There was a good turnout of competitors for Anslow on 18 August, a quickly and efficiently arranged replacement for the loss of Widmerpool in Midlands Carriagedriving’s calendar.

There was a good turnout of competitors for Anslow on 18 August, a quickly and efficiently arranged replacement for the loss of Widmerpool in Midlands Carriagedriving’s calendar.

While there were no really tight finishes in the one-day event, the marathon section provided close times in the Open class with Granville Styler taking the honours in this phase on 47.25 penalties. Julie Tomasik was snapping at his heels on 48.25 with Steve Trebble a hair’s breadth away on 49.00. However, his better dressage gave Steve the overall lead with Granville second and Julie third.

Pre-Novice newcomer Mary Fuller and her delightful Percheron led Rosemary Armstrong in dressage and cones. Despite Rosemary’s better marathon result, it was Mary who held on to take the red rosette. In the Novice class, Joanne Gadsby unfortunately threw away her 2.8 dressage lead with a hefty cones score. Along with slower obstacle times she finished second to Sandra Jackson and her speedy pony.

Second in the Intermediate dressage, Nicola Corby then took the lead with the only double clear cones score. Combined with her faster obstacle times she headed the class. Linda Wiggin put up a good performance for second while Elisabeth Greensmith gave her RSPCA coloured rescue horse, Charlee, a positive experience for third. In the Pairs class Wendy Wadsworth had two entries, opting to compete in the first two phase only, which left Cath Brockie, Emma Burton and Julie Wedgbury to battle it out on the marathon. It was welcome back to Julie who surprised everyone by bringing along a new pair of ponies that were definitely not her usual trademark Flying Hamsters. Only having driven them for two and a half months, Julie was not pushing the pair though she took a respectable third place to Cath in first and Emma in second.

Midlands Carriagedriving would like to say a huge thank you to hosts Richard and Dorothy Ward for allowing the club to come at short notice (and on the same weekend as they hosted a private garden party) and to Paul Hart, his family, friends and club members for putting on a lovely event.

Full results can be found on www.midlandscarriagedriving.co.uk


Image: Kingswood Associates