4/8/18 – Cones and Dressage Day
Despite not having the help of Michelle Peters who could not attend, we went ahead with Maggie McMullen taking charge of the dressage arena and Peter Williams coming up with a very testing but enjoyable cones course.
The 6 turnouts that attended were shared between whips and grooms with a lot of swapping going on and a lot of learning, despite the very high temperature.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and it was lovely to see a couple of new faces joining us including Peter Moore, who runs his own carriage maintenance business and was given a spin around both dressage and cones by Peter Williams.
Many thanks for everyone’s help with the day.  We will have more of these events as the United Counties show ground is an ideal venue with a permanent ring and plenty of hard standing.

29/9/19 – Pendine Drive
The sun shone, unlike last year’s torrential rain, and 7 turnouts came along to enjoy the 7 miles of beach at Pendine.  As usual the day was organised by Dee and everything ran very smoothly.  Our turnouts travelled varying distances on the wonderful sands and congratulations must go to Rachel Royle and Luke who drove to the very far end of the beach, ate their picnic and then arrived back with her lovely mare looking ready to do it all again.
The members of public love to see the turnouts and the ‘most popular’ prize must go to Jeanette Lee with her cheeky pair of coloured miniature Shetlands.  What a lovely sight they make.
The drive is always held as a charity event and this year we managed to raise £80 which was sent to Wales Air Ambulance.

7/10/19 – Drive, Cones and Cross Country
Hosted by Toby and Sue Jackson
Six turnouts enjoyed beautiful weather which preceded and continued all day long to enhance a wonderful day of fun, laughter, good fellowship – delicious and homemade sandwiches, cakes and assorted delicacies – with of cours,e excellent DRIVING all day long.
A 7 mile road drive thro’ delightful quiet lanes followed the glorious River Tefi valley passing working water mills, delightful churches and old stone bridges. The Autumn colouring enhanced by the warm delightful sunshine brought smiles to all faces.
On their return, most went on to venture thro’ the X Country course which covering some 25 acres of undulating pasture set with a range of Tricky Dicky difficulties including slopes, obstacles, a river splash, undulations,- up hills and down dales!
Some just enjoyed roaming round the land, all had a crack at a 20 gate Cone course – all great fun testing Whips, grooms and their equines.

2/12/18 – Bring and Buy Sale
The idea of a Bring and Buy was a new one and although the thirteen people who attended had a lovely social time eating cake and cawl in the kitchen, there was not a lot of buying going on.  It was, however, an opportunity to share and learn and everyone joined in the discussions – MOST of which were about driving.
There was a ‘swear box’ for those who slipped up and mentioned two ‘prohibited’ topics and between us we managed to raise £26.52 which was sent as a donation to the Sanders Watney Trust – always a good charity for us to support.  Maybe if we repeat the day we’ll increase the remit or combine it with something else.

29/12/18 – Cobweb Drive at Llansteffan
The weather wasn’t the best to take advantage of the great views of the Towy estuary, Pendine and the Gower but it remained just about dry for the three turnouts who came to blow away those Xmas cobwebs.  There was a choich of routes for the circular drive and a stop halfway round for a hot drink, cake and scones at Llanybri.  The ponies and horse were made comfortable in the barn while the whips and grooms joined those ‘following on foot’ for a bit of social time.  Nikki Laing’s horse seemed to find the number of drains and manhole covers a challenge and the narrow main street of Llansteffan was a new experience for him too.  Angela’s lovely pony Ben bounced his way round – probably the finding the hills no problem as he’s so fit from his indoor trialing. And Young Sian Rooke drove Anthea’s very cheeky Merlin for the entire route.  Well done all – we could well make it a permanent fixture in the calendar.

Photos can be found at West Wales Area 36 .