Howe To Drive @ Bradbourne Carriage Driving Centre

Browsing Archive: October, 2013

Wednesday Update ...

Posted by Polly Ruddle on Thursday, October 31, 2013,
Dressage times, French time. Gingers on at 4.05, Anna 9am, Emma around 11ish and Sue around 2ish. Dressage team trained with Boyd today. They went really well and Sara very happy and feeling positive. Opening ceremony this evening. A great display followed by all the Nations parading round the arena. We all waved our flags showing we are proud to be British! Dinner soon then I should imagine an early night for everyone as long day tomorrow. — in Montardon, Aquitaine, France.

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Your update for Tuesday 29 October ...

Posted by Polly Ruddle on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, In : The World Pony Driving Championships 
A little lie in this morning ponies fed at 8am. They were all a little fed up as the cant see over their stable doors. But we soon sorted that and put up the stall guards and they seemed much happier. Jack is the only one that's worked out how to sneak underneath it! We drove the Dressage team today they all seamed happy and feeling well and Sara got to drive them in the main arena for a whole 6 minutes! After the driving it was all hands on deck for harness and carriage cleaning. Shu...
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We have arrived in Bordeaux - what a relief !

Posted by Polly Ruddle on Monday, October 28, 2013,
A lovely restful day and night in Bordeaux. A lovely yard with nice stables, plenty of room to walk the ponies out and they even got to go out in a field for a few hours. Everyone doing well and feeling good especially Pip!! We left Bordeaux at 10.15 this morning and now on route to Pau. Hopefully arrive there around 1.15pm. Weather has been good to us so far but the rain has now started. We have been warned that the storms you guys have had are coming this way hope you are all well a...
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First Day In France ... WHAT A DRAMA !!!

Posted by Polly Ruddle on Friday, October 25, 2013, In : The World Pony Driving Championships 
Very interesting day, arrived in France with no problems. Drama started when we pulled in for fuel 3 hours from Calais to discover the A frame on the front of the trailer was cracked both sides to the point where if we had gone much further the trailer wouldn't have stayed with us. Several hundred phone calls later and several hours later the trailer is welded together enough to hold it for a few miles and we take it to a garage. Again a million more phone calls and several hours late...
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Mum Marshall & Sox at the National Final !!!

Posted by Polly Ruddle on Wednesday, October 16, 2013, In : 2013 
Competing at an outdoor National Final was an exceptional experience for us!

Having decided in the Spring that we must see if we could qualify but not actually having a "card signed" caused a good deal of stress!

We took ourselves off to Windsor Park where Sox seemed fine round the the sixteen and half K marathon so we thought our efforts at "fittening" must be working and we finished in second place. Inspired by this we returned a fortnight later achieving the second signature and comin...

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BCDC September Camp

Posted by Polly Ruddle on Wednesday, October 16, 2013, In : Carriage Driving Events at Bradbourne 

BCDC September Camp – red rosettes!


We arrived at the September camp in heavy rain but bright eyed and bushy tailed ready for another chapter in our carriage driving experience. Jenny was both excited and anxious as she had finally bought a 4 wheel carriage that Ronan – her naughty Fell pony – had yet to encounter. I was fine until day two when I discovered that Sara had passed me on to Leonie for my dressage lessons! Much to my surprise they went really well and at last I began to under...


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Well done to Harriet Barker, Bradbourne DC member. We are immensely proud of her and her team! !

Posted by Polly Ruddle on Thursday, October 3, 2013, In : 2013 
PONY POWER: It all began when Jack, our youngest son, grew out of Buster, his 11hh hunting / pony club pony. PICTURE OF BUSTER AND JACK HUNTING Buster needed a new job as he wasn’t ideal as a small child’s riding pony, I put him in a carriage and we pottered around the lanes for a year or two. Then we had a go at club trials for a bit of fun, paying pocket money to my reluctant kids to back-step for me. The trials took us round the southeast, Sevenoaks, Windsor, and Goodwood. We had the m...
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