Benalla Show 14-15 October 2011

The Benalla and District Horse Driving Club will again be sponsoring the harness classes at the Benalla Show. The harness classes are scheduled for Friday.

Oxley Weekend 23-25 September 2011

The photo is of Mike Salmon instructing drivers on the patterns he wants them to drive to music. This before they walk the patterns on the dressage arena. They then harnessed up and practised with their horses before bring it altogether with music blazing.

The Benalla and District Horse Driving Club have been running the multi activity weekend for around 8 years and believe 2011 has been the best event yet. We have been fortunate with everything running so smoothly (touch wood). It couldn't have gone any better. The Oxley Reserve provides a rustic and relaxing setting which everyone enjoys. The weather was fanastic in the high teens with little cloud cover and just enough breeze to keep the flies away.



Mike Thill's lessons were all booked out with a waiting list. All drivers were given a chance to enhance their skills. It was good to see Angela and Joanne from the North Eastern Pleasure Harness Club from lessons with Mike. Ros Knight a newcomer to the Benalla Club took her Clydie Henry for his first lesson. Again we had Shetlands to Clydesdales, singles pairs and teams all coming under the tutelage of Mike, with everyone coming away benefiting from his knowledge and expertise.



Friday night Don Cunningham sizzled the sausages to perfection while Ros Knight added the surprise of stuffed potatoes which went down a treat.



The cones course was open all weekend with timed runs between 1.30-3.50pm. This included the King or Queen of the Cones competition which attracted about 12 timed runs with the ultimate winner being Alison Graves.



Saturday night saw a hearty 2 course meal in the club house catering for 35 people. This followed by an entertaining half hour talk given by former Household Cavalryman and Policemen Mike Salmon describing his life in leather boots. You had to be there to know what we are talking about.



Sunday proved that more people should go on more navigation drives. We had a healthy 11 carriages go out on the navigation drive which included some of the side streets of Oxley. Oxley is a small village of around 2-300 people. However, not everyone went through the same streets as they picked their way through the clues crossing the main road which wasn't meant to be passed. Nearly half the drivers got lost but all seem to have fun. The eventual winner was Karen Rogers and her team.



The highlight of the weekend came at the end. We had seven participans in the carriage driving to music training session conducted by Mike Salmon. The session took an hour and a power of concentration by humans and horses alike. It was based on the principles developed over 450 years in preparing horses for battle. We had Karen Rogers Pony Team, Bruce Hammond's Pony Pair mixing it with single ponies creating patterns in rhythm with the music. To provide such skill and ultimately entertainment in such a short space of time was a fantastic achievement by all. The end result was like watching formations in a military tattoo.