Powys Carriage Driving Group

LIVING HERITAGE FONMON CASTLE, BARRY, SOUTH WALES

5TH & 6TH APRIL 2014 

by Carole Davenport 

It's not over until the fat lady drives (I know, it should be sings!) however that was the theme over the wettest and

muddiest show we have competed at since we started !!

A lovely site for our first time ever at Fonmon Castle but as Jeff & I pulled on I must admit to a feeling that this one

would be taxing as we promptly got stuck with both the lorry and the caravan. Setting up camp you could feel the

pasture was already full of water and the rain that came on and off over the weekend turned all areas into a muddy

bog and an arena which was really large and good grass coverage into a real trial of fitness and power for the ponies

especially by championship time.

Our camp field was just at the end of the Cardiff Airport runway and those ponies who hadn't seen much in the way

of aircraft went home connoisseurs of small and commercial aircraft undercarriages but without exception not one of

the ponies bothered after their initial surprise. I even had one fly over the ring when I was competing but I think the

boys just thought it was a new looking arch that Ivor had incorporated into the course !!

Ivor Williams built a flowing course with two obstacles of A-E, an arch, an elbow and a slalom so we had all the bells

and whistles in what seemed a very large arena.

Unfortunately we had a depleted field of runners due to another major championship on the same weekend for

carriage drivers but we were excited to include three new Welsh drivers and their friends & families to our show.

Emily Curnock belied her 13yrs to drive her Welsh Sec B, Top Dollar, so sensibly. Building her speed up over the

weekend she rolled out to be the junior champion of the show and I was very impressed at her quiet way of driving.

What a way to start with a new carriage though! You could hardly see it through the mud! Dollar had started his first

day quite fractious when the target and paintball shooting over the fence went astray and unsettled him but they

persevered and Dollar settled beautifully to the rest of the weekend and was a perfect gent in the arena.

Alison Dascombe brought her lovely homebred coloured gelding, Rockwood Dream Catcher and what a dream she's

bred. The poor lad must have wondered what he'd been brought to initially as he's only a 4yr old and the first thing

to greet him was an aircraft coming in to land. I assured her that the Living Heritage shows were ideal for

youngsters and once again the show didn't disappoint as he went home much wiser and with a whole load of new

experiences that he trotted and cantered through to tell his buddies about when he returned home.

Jane Logan travelled from west Wales with the fabulous Tri & Star, a pair of grey Welsh Sec A's who have done some

pure scurry driving in the past. She certainly didn't ease her way round but pushed them on from the start and

would have won a couple of the sessions had it not been for a ball down. Even in the championship she was just

faster than Wait & See by one hundreth of a second but unfortunately had the very last down!! Definitely one to

watch in future competitions, her team is very fast but she must get her accuracy spot on too but she was very

gracious in defeat and promised she'd enjoyed getting her teeth into one of our scurrytrials courses where the

driving and accuracy plays a bigger part over speed alone. We can't wait to see Jane back in action and some of our

regulars had better watch their backs if Jane has entered !!

Team Broxmore were not only beautifully turned out (despite the mud..............................