 43.53, ahead of Wendy on 50.75 and Paul Hart on 55.12. Wendy closed the gap on Sue after a better cones score but Sue kept her nose in front with marginally faster obstacles times to finish just over four penalties ahead of Wendy with Paul third and Graham Clements in fourth. Photo: Sue Mart
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