Midlands Carriagedriving News

 Sunday 20 August saw a Pop-Up ODE held at Anslow, Derbyshire, to replace the sadly cancelled 2DE at Brailsford. Midlands Carriagedriving’s (MC) chairman Paul Hart and his wife Ann kindly organised the event at short notice, enjoyed by several competitors, stewards and volunteers in glorious weather. Cath Brockie kept herself busy, giving her victorious pony pair from Onley an outing to sharpen up their dressage as well as driving a single pony in the Open class. Here she notched up the Best Dressage of the day and had just one cone down in the second phase. She was well on target to produce the fastest obstacle times until running foul of Gate F in the third obstacle, driving it backwards, to complete with a big ‘E’. Steve Trebble made the most of her error to take the class. Cath Brockie Steve Trebble Sandra White turned the tables on husband Jon, driving her own pony at its first competition. She took the striking, forward-going, black gelding very carefully to win the Novice Pony c

 Midlands Carriagedriving has announced that, with great regret, it has cancelled its next event at Brailsford on August 19 and 20, due to receiving a low number of entries which made running the event unviable. Competitors who have entered will receive a full refund of their entry fee. Instead, MC Chairman Paul Hart has arranged a one-day-event on Sunday 20th August at Anslow, in Derbyshire. Competitors are welcome to arrive on the Saturday and use the arena, cones and obstacles for practice and schooling. This offer is open to all, not just those who had entered Brailsford. Please contact Paul Hart directly on 07779 922506 to book for the ODE; payment to be made on the day. Onwards and upwards! MC’s last event of 2023 is at the Oasby eventing site, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, from 2 to 3 September. Organisers Ruth & Bob Auton and Chris & Jenny Doughty have set a new marathon course, all on grass tracks which are mostly flat bar two short hills on section B. There will be s

 Almost 60 competitors across Regional, Para-Equestrian and Club classes enjoyed perfect going at Onley Grounds, Rugby, from 29 to 30 July. The event was hosted by Midlands Carriagedriving, which also held the British Young Drivers’ National Championships, managing almost 80 entries. In the Regional classes, Chris Ainscough headed Open Horse with Joanna Broadbent second and Lynda Christian third. Chris led the dressage on 45.05 while Sue Mart and her new horse were second on 54.17, a fraction ahead of Joanna on 54.36. Joanna had the better cones score, adding 2.58 time penalties, which put her ahead of Chris, separated by less than a penalty, while Lynda was in sixth overnight. With all to play for, Lynda attacked the obstacles to win the marathon phase and claim third place. Chris wasted no time either, leap-frogging Joanna to win by 2.14 penalties. Photo: Chris Ainscough The result was almost as close in the Open Pony class (2.26 penalties), won by Louise Kaiholm ahead of Lesley Tilb

 An excellent field of 20 youngsters competed at the British Young Drivers’ (BYD) National Championships, hosted by Midlands Carriagedriving at Onley Grounds, Rugby, from 29 to 30 July. Spread across six classes for age groups and horse or pony, the championships is a showcase for the future of driving trials. The largest section, Class B (Pony) for drivers 15-18 years, produced the two best dressage scores; Amy Matthews on 37.40 and Ruby Gray on 42.40. After the first phase Sophie Hunt lay third (53.60), Keira Chivers was fourth on 54.60 and Sophia Routledge was fifth on 57.80. After cones, Amy and Ruby retained their positions despite adding penalties while Sophia added minimal time penalties (1.05) to pull herself up to third place overnight. The three girls put up the fastest obstacle times in the class; Ruby was fastest on 66.95 while Sophia just pipped Amy (72.98 and 73 76 respectively). However, Amy had enough in hand to win with Ruby second and Sophia third. There was a similar