Racing to victory: Vicki Stevenson driving Naringalook Tim Tam in the marathon event.
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Northern Country Carriage Driving, based at Koonoomoo Recreation Reserve, scored big at the Australian Combined Driving Championships at Boorowa, NSW.
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Three club members attended the Easter long weekend event, which took place four and a half hours from Cobram.
Vicki Stevenson and Dawn Walter competed in the level one championship while Jenni Demaio competed in the level four event.
They were assisted by Diane Curtis, who groomed and took care of the animals.
Mrs Walter said the competition was made up of three events: dressage; a marathon of 18km, which included eight obstacles at the end that competitors had to navigate in the quickest time possible; and the cone event, in which competitors had to weave through 20 cones within the allocated time without hitting the cones.
Smooth ride: Dawn Walter driving Naringalook Monty in the dressage.
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Ms Stevenson came out victorious in her open pony class.
Mrs Walter won the intermediate class, as well as taking out the best cone driving for the competition and recording the fastest marathon out of 47 competitors who took part.
Mrs Walter was understandably ecstatic about her results and said a lot of training and preparation was involved to ensure the horses involved were event-ready.
“I have been doing it since I was 40, and I am 72 and I beat the young ones,” she said.
“It’s a challenge to get a pony or horse to get ready to compete, as they are all different.”
All three ponies that competed were bred by Ms Stevenson of Naringalook Welsh Pony Stud located in Naring.
Mrs Walter said competitors could take part in either two-wheel or four-wheel carriages, which are either home-made or imported.
Ms Stevens and Mrs Walter are both seasoned carriage driving professionals and recently won events at the Victorian Carriage Driving Championships in Melbourne.
As for anyone wishing to give carriage driving a go, Mrs Walter said the best place to start was at a local club.
“Go to the local clubs, there are many local clubs around in this area,” she said.
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