Horse Driving Trials Club Inc.
welcome to the art of competition carriage driving
It's kind of like unfinished business!
Witwood, CAN event
Thanks for your support,
Well we went to “Witwood” Bungendore for the official single horse driving trials to see if we could play in the “BIG” arena and came away with a great feeling of accomplishment even though disappointed to have made a very poor decision to “go for it” in the Cones. Folly got a full head of steam up and Bill couldn’t hold her and she took over going through the wrong obstacle. It’s kind of like unfinished business !
Anyway we’ll be wiser next time. We finished third in Dressage with 61 points, were eliminated in the Cones and came second in the
The good news is that we learnt a lot and that the Australians who are prepared to put in the work can compete overseas though they would have a long way to go to be winners
The International judges were delightful guys and our Australian officials looked after them very well and made sure their visit to
Many, many thanks to the HDT team, mostly Judy, Jessica and Anna Meredith and Charlie (visiting from the Old Dart) and Brian and Anne Knee working their butts off. These great HDT Club members gave up many days of their time to put this competition together along with Southern Club carriage drivers and our hosts Doug and Dot Wilcoxson and it was a credit to them.
Other HDT Club members attending were Margie O”Brien, Helena South and Gary Rollans who went down for the officials school along with Judy, Brian and Jessica, and stayed on to help for the two days of the competition. Margie and Helena were given the privilege of pencilling for the two international judges in the Dressage. They were both thrilled to be given the opportunity and learnt a lot. Well done girls! Wayne and Jean Gadke also came along as helpers and added to the Wicks support team.
Thank you all for your support and a great event.
Bill and Patsy
BUNDANOON SUCCESS FOR THE WICKS
WELL DONE BILL, PATSY & FOLLY
Were very proud of our Penny's Folly. We went down to Bundanoon wondering if we were good enough to 'mix it' with the seasoned competitors down south. We had put a lot of time and effort into trying to lift our standard. I borroweed Jean Gadke's more traditional outfit to be more traditional (just fitted into the jacket) and had to withstand Anne's amazement!!
Bill had a senior's moment during the dressage and made a course error, but we still scored 55, so take off the 8 penalties and we were right in there. Our new Cobbadah carriage gained a lot of attention and proved the worth of independent suspension during the cones. The course was on a slope and quite rough. It drove like a demolition derby for most competitors as the rough going tossed their vehicles around and with evey cone measured some had disastrous scores. However we managed to win the cones in our class with only two down.
The marathon was fantastic with 8 GREAT BIG OBSTACLES. Yes, actually horse obstacles that were fast and interesting. Not a lot of options but Folly flew and the vehicles held brilliantly so we felt very safe and made some good imes. Competing in the official horse singles class we had to keep Folly going, with gale force, hot winds, conditions were atrocious, but keep going we did. The walk was made neutral after a protest, as the bunting lining it made nearly every horse spook and subsequently jog. It even broke a couple of times flying up and upsetting horses. Not pretty.
So all in all we had a great weekend. We came home with second in our class, our pride in tact, and with faith that we can really 'mix it' in the 'real' event in January - armed now with experience to sharpen us up, time to work on fitness and aware of the silly stupid errors we can eliminate.
Bill and Patsy Wicks
Some thoughts from Anne
Our club had 6 members at the Bundanoon event. Judy Meredith was Event Director, Brian Knee the Course Designer, Bill and Patsy were competing, Margaret O'Brien was judging and on the Ground Jury and I was on the Appeals Committee. Not bad for our little club. Just shows the long term committment so many of our members have for the future of driving in Australia.
We were so proud of Bill, Patsy and Folly when they drove into the wonderful dressage arena at Shibumi (not sure of the spelling), and we were even more proud when they drove out of the area to the cheers and clapping of onlookers, having driven a very creditable and much improved test. We haven't had the opportunity of seeing Bill and a slim Folly perform so well before and on a perfectly smooth surface. Bill said later it was one of those special moments when he drove into that arena.
Even the terrible heat and wind didn't dampen their enthusiasm. Well done Bill, Patsy and Folly.
Congratulations to all those involved in the organisation of the event in very trying conditions.
Anne Knee
Boyd Exell wins FEI World Cup Fina
Boyd Exell wins FEI World Cup Final
Boyd Exell Boyd Exell winning the FEI World Cup qualifier in Geneva in December 2008 Photograph:Kit Houghton |
Australia’s Boyd Exell has won the FEI World Cup Driving Final at the Göteborg Horse Show in Sweden.
Exell’s team of horses, Bill, Lucky, Pascal and Eminemz has worked hard all season. In 2008 Exell won two World Cup qualifiers, Budapest and Geneva, and was 4th at both Stockholm and Leipzig. Peaking at exactly the right time Exell and his team were too good for the competition in the Final.
“My tactics were to go full speed in the second round. I knocked a cone down because we applied the turntable break whilst we were still in the corner, but I didn’t lose any speed.”
"I trained lots of figures of eight the last two weeks. This made my horses go much faster. They have been working hard for me in the past years and I am happy with the feeling I have with them now.”
Final result FEI World Cup™ Driving season 2008/2009:
1. Boyd Exell (Aus) 225,94 (5)
2. IJsbrand Chardon (Ned) 235,94 (10)
3. Koos de Ronde (Ned) 250,68 (15)
4. Christoph Sandmann (Ger) 126,34 (5)
5. Fredrik Persson (Swe) 131,38 (15)