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UPDATE ON CARRIAGE DRIVING

So far, this has been a disappointing year for the carriage driving team.  Since March 9th, we have been unable to offer carriage driving as an option due to Paddy’s lameness, and all our plans for evening drives in the spring and summer and the RDA drive at Glamis came to nought.  Paddy is still with us, but on a year’s rest, in the hope that he will become sound by next March.

We have not been idle in the meantime, however.  We have been training two potential drivers, Katie Horne and John Messeter. 

We have also been training O’Reilly.  He was a driving pony when he came to us, but in order to be passed as an RDA driving pony, he needs to be very safe and well-behaved.  His training was unfortunately interrupted due to his laminitis, but he is now back in work.  Ruth Skinner, our regional driving representative, came to assess him last week, and she was delighted with his behaviour. However, she said that he is too fat at the moment, because in order to pull a carriage with a wheelchair in it, he needs to be at the peak of his fitness.  As a result, O’Reilly is on a strict diet!  Ruth plans to return once he has lost some weight, when hopefully she will be able to feel his ribs!  She will then assess him properly, and provided that he has lost the required amount of weight, that should be a mere formality.

We are therefore hoping to offer carriage driving again some time during the next block of lessons, on a Tuesday morning and a Thursday afternoon.

Watch this space!

Our RDA centre opened in 2008 and was officially opened by HRH The Princess Anne in February the following year.  We added carriage driving to the services we offer in 2009 and are indebted to Zoe Sanders of Kingdom Carriage Driving in Fife for her help and encouragement. At present, we have two RDA Whips, Alison Macintosh and Joan Jack, and are in the process of training two new drivers, John Messter and Katie Horne. Our driving pony, Paddy, is a piebald cob. We started slowly, with one driver, Hannah Craig. Hannah was so severely phyisically handicapped that she was unable to hold the reins, but she was able to give voice commands, and it was thrilling for her and for us to see Paddy responding to her voice. Our second client, Sharon Smith, practised giving voice commands at home, and was overcome with shyness when it came to actually giving them. She did eventually manage to to ask Paddy to walk on, which was a great achievement for her, and she loved to get out and about on the tracks surrounding the centre. She, as well as Hannah, was wheelchair bound, so would not otherwise have had the opportunity of riding at our centre. We have been training a a group of new volunteers and are also hoping to have a new pony, O'Reilly, in the group soon. We take our ponies to BDS drives and are hoping that there will be an RDA Drive at Glamis next year, which our drivers would love to go to.

Photo:  Katie Driving accompanied by Jane MacInnes

As trainee whips, John Messeter and I attended a training day at Maryculter Carriage Driving Centre on 10^th June 2010. There we met Jane MacInnes with whom we spent a most interesting day.

Jane MacInnes is a Light Harness Horse Instructor (LHHI) and an International Judge. She holds the British Driving Society Stage 4 level of Competence (Teams and Tandems) which is the highest qualification attainable for carriage driving.

Firstly we looked at various types of harness which she had in her well stocked harness and teaching room, and discussed the proper method of handling the reins and whip. We then viewed her excellent and comprehensive collection of traditional and modern carriages. After lunch we harnessed up a horse and went out driving.

All in all a very enjoyable and worthwhile day.

Katie Horne

27/10/2009