About Us

A Bit About Me

I started helping out at my local riding school in Creetown when I was a kid, maybe 6/7 years old.  Mucking out, grooming, tacking up, leading in lessons, in return for a riding lesson once a week.  When the riding school closed down, my older sister decided to buy one of the horses, a Clydesdale x Thoroughbred, he was 18 years old at the time she bought him and we had him till the grand old age of 32 years.

In 1992 I met, fell in love and bought my first driving pony, Claymour Dougal.  He was a beautiful dapple liver chestnut Highland, with blond mane and tail, a stunner, and only 2 when I bought him.  In time, with the help of some very knowledgeable carriage driving friends, we trained him to ride and drive.  We did lots of different things from representing Scotland in the Celtic Challenge endurance championships in Wicklow, Ireland, show jumping, cross-country, long distance driving, and club driving events to transporting my niece on her wedding day and  taking "The Spirit of William Wallace" to his final resting place in Lanark for the William Wallace Society.

 

Then along came Holly, born in 2000, an Easter Monday "surprise" at the yard where I worked.  I bought Holly, and when she was old enough, trained her to ride and drive.  

She is the original 100% bomb proof Schoolmistress of a horse, even when she was young, she was the one everyone wanted to ride, and baby-sat the other young horses.  

As I was working full time at the riding school, it didn't leave much time for driving, but we kept our hand in every now and again with the odd wedding or birthday carriage ride.

 

With a change in my personal circumstances and a move to the Highlands, I set up Carrbridge Carriage Driving in 2016.  With the loss of Dougal at the age of 25, it meant Holly was on her own, so the then 2 year old Lola came to keep her company. 

Lola is now 8 years old and is my competition horse.  She loves her driving, especially if it involves cones or obstacles, but will turn her hoof to trail riding and hopefully this year, some ridden dressage and show-jumping.

 

It had always been my aspiration to gain a carriage driving qualification, so I set my mind to get a UKCC Coaching qualification in Carriage Driving, which I successfully achieved in 2018.

Although the main aspect of Carrbridge Carriage Driving was weddings and offering tourist carriage rides in the lovely surrounding of Carrbridge, with gaining my coaching qualifications, I've decided its time for the business to change direction.

With Holly's advancing years, she's now 22 and the addition of Benji, a cheeky little black cob, I've decided to concentrate more on the teaching/coaching side of the business, and with the formation of Carriage Driving Association UK and their Competence Standards Scheme, becoming an Accredited Coach with them was a no-brainer.

 

I'm looking forward to working with Carriage Driving UK, old clients and new, teaching you all the joys of carriage driving.