Midlands Carriagedriving News

 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

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