Powys Carriage Driving Group

It was lovely to have a record fourteen drivers taking part in the exciting indoor driving trials event at Llwynon Saddlery on February 17th and to welcome three new drivers and ponies for their first indoor competition. A special well done to Christine Evans with Smartie , and Maureen and Lauren lloyd Bainbridge with Chaffinch. As well as being enjoyable , especially as there was glorious sunshine, as always there was great competition ..... especially in the Open classes with all three singles drivers within a penalty of each other after dressage, Emily Ham on 26.5 , Jonathan Rees on 27 and Peter Sidebottom on 27.5. Emily drove the only clear cones round of the day but was 14 seconds fast resulting in 14 penalties! Jonathan close behind on a score of 15 and Peter on 17 meant the obstacle driving would be the deciding factor and provide a nail biting finish worthy of these Keysoe championship contenders. Emily’s pony Jack is especially nimble indoors and went clear in the fastest obstacle times to claim the best score of the day ahead of the Open Horses but all three are looking on good form for the National Finals in April.

Janice Sidebottom drove Paddy in Novice Horse and new horse Archie in the Club Class well to clinch first place in each . Two newcomers to trials , Maureen Lloyd Bainbridge and Christine Evans were enjoying their first ever driving trial with young ponies who coped with every challenge like seasoned pros! Vicky Kedward’s stallion Eyecatcher put in a sound performance in his second ever venture indoors to win the Novice Pony class and Vicky was pleased to stay ahead of her son Jack , aged 9 , who was the fastest junior in the obstacles with Section C Howell. As Jack is moving up to a four wheeled competition vehicle Vicky and Eyecatcher had better look out at the next event in March !!

The best dressage of the juniors was Lauren Lloyd Bainbridge, 12 , a keen rider who started driving in November after coming to a junior training day. On a score of 24 she would have achieved the best dressage of the day except for an unfortunate error of course that added five more penalties. Lauren’s cool head around the challenging cones course and obstacles ensured her second place in the juniors class which was won by Emily Phillips, 14 , who drove very well in all three phases . This is Emily’s second win in a row with family pony Ranger and she is still in her first season of driving. Her sister Rhianna who was fourth also enjoyed driving Ranger.

It is always exciting to watch multiples. Ray Hopkins brought his pretty Hafflinger mares driven as a pair and young driver Fleur Snow her bay Welsh ponies as a tandem. Both travelled nearly two hours from West Wales to take part. Due to school commitments Fleur hasn’t driven the tandem competitively indoors until now but impressed dressage judge Natalie Hammond with the best dressage of the day and drove very accurately in the cones and obstacles. It was amazing to watch her skill in threading the ponies at fast trot and canter trough the twisty hazards although Ray’s pair overtook Fleur’s tandem in the obstacles to take firs place. Both turnouts hope to compete at the Indoor Championships in April . Fleur is always an odds on favourite to win at Keysoe as she has triumphed in the Junior classes there and at the Junior World Trophy ICKD classes with similar format. Last summer she was the Gold medallist in the 16 – 18 year old ICKD class in Austria.