MEET THE TEAM
Discover the names and faces behind The Carriage Commentator
Welcome to The Carriage Commentator – The Voice of Driving.
The Carriage Commentator is owned and managed by the ‘Voice of Driving’ Sarah Dance. It is the platform for Sarah’s commentating and writing, and a subscription website for driving enthusiasts with many hundreds of articles, films, podcasts, blogs, reports and features covering all areas of driving.
The Carriage Commentator website was co-founded in 2018 with Minta Winn who is the contributing editor. There is also a team of experts who regularly contribute.
For an informative, entertaining and unique experience, from a voice and team that you can trust, sign up to The Carriage Commentator today!
owner & editor in chief
Sarah Dance has had a lifelong involvement with horses and carriage driving. She is best known as the ‘Voice of Driving’, as a live event and broadcast commentator at major shows and championships, including for FEI TV and ClipMyHorse. She also moderates conferences, compares events and is the designated writer for FEI Driving. She was the face of the Reading Carriage Sales which she ran for nearly 20 years.
On top of helming The Carriage Commentator website, Sarah is the Royal Windsor Horse Show Chief Driving Steward, District Commissioner of the Vine Pony Club, and mother of two teenage daughters who also ride and drive. Her husband Richard is the Managing Director of auctioneers Thimbleby & Shorland.
Raised on a farm in Aberdeenshire, Sarah won the British Driving Society’s Harpers & Queen scholarship and was Scottish Junior Whip champion on several occasions. She competed regularly in driving and riding, and was a member of the Aberdeenshire Pony Club. Before going to London University, she spent a gap year at Coaching in Bavaria. She later completed a writing diploma at Oxford University and was a qualified Chartered Surveyor. Her mother is Jane MacInnes LHHI and stepfather is Ewan MacInnes, who are based at the Maryculter Carriage Driving Centre. On her father’s side, Sarah is related to the coaching legend, Sylvia Brocklebank.
The family live in Hampshire with six horses, two dogs and many hens, ducks, guinea fowl and pheasants.
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Minta Winn is an international coach, judge and consultant based at the carriage driving centre Ashfields in Essex, where she teaches a range of pupils of all standards. She specialises in helping those with disabilities or problem horses. She is a skilled craftswoman and also runs a leather working business having trained as a teenager in Ireland. She is President of the Tandem Club and holds the LHHI and UKCC level 3 qualifications.
Born in the south of England but raised in rural Ireland, Minta was a protegee of Sallie Walrond and won many national showing and driving trials titles, with singles, pairs, tandems and teams. She has produced driving horses and turnouts for herself and clients, co-authored ‘Learning to Carriage Drive – A Step by Step Guide’ and for 10 years ran the driving centre at Dounhurst in Sussex. She is currently fronting the new British Carriagedriving training films. For more about Minta – http://mintawinn.co.uk/about.html
Louise Cornish BVMS Cert EP Cert AVP MRCVS runs the Dick Vet Equine Practice at the University of Edinburgh, which combines looking after a wide range of equine patients with teaching final year students about ambulatory medicine and surgery. She spent much of her childhood at driving events with her mother and won the Joan Northern BDS scholarship. Her professional interests include equine reproduction, dentistry and geriatric care. Louise graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1998 and is The CC’s resident vet.
Rob is one of the best known harness makers and craftsmen in the business. He has been creating and crafting harness, saddlery and leather goods for over 50 years and trained under Keith Luxford then at Bridleways in Guildford. He lived in Wales for many years but is now based Southern Ireland where he produces the ‘Harness Maker’s Workshop’ films for The CC and was featured in our Podcasts#61 &62 – The Harness Maker. Rob was the first to produce the leather spares ‘roll’ – an idea from the late Prince Philip – and he is an advocate of traditional crafts, and enjoys sharing his skills and wisdom with others.
Dr Emma Golding is an international Para Driver who has represented Ireland on many occasions, including at the FEI World Para Driving Championships. She recently completed her PhD in the role of the owner in Endocrinopathic Laminitis and works for the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin in Equine Clinical Studies, Diagnostic Imaging and Anaesthesia. Her wonderful pony Mossy, a Lipizzaner with one eye, has joined the ranks of equine superstars with a voice as he now has his own column (and fan club) on The CC!
Emily and her family are based in Wales and she has driven for many years. She is a keen volunteer and until recently was the British Driving Society’s Junior Drivers’ Commissioner. She now represents Great Britain as a Para Driver and is passionate about promoting driving as an all-inclusive sport. Emily studied at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and now reports on events for The CC and has written features about the Welsh breeds.
Debbie has been a lifelong carriage driver and horsewoman whose family were key to the development of sport driving in the UK. As Debbie Cowdery she was a skilled horse and pony team driver and competitor. She has lectured on social media and marketing and currently works for Oak Trees Animal Charity in the Lake District. She has three adult sons and manages social media and marketing for The CC.
Kirstin manages The CC website and redesign. She is a keen equestrian and her two teenage children ride too. She studied photography at Napier University in Edinburgh but has also lived in Canada and still enjoys travelling. Her business Woodland Studio specialises in working with small & medium businesses offering a one-to-one, personalised design and development service. https://woodlandstudio.co.uk/
