Max Pearce Driving Workshop in QLD

Carriage Driving Queensland, through Warwick and District Carriage Driving Club Inc., offered a seminar workshop weekend for carriage drivers, officials and potential officials on Saturday 7 & Sunday 8 March 2015 at “Strongfield Stud‟ Southbrook to tune up people’s skills and understandings of the FEI sport of Competitive Carriage Driving. The workshop facilitator for the weekend was National Carriage Driving Chair, Max Pearce who is an EA/NCAS Level 2 Coach & Coach Educator and EA Carriage Driving official. Max is based in Goulburn, NSW.

The content discussed over the weekend covered EA/FEI carriage driving (combined driving) and included the technical aspects of competition carriage driving and training, a review of current FEI rule interpretations and what judges are looking for, an understanding of course design and driving safely and accurately at competitions.

Four master classes were held on the Saturday morning which included:
- Lunging and long reining to develop a horse’s mouth and improve performance in competition
- Dressage
- Cones
- Marathon

The two days covered a mix of group and individual lessons and was well supported with 18 drivers receiving individual lessons and twelve fence sitters enjoying the vast amount of knowledge and hands on advice Max shared with everyone. The club PA system gave the talks a professional edge and certainly assisted the large group of attendees enjoy the information on offer.
The mood over the weekend was enthusiastic and vibrant.

Attendees came from as far away as Kingaroy, Clermont, Beaudesert, Roma, Gatton, Helidon, Mount Walker, and Inverell in NSW, as well as Toowoomba and the Darling Downs. Many of the campers arrived Friday afternoon to settle in. The new club showers enhanced the camping experience and were a much appreciated addition to the club facilities. Saturday night everyone went to the Southbrook pub for the evening meal where there was more talk about horses, harness and carriage driving.  

It was great to see drivers and equines of all sizes and capabilities embracing the opportunity to learn and improve over the two days. Max was congratulatory on people’s motivation to take new ideas and concepts on board. I’m sure everyone went away with some valuable knowledge and newly learnt skills to practice with their equines.

Sincere thanks must be extended to Danny for his work behind the BBQ, Eugen Dillmann for his effort in the preparation of the grounds, all club members who helped set up and pull down the equipment and assisted with demonstrations, Carriage Driving Queensland for providing the funding support to allow such a great weekend to happen (this funding enabled drivers to enjoy a much subsidised and affordable cost) and of course Max Pearce for travelling up here to share his knowledge and skills with us. Max went back to NSW with a congratulatory and very positive opinion of what Warwick Club and Equestrian Qld is achieving here for carriage driving – his praise was simple... “Keep up the great work!”