Midlands Carriagedriving News

It was all systems go for the organisers of Midlands Carriagedriving’s two-day event held at Onley Grounds in Warwickshire from 26 to 27 July. Strong entries across many of the 23 classes catered for – including the British Young Drivers’ Championships - put on an excellent show.   British Young Drivers Championships It was a close finish in Class E: (Horse and Pony) 6-16 years with Rudolf (Rudi) Krikorian taking the spoils with his delightful coloured pony by just over three penalties from Etienne Kember. While Henry Hyde-Chambers (Class A: (Pony) 8-14 years) held on to win by less than five penalties it was nip and tuck between Lacey Llewellyn and Isla Cooper for second and third place. Isla led the class after dressage but had a disastrous cones round, racking up the penalties and, despite a storming best marathon of the class, failed to catch Lacey by 0.47 of a penalty.   Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Sophie Hunt – who both had entries in the National classes –...

 Quality counted at Midlands Carriagedriving’s second ODE at Anslow (Sunday 22 June) despite low entries. The event, once again put on by chairman Paul Hart, enjoyed a respite from the recent heatwave and proved once again, Anslow has something for everyone. In the Small Pony/Very Small Equine class, young driver Theo Charnley and his lovely coloured cob – who also compete in ridden dressage – put in an excellent performance to score best dressage of the day, ably assisted by Dad on the back of the carriage. Anslow regular Chris Ainscough brought out a new pony at its first event. Chris took things easy and the pony will have learnt much from its outing in the Novice Pony class which went to Michael Evans and his bay roan, having travelled all the way from Carmarthen to take part. Another regular, Linda Wiggin put her cones penalties down to driver error, her first of the year, in the Intermediate Pony class. However, it was a double clear in cones – and the only one of the day – f...