“Driving ponies is in our blood”

I have been driving ponies since I was a small boy. The first time I remember my dad putting the reins in my hand was driving a bow top waggon down the farm track getting ready for his annual pilgrimage to Appleby Fair when I was about 10 years old in about 1977.

In 1987 a friend and I took my gelding Hades Hill Oscar on a week long adventure with a little dray. Oscar was a very green 4 year old and I was a very green 19 year old but we somehow managed to work things out and a week later made it home unscathed.

Then in 1995 I drove two ponies (Hades Hill Oscar and Hades Hill Fenella) all the way from Cumbria to Devon on a nine month journey that would change my life forever.

Fast forward many years and in 2021, Flo and I took up the sport of carriage driving and the following year, Flo made it to the British Carriage Driving Junior Championships.

I have said this time and time again since then, “If there's any way to have more fun with a horse or pony than this - I'd like you to show me how”.

It’s been a goal of mine to take a team of Fells to the Windsor Horse Trials, and I have been slowly getting a team of ponies together. As Fred Pendlebury (3 times National Tandem Champion and Horse Pairs Champion) told me “It’s not the 4 sets of reins thats the hard bit - it’s the getting four ponies to work together”

In 2022, I managed to get 4 ponies to the Fell Pony Society Breed Show with a borrowed carriage. To be honest it was a bit messy round the edges with Hades Hill Perry (probably the best driving pony we’ve ever bred) dragging the other 3 ponies and carriage around the ring on her own - but it was the first time anyone had entered a team of Fells in the driving class in the history of the breed show so we were pretty chuffed to have got there.

What I learned the first year is that the best driving pony doesn’t necessarily make the best pony for a Team. As I write (August 2023) I have a mare with three siblings going steadily (1 black, 2 brown and a grey). Not the best match in colour, but it’s what I have right now to hand that will do the job. I’m working towards a team of 4 brothers (2 brown and 2 grey) which I hope to have going in 2025 when the two youngsters become 4 year olds. It’s a long slow game!

But that’s just the start of the story. You can’t just take a team of ponies to Windsor just like that. Carriage driving is a bit like Formula 1 motor racing - you have to work your way up the formulas starting as a Novice no matter what your experience.

First off you have to join a club and start driving at a local/regional level. After an initial assessment you begin as a Novice. We spent the first year competing with the North West Driving Club (NWDC) at day events consisting of a course with cones that you must drive through at a measured distance apart (with balls on that you get penalties for knocking off) and a couple of obstacles (typically gates or pairs of barrels that you have to go through in the correct order).

To progress from the Novice to the Open class, you must complete three two-day events. We had to travel to events in the North East and Yorkshire as the NWDC only run day events. These are often run in the grounds of stately homes and the first day will be a dressage test and obstacle course, and the second day a marathon which could be anything from 6 to 10 miles with 6 obstacles.

In July 2023 I managed to complete 2 events and start competing in the Intermediate class, and became Northern Inter-club Championship 2024 (Intermediate pony class).

In 2025 I will move up to the Open class and if that goes well I will hopefully will be assessed to drive a pair, and the following year I may be allowed to drive my Team, so it’s a 5 year plan to be able to drive my Team in competition.

Starting Out

Although I have been travelling with ponies since I was a boy, getting into the sport was a whole new thing. For a start, we needed a different kind of carriage with a breast collar rather than a working neck collar. I would recommend getting in touch with your nearest driving club and go and see what everyone else does. You will see all different shapes and sizes of horses and ponies (even shetlands) and meet people from all walks of life with a common interest of driving ponies.

One of best things about competing at club events is that it has raised my level of horsemanship, we have had to up our game. Competing full marathons requires a horse that is fit enough to trot top to 10 miles with obstacles along the way that you enter at a gallop so we exercise our ponies more regularly.

The driving community warmly welcomes new members. It’s not a sport you can do on your own with a horse and a saddle - it’s a team sport and everyone who is competing understands that and will be more than happy to help out (of course there is no prize money in competitions which may also be a factor!).

If you are just starting out, go along to a day event and chat to people about what harness and carriages they use. If you have a young experienced horse they may let you bring it along and long rein it around the course before you take the plunge and formally enter an event.

I have slowly come around to appreciating the dressage phase, having come to an understanding that as in music - you need to learn and practice your scales in order to be able to perform an improvised jazz solo. So it is the same with dressage - learning the movements will help you shave valuable seconds of the obstacles in the marathon, and when you times that by 6 (obstacles) that’s a massive time saving that can make the difference between places.

Fell Pony Society Breed Show 2023

It was great to get the team out again at the breed show . We were all a bit rusty but just getting there was an achievement for us. The team went brilliant around the lorry park and were looking good in the ring until Lucky (lead mare) got a little upset with the leader bars knocking into her hocks and started kicking back at Teddy (wheeler) and we were asked to leave the ring by the judge (which was fair enough).

I had a brand new Team whip which I hadn’t had time to learn how to use properly (there’s an awful lot of string going on there) which would have probably helped but I had my hands full of 4 sets of reins! So much to learn still. Onwards and upwards…

It's been an amazing couple of years for Flo and Hades Hill Perry, having only taken up the sport of carriage driving in 2022, they have twice made it to the British Juniors National Championships and are currently trining with the Young British Drivers Team and hoping to be selected to compete at the European Championships For Youth Driving in Flyinge, Sweden in July 2024.

Flo wins the Fell Pony Society Duke of Edinburgh Prize for Driving 2023

Tom wins the Northern Club Championships 2024 with Hades Hill Perry (Intermediate Pony)