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I was recently the lucky winner of a half day carriage driving course in a competition run jointly by Stephanie Dale of Learn to Carriage Drive.co.uk and Carriage Driving magazine.

This was an amazing experience and I was very glad that I had bought the rest of the weekend to

consolidate and deepen my learning.   Stephanie’s yard is situated in the beautiful scenery of the Cotswolds, a short drive from the ancient Roman Fosse Way, which is an ideal location for carriage driving.

 

She introduced me to her friendly well trained cobs. I could see she had a strong rapport with each horse and understood their individual strengths and needs.

Stephanie is a proponent of natural horsemanship which entails developing mutual respect and sensitive communication between horse and human. This approach has resulted in horses who are willing and responsive to work with and very pleasant company when at rest.

Over the course of the weekend I had the opportunity to handle each horse in different ways from ‘join up’ and grooming to harnessing and driving.   Stephanie teaches the traditional English Coachman method of carriage driving as recommended by the British Driving Society. She used a selection of exercises to familiarise me with the technique before getting me to try this out with a real horse and carriage in a field. Roger, her patient Clydesdale Cross, responded to the smallest aid and soon let me know when I was sending him the wrong way. 

Stephanie is a very thorough and professional trainer and tailors her training to the interests and ability of her students. We covered health and safety, communication by voice, body language and rein handling and preparation of the equipment and the horse.

We went out on long drives down the Fosse Way and then drove along quiet country lanes through beautiful stone built Cotswold villages. This was a timeless experience connecting me to the

countryside and the horse in a new and very satisfying way.   Stephanie encouraged me to do most of the driving but kept a very close eye on what I was doing and intervened whenever necessary.

I also tried ‘back stepping’ ~ acting as a counterweight by standing on the back of the carriage and leaning from side to side to balance the carriage. 

I was a complete novice on Saturday morning but by Sunday evening I had learned the basics of an exciting and very rewarding sport. This has been a weekend to remember and I cannot recommend Stephanie and her horses highly enough. Pippa Teall

Stephanie and Issy with Gigi at Barbury Castle, Wiltshire, Sponsored Drive

Heather from Lincolnshire came for carriage driving training in the English coaching method in order to take the Road Driving (safety) Test. Here is a copy of her e-mail following her test:

HI Stephanie

Just to let you know I managed to PASS my road driving test last
weekend.....in fact the examiner wrote a comment at the end, very
competently driven and well presented..!!!!!

I must to say a lot of what you taught me must have stuck, as I did feel
very at ease doing all the harnessing up and adjustments, and explaining why
things worked the way they did. As for the test drive itself all went well
and nothing seemed to go very wrong, and I remembered to do all the hand
signals correctly, AND keep a look out behind!!!!!

I had been driving almost every day the previous week, (coachman style of
course, which is now almost instinctive), mostly my own pony but also out on
the roads a couple of times with the pony I used for the test.  It was a lot
of hard work but I really enjoyed the test day, and  THANKS to your teaching
I am a lot more knowledgable about everything, and even managed to help a
few others who were unsure too.


I will keep driving the way you taught me, and hope to have improved a lot
more by the end of the summer.  Even my 'team of helpers' said how different
I seemed to be now with a lot more confidence, so again a big thank you for
all you help and advice.


Hope to see you again sometime,

Heather

                                     01666 505051 or 07977 480144

                                 info@cotswoldcarriagedriving.co.uk

 

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