BDS JUNIOR RALLY THURSDAY 29th MAY 08

At last we have sunshine! although it was still a little breezy, a typical day on the Isle of Wight! We had a great turnout though for the rally with 12 children attending. Two of the children had previously came to our BDS Fun day to experience the thrill of taking the reins and having a go at carriage driving, they must have enjoyed it as they came back for more! We also had in attendance an ex-jockey with her two daughters who had a great time and mum had a little go at long reining too...

Our morning consisted of practising harnessing up and long reining around obstacles. We all returned to the yard for drinks and a B.B.Q

Thank you to Margaret for the use of her ponies and farm and thank you to all the children who attended. We hope to see you at our next Rally on Thursday 14th August, 10am till 3pm.

BDS FUN DAY SATURDAY 24th MAY 08

This event was a day to enjoy carriage driving in a relaxed atmosphere and we invited the public to come and have a go!

We had a course of cones, a series of obstacles and a ten acre field to drive around. BDS members were invited to bring there own turnouts and have a go free of charge, members of the public were invited to come along and give Malcolm of Arlow a test drive under the area commissioners supervision.

The day started at 10.30am and we finished at 3.30pm we took lots of pictures and have posted them on the gallery for you to look at, we also sold tea, coffee and cakes to go along with the B.B.Q. From the feedback we have received everyone who attended had a wonderful time.

We would like to thank all involved with the day, Margaret for the use of her farm and pony "Malcolm of Arlow", thank you to Sylvie for your help as groom you are much appreciated, Pauline thank you for your baking efforts, Thank you Brian for your obstacles and help, and finally a big thank you to everyone who made an effort to turn up and HAVE A GO!!!

SOUTHERN AREA MEETING

The well attended southern area meeting was held at West Stoke Village Hall, Chichester, West Sussex on November 24th 2007

Its was arranged by the new West Sussex AC Colin Hurd. Interest in BDS Trec was again obvious with good suggestion for the new guidelines coming forward and the idea of regional finals rather than a National one was keenly discussed.

JUNIOR TRAINING SESSION

One of our best attended events of 2007 was the junior training session and party for all on the day after Boxing day. There were 9 juniors of varying ages and five adults which was very encouraging.  The event was organised by Jo Dunn with Richard Powell and Gail Yardley as her assistants.  Thanks to all for making such an interesting event.  After rein handling, long reining and a quiz about naming the parts of a pony, they were all taken out on a drive in two traps with our Shetlands.  All came across as being very enthusiastic so we hope they will all come to our next session at half term on Thursday February 21st at 10m till 1pm.