Powys Carriage Driving Group

Club sees record entry for first indoor Driving Trials event of the season

Powys Carriage Driving Group held the first affiliated driving trials event of the winter series on Sunday Oct 6th with a record entry of sixteen drivers. Rosettes for the event were generously sponsored by Arena Print of Llandefalle and made by local company Big Penguin Rosettes. Dressage was judged by experienced dressage instructor Amanda Say who has studied driven dressage with driving trials maestro James Broome. Those who had attended the club’s training day with Emily Ham for the new season’s test came out on top in terms of scores – especially for precision which accounts for half the marks in driving. Emily herself achieved the best score of the day on 80% followed by Jonathan Rees on 73% and Peter Sidebottom in third.

The cones round is one of the most enjoyable phases with a course of narrowly spaced cones to drive between and 5 penalties for any ball knocked down. Unlike outdoor competitions where you have to drive very quickly the indoor works to an optimum time and this caught out several drivers who racked up penalties for being too fast as well as too slow ! One driver, Janice Sidebottom winner of Novice Horse, , got the timing right. Positions changed in classes like Open Pony as Emily drove twelve seconds under time and Alison Dascombe drew into the lead with Ray Hopkins who drove a brilliant clear round to accrue just one time penalty to raise his challenge. Alison was rightly thrilled with her pony Jellybean’s willingness to canter and his enthusiasm in all the phases. The top three drivers In Open Pony went into the final phase of four timed obstacles with only 6 points separating them. In Open Horse Jonathan Rees slightly widened his lead to six and a half points over Peter, with Ray in third with his horse entry, while the other class leaders moved more ahead.

The four obstacles drove quickly with blistering times set by Emily and Jonathan who both roared clear of their opposition to win their classes - Emily with the best score of the day. It was lovely to see many newcomers and Nikki and John Shutt at their first trials event showed their training with the club had paid off by triumphantly taking first in their respective classes. They travel two hours each way to take part and thoroughly enjoy themselves. Up from south Wales Mike King was just pipped by Sian Burrows driving a pony pair and the Hopkins family achieved a second place in Open Pony and two thirds with their horse which was also driven by keen disabled driver and new club member Carl in the newcomers class. Christine Evans brought her young pony to its first competition and will definitely be one to watch as the pony matures and she becomes more familiar with driving trials. It was also good to see the return of Sally Lloyd with her Shetland Spotty after a long period of ill health, looking on fine form and enjoying the day.

Local sisters Emily and Rhiana Phillips from Brecon battled it out driving their family pony Ranger. Both girls have enjoyed driving success over the summer with Emily awarded the Most Improved Junior at the Welsh branch of the Driving Society summer camp and Rhianna winning the British Driving Society’s National Award for her Portfolio. Emily built on her narrow lead after dressage to take the win on this occasion !

Now club members are looking forward to the next event at Llwynon which is a fun competition with Halloween fancy dress on October 27th. Dressage will be freestyle to music and the courses also decorated with Halloween horrors!

There are also now regular day events at Usk college in the indoor school that take a different format and include a session where you can find out all about carriage driving . The next is Saturday October 12th with another on November 2nd. If you are interested in finding out more please contact Ann Ham on [email protected] or look on the website pcdg.webs.com