Strong entries put on excellent show at Onley Grounds

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 – battled it out in Class C: (Ponies) 19-25 years. Lady Louise’s dressage score of 44.40 was joint second-best across 69 tests performed throughout the competition and she kept the lead after cones before putting in faster obstacle times to win the class with Sophie second, less than 10 penalties in arrears.

Lily French was on her own in Class B: (Pony) 15-18 years, as was Molly Turner in Class F: Short Format Junior with both putting on promising performances.

Gateway (Club)

There were five entries forward for the Gateway classes; young Edward Foley (Dressage & Cones only) put on a creditable dressage test before his cones phase while the more experienced Mary Jane Campbell competed in the Allcomers section, tactfully driving a young enthusiastic pony. Vicky Nurcombe also achieved 44.40 in dressage but was overtaken by Lisa Perrott in the Newcomers section while third-place Carolyn Shakles’s Shetland pony, Harry, did his own thing.

Para Equestrian (National), Small Equines (Mixed Club and National) and Very Small Equines (National)

Tracey Spencer edged in front of Amanda Shirtcliffe after the cones phase in a close-run Para Equestrian class and marginally increased her advantage in the obstacles to head the leaderboard by just 1.88 penalties. The popular and highly competitive Small Equines class had six entries with the first four covered by a difference of 8.81 penalties. Sally Kerr took the spoils after a third-place dressage, double clear in cones and second-place marathon. Hot on her heels was Rebecca Carrington (Club) who was driving a pair and also had a double clear in cones with dressage leader Emily Healey (Club) finishing third and Ernie Lock, another with a double clear in cones, in fourth. Sally R L Edwards and her great campaigner Freckles led throughout to take the Very Small Equines class ahead of Ellen Kilchmann and her very pretty grey pony and Lucy Lee with her American Miniature.

National and Club Classes

Although Harriet Bradford’s horse was the more experienced, she won the Advanced Horse (National) class by just over 10 penalties from Joanna Broadbent’s ‘baby’ who looked to be enjoying the experience, including a double clear in cones.

Rachel French was going great guns in Novice Horse (National), extending her dressage lead with a double clear in cones and then storming round the obstacles until having to retire after Obstacle 4. This left Alex Loveman to take the class with a comfortable margin over Jon White in second and Miriam Parker in third.

Mick Ward took the lead after dressage in Open Horse (National) with Lynda Christian close in arrears. Matters stayed that way after cones, but Lynda squeaked ahead of Mick through the obstacles to take the class by an agonising 0.14 of a penalty. It was almost as close for third and fourth with Wendy Wyatt taking the yellow rosette ahead of Christine McLeod with 0.60 penalties to spare. Sue Botley was the sole competitor in Open Horse Pair (National) who made up for a disappointing cones score with strong obstacle times.

Largest class of the event was Novice Pony (Mixed) where Rose Barwick (Club) performed the best dressage of the day, 41.00, while Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Nicola Fallaize (both National) tied for second on 44.40. Nicola, Paul Edwards and Jamie Hordern (all National) achieved double clears in cones and fast obstacle times to finish in that order as Rose sadly fell away during the marathon. Open Pony (Mixed) saw Megan Wheeldon come out on top after a storming round of obstacles to overtake dressage leader Lesley Tilbury with Fiona Powell (Club) in third place. The Short Format Pony (Club) class was headed by Charlie Parker-King, who had two entries but didn’t take his dressage leader through the marathon, with Rosemary Armstrong in second.

Ben Grose led after dressage and cones in the Pony Pair (Club) class and kept his lead ahead of Matthew Illston-Barsby who chased hard in the obstacles. Sara Bower, the only entrant in Open Pony Pair (National) was sadly eliminated for missing a gate in Obstacle 4. It was good to see Emma Young (Club) back competing, and clearly enjoying herself, in the Mixed Pony Tandem class, overtaking Helen Cruickshank (National) after dressage to win.

Climax of the two days included Emma’s brother Peter driving his Shire horse tandem (Club). His leader is very new to driving trials and was clearly listening to Peter throughout, however, Peter decided to tactfully retire after four obstacles. This left the two-entry Horse Team (National) class with Karen Bassett up against Barnaby Bowman. Poor Barnaby had to sit and suffer in dressage while his off-side leader hopped, skipped, almost jumped and broke pace throughout the test which put him on the back foot. Karen had an easier task and led all three phases to win with a comfortable margin.

With equines ranging from a Shetland and an American Miniature to Shires, Onley proved beyond doubt that carriage driving trials caters for the smallest to the largest – and every size, breed and colour in between!

Photos Kingswood Associates

Lynda Christianson