World Equestrian Games Boyd Exell

Congratulations to Boyd Exell on winning gold at the World Equestrian Games. More games information can be found on our link at the bottom of the carriage driving sites panel.

Murmungee 25 September 2010

The Benalla Club enjoyed their first planned club drive for the season at Murmungee approximately 7km south of Beechworth on Saturday 25 September. The eight drivers that took part were grateful for beautiful weather. It was good to see Jill Cawsey working her twins Beibel and Praze as a pair. The quiet roads and tracks in the area provided just what was needed for a pleasant drive. A picnic lunch was had by all aside the local hall to finish off a lovely day.

Multi-activiy weekend -how good is this!

The Benalla Club put on another great multi-activity weekend on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd October. We are also getting into the habit of providing fine weather to boost everyone's spirits, mild temperatures around 20 degrees each day with clear skies. Despite the flooding of the King River in early September, the grounds have hardened, and were lush with grass and ideal for carriage driving activities. Everyone enjoyed their training sessions with Mike Thill from Friday to Sunday. A good number took advantage of the cones course on Saturday including being timed by Jack Wind and Jim Adams. The cones course included carpet and a false bridge which all participants took in their stride. The complimentary barbeque on Friday night went down a treat with everyone taking the opportunity to catch up on all the gossip. Saturday night's socialising included a 5 minute demonstration of the Benalla Club's blog. We also had the drawing of the raffle which included 15 prizes supplied by local sponsors including 2 fine bottles of wine from John Gehrig.
We asked and were generously given, an entertaining talk by Lorraine Cairns about her "Road to Rome" trip. Her description of the lead up and conclusion of the team's travels were very insightful on how challenging it is to compete overseas. Lorraine was able to provide a very vivid picture of the contrast and similarities between European and Australian Carriage Driving, which was most informative. We would like to thank Lorraine for her time and providing the human aspect which can't be drawn from a blog or written article.
As promised, the Benalla Club put on a 1 hour CDE where 11 participants took advantage of implementing the training and practice of the previous 2 days. The design of the marathon course was conservative allowing for the possibility the Oxley grounds may still have been affected by floods, which thankfully they weren't. Participants had horses ranging from shetlands, ponies, pony pairs and a clydesdale thoroughbred cross. There were no prizes or sheep stations up for grabs, just people meeting their own goals and looking to put things in place in readiness for the season ahead.
Again the club's volunteers ensured a friendly smooth running event and we hope to see everyone at our next event in March 2011. Jack Wind

Multi-ActivityWeekend 1-3 October 2010

The Benalla and District Horse Driving Club will again be holding a Multi- Activity Weekend on Friday 1 - Sunday 3 October 2010. It will be held at the Oxley Recreational Reserve within the Milawa Wine and Gourmet Food Region. The event will be sponsored by John Gehrig Wines who are located 1 km from the reserve. The focus of the weekend will be training, skills development and socialising in a competition free environment. To this end Mike Thill will again be taking individual classes starting Friday afternoon. As they say in the classics, it is advisable to book early or be disappointed. Contact Bev Bresanello for details. Participants will be able to practice their dressage tests with Alison Graves and cones course driving supervised by Jack Wind. The weekend will be finished off with a 1 hour CDE on Sunday for those who want to put their newly learnt skills and techniques into practice. There will be a Friday Night BBQ and Saturday Night roast dinner and entertainment. Included in the weekend will be a how to drive a marathon obstacle session and a stewards training workshop.

Multi Activity Weekend Queens Birthday 12-13th June 2010

The Benalla Club ran another successful Queens Birthday event at the Oxley Recreational Reserve. Since the last event at the Reserve the Benalla Club have become associate members which has allowed us to construct 2 new Marathon Obstacles on the site. We would like to thank Graham Martin for his designs. Unfortunately we were too busy too take photos of the weekend . Some may say that was blessing. The weekend gave us fantastic weather. Crisp frosty mornings gave way to warm sunny afternoons making it very pleasant allround. We had 14 carriages paricipate in sessions, practice and training at their own pace. All size horses were represented from single shetlands, 14hh ponie pairs, 15hh single horse to near 17hh Clydesdale Cross pairs. Saturday kicked off with Dressage lessons conducted by Alison Graves. This was followed in the lunchtime break a training-presentation session run by retired Victorian Police Drum Major Mike Salmon with his new Clydesdale Hector. This session went down a treat with the crowd giving Hector and Mike rapturous applause. The afternoon was left open to practice cones and plod about the grounds in the glorious sunshine. The cones course included a false bridge made up of bollards and the now famous carpet which many paricipants handled very well. However, it is funny how the horses handled the bollard bridge better than the carpet. Early Saturday evening included a 3 meat roast dinner and plenty took the opportunity to go back for seconds and still managed to squeeze in dessert. Again we had a condensed presentation on hoof management, laminitis and foundering by Neville Wright. Neville had given presentations at a Farriers Conference in the USA earlier this year. Attendees were enthralled by the photos and types of cases Neville has dealt with over the years where he has had to help horses in rebuilding their feet. For some fun Sue Wind organised a short trivia quiz to finish off the evening. To put all the training of Saturday into practice a 1 hour CDE was run which 8 participants took up. The event was kept within the safety of the grounds and included Dressage, Cones and a mini marathon of Sections A, D and E. No prizes or ribbons were given as the weekend is about pratice and preparing everyone for the new season ahead. Everyone seem to enjoy themselves which made the hard work put in by club members worthwhile.

Victorian Carriage Driving Championships 6-8 March 2010

The Benalla Club was well represented at the Victorian Carriage Driving Championships held at Longwood. Bev Bresanello, Alison Graves, Jill Cawsey and Jill Jennings all competed. Congratulations to Alison on winning the Dressage in her class. Results can be seen on the ACDS website of which we have a link from this blog. Club members also helped out with the stewarding. Not many of us can remember such a wet carriage driving event. The local area of Longwood had at least 6 inches of rain over the 3 days of competition. Luckily most of the rain fell during the evenings, however this was no consolation for those trying to stay dry while camping.
One scary happening during the weekend was, Bev Bresanello while driving Blossom in the marathon, narrowly avoided being collected by a bolting Fresian Cross which had left its driver in an obstacle. Luckily the Fresian Cross only suffered a minor cut on its leg after being near scared to death by loose parts of its carriage clipping it on the back of the legs while it was running away and eventually crashing into a number of fences before stopping.

Benalla Dressage Day Saturday 20 March 2010

Again the Benalla and District Horse Driving Club is organising a dressage day as part of the series for competitors to qualify for the Victorian State Dressage Championship to be held on the 18th April at the Bendigo Show Grounds.
Our competition will be held at the Benalla Pony Club Grounds which is next door to the Benalla Racecourse on the Benalla - Shepparton Road. The event will be judged by Alison Graves and Virginia Jones.
Competitors will also be able to have a bit of fun on the cones course supervised by Jack Wind with Jim Adams keeping times.
The club is providing food. Free tea and coffee will also be available.

Jack