Anslow ODE kicks off the 2023 season for Midlands Carriagedriving

 Chairman – Paul Hart                                                                                              President – George Spencer

 



 

MIDLANDS CARRIAGEDRIVING

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

          Anslow ODE kicks off the season for Midlands Carriagedriving

 

Midlands Carriagedriving kicked off its 2023 season with a one-day event at Anslow in Derbyshire on Sunday 8 May. A small band of competitors, including Richard Butt who travelled from Gloucestershire, enjoyed a relaxed atmosphere with plenty of encouragement from organisers Paul and Ann Hart.

 

An informal competition took place and drivers were able to pick and choose what they wanted to do, taking the opportunity to educate new horses and/or shake off the dust and rust with more experienced turnouts.

 

Driving the Novice Horse test for the first time, Richard made his journey worthwhile with a decent score of 55.2. Although his initial cones penalties of 27.0 counted towards his score, he then took Cody round again for a much improved three penalties. Richard and Cody performed flowing routes through the obstacles, guided by the experienced Nicola Corby who stood in for Richard’s usual backstepper who was injured.

 

Chris Patrick won the Open Horse class with a Hackney that he has been bringing on. The duo has competed a little at indoor driving and this was the start of Chris’s outdoor campaign; he was absolutely delighted with the horse’s performance having leapt ahead of Rachel Riley with an excellent drive round the obstacles despite some hesitation at the water. Anslow was Rachel’s first event of the season and used it to blow a few cobwebs away. She thoroughly enjoyed her day despite a couple of errors of course in the obstacles.

 

Another driver with a new horse, Mark Riley, did the elements which he wanted to do and were appropriate for his horse. He achieved the best dressage score of the day (52.95) before playing in the cones. Not wanting to drive horse and carriage through the water he went on foot with the horse on a lead rope to give it confidence.

 

Dave Wheeldon came along with his pony pair for a play in dressage and cones only as the ponies were not yet fit enough for the marathon.

 

The organisers did well to hold the event as the ground used for dressage had been waterlogged for some time. However, a fresh area was found to hold the first phase and while the going was plenty soft enough it started to dry up during Sunday’s beautiful weather.

 

Anslow’s ODE’s are an excellent opportunity for all levels of human and equine experience – all are welcome. The next events are Sunday 28 May, Sunday 18 June and Sunday 16 July. Contact Paul Hart on 07779 922506 for information or visit the MC facebook page.

 

 





Photos by Paul Hart

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