| Affiliated Club News - June 2013 | |||||||||
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MIDLANDS DRIVING TRIALS GROUP Great sponsors, prizes, a birthday and an auction Now in its second year, the Midlands Driving Trials Group's (MDTG) event at Onley Polo Grounds in Warwickshire is proving a real hit as a social occasion as well as providing hot competition. The two-day event was held on 15-16 June and Organisers Bob and Ruth Auton worked their proverbial socks off to make sure sponsors of the six obstacles were kept happy, generated armfuls of prizes for competitors and put on an excellent event.
On the competition side, the club welcomed a number of young drivers and put on a para-equestrian class, won by Mick Ward as a prelude to his success at Sandringham two weeks later. In the Pre-Novices, Emily Viller took the honours with a good dressage and fast marathon; Cerys Gilbert was second and Rhea Auton, who had led the first phase, was third. Megan Wheeldon found Novice class winner Nicola Fallaize too strong in the dressage although a double clear in cones and a fast marathon pulled her into second. Seren Flannery, who is mentored by Angela Flanagan, took the Intermediate class ahead of the more experienced Diana Irwin. The largest class, Open Single, saw Robert Buck entered three times but all HC so the honours went to Tracey Fletcher followed by Sue Mart with her young pony and Lisa Banks respectively. There were only two completions in the combined pairs, with Angela finishing ahead of David Wheeldon. In the Tandems and Teams Michael Hodgson and Julie Wedgebury were neck and neck, an uncharacteristic two cones down costing Julie the class.
Onley's owners, the Baker family, have fully embraced driving trials since its initial appearance last year and plan to build permanent obstacles to MDTG's specification. Along with increased and improved facilities at the venue already being constructed, the future is looking very bright for this particular event. Pictures: Top - Mike Hodgson's team get their noses in front of Julie Wedgbury to win. Photo courtesy Bernard Mills. Right - Nicola Fallaize holds on to her dressage lead to win the Novice class. Photo courtesy Bernard Mills.
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NEW BRIDGE AT NIDD HALL The NEDTL reached the mid-point of the outdoor season with their third event of the year at Nidd Hall near Harrogate. After last year's mud-bath, the weather co-operated this time to produce near perfects conditions - in between the showers ! Much excitement was caused by a new feature for the club, a wooden bridge for the cones course.
Sunday's marathon took drivers over some lovely off-road countryside in what one competitor referred to as ?a good, old-fashioned marathon". Despite testing terrain, horse fitness was not an issue and everyone seemed to finish Section E with plenty of fuel still in the tank. Julian Hartley and Alwin Harrison produced six super obstacles which were a perfect mix of open and technical, with the last one being close enough to the box park to attract plenty of spectators. Results: Introductory:
Novice Pony: Intermediate Horse: Intermediate Pony: Open Horse: Open Pony: Pairs: Teams/Tandems: Photos:
MIDLANDS DRIVING TRIALS GROUP Belvoir Castle to be
new venue for MDTG The Board of Midlands Driving Trials Group (MDTG) is delighted to announce that Belvoir Castle near Grantham in Leicestershire, is to be a new competition venue for the 2014 season, by kind permission of their Graces The Duke and Duchess of Rutland. The two-day club competition will take place on Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June and be sited on land used in previous years for the CLA Game Fair. The exceptional venue, located on the borders of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, is readily accessed from the A1, A52 and A607.
Her Grace The Duchess of Rutland said: ?We are looking forward to having horse driving trials on the Belvoir Estate and we are delighted to welcome the Midlands Driving Trials Group to Belvoir Castle.? Chairman of MDTG, Dave West, added: ?We are very excited about holding a competition at such a prestigious venue and hope that all driving trials competitors will make a note of the date in their next year's diary, certainly one event not to be missed! ?The club has already secured financial backing towards the running costs and invite businesses or individuals interested in sponsoring an obstacle, or any other aspect of the event, to contact Geoff Goodwin on 07966 226687?.
Full details of MDTG's 2013 competitions, schedules and entry forms are on www.mdtg.co.uk or call 01630 661314. Belvoir Castle is the ancestral home of The 11th Duke of Rutland and has been in his family since 1509. The current castle, completed in the early 19th century, is the fourth such building to have stood on the site since the original Norman construction. The castle is renowned for standing out on the skyline overlooking Belvoir Valley. The castle and gardens, extensively renovated under the personal direction of The Duchess of Rutland, are open to the public; see www.belvoircastle.com for full details.
Inside/Out event at Hooe. This year, the Oaks Driving Club's inside/out event at Hooe, near Eastbourne, was very kindly run by Sheila Petitpierre. If anyone knows the job inside out (no pun intended) it is Sheila, a national judge and professional of the highest calibre - we were in very safe hands. No only did we have Sheila, but also husband Tom to do the scoring and son, Tony (Scorch) who built a very testing cones course. Twenty nine entries ensured a competitive day, It was particularly encouraging to see three young drivers enjoying the day, with Becky Eyres winning the best junior rosette as well as winning the Pre-Novice class driving Jeni Longley's Tori. We used new P&P test for this event which included two serpentines. The judges were Fiona McQuat (Precision) and Kay Hooper (Paces). Best score for precision was Susan Skeggs on 12.5, driving a new pony and best score for paces was Sarah Scott (16), driving her pretty grey Lizzie. No-one achieved a perfect cones score though Tina Graham was not too far off the mark. A shower of rain made the grass very slippery for the start of the obstacles, with several people skidding, though it dried up towards the end of the afternoon. Sarah Scott was on fire and achieved the best mark of the day of 185.05 to convincingly win the Novice Pony under 13hh class. Sarah has attended several of Susan Skeggs? training clinics and is now reaping the benefits in grand style. Biggest smile of the day was surely on Margaret Harrington's face - having an absolute ball and enjoying every minute. A few horses were out competing for the first time. Carol Lamble had her new Dee Dee who was impeccably behaved and driven sensibly and carefully to get to know the job. Another very attractive pony was Lorna Drew's, also out for the first time. Thank you to everyone who supported the event, whether competing, stewarding, judging, cooking or just being in the right place to help out when a job needed doing. A special thank you to Sheila for running the competition and making sure things went so smoothly.
Novice Pony 13hh + Novice Pony under 13hh Pre-Novice Open Horse Multiples Picture shows Sarah Scott driving Lizzie.
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The ?get
together? meal created by Onley's own catering staff took place in the elevated restaurant and culminated in a
raucous attempt to sing Happy Birthday to pre-novice entrant Josh Asher and Mike Fallowell's hilarious auction of
cheese, pork pies and biscuits which helped raise funds for the club. 
Entries in Sunday's
ODE were sufficient to split them between novice and more experienced drivers, with Sarah Giddings winning the
former and Pam Brown the latter. 
North Eastern Driving Trials Ltd
Having been trialled at
the first Arena Challenge, it made its debut at Nidd Hall as part of element 17 in the course. Luckily, no one had
trouble negotiating this obstacle - with the possible exception of Pat Cooper, who's leader Rocky George put his
brakes on in amazement when he got there. Fortunately, a well-timed shove from his less reluctant companion in the
wheel did the trick and he shot across it before he really knew what happened! 
Novice Horse:
Belvoir Castle Estate offers flat fields for lorry parking, dressage and cones while the marathon course of
around 12?13km will take in woodland tracks, field margins and some hills around the estate. There will be a minimum
of six obstacles; these and the dressage and cones arenas will be within easy reach of the lorry park, which
benefits from a permanently installed water supply. 
Further information will be made available as detailed plans for the event are finalised. 
Oaks Driving Club
Open Pony