For some years I watched Coaching rather enviously from the sidelines. I’d had a team of Cobs for some time, drove four-in-hand and played a coach horn but thought of it as a rather elite and exclusive side of carriage driving and it might be difficult to find a way in. Certainly, every coaching team has a dynamic leader who has either bought a Coach or put together a team of horses, but the size of the operation is such that they can’t do it on their own. Every coaching turnout needs the whip, at least two grooms, a lorry driver, a harness cleaner, a person to polish the Coach, grease turntables and oil wheels, some passengers, ground support, probably a caterer and possibly a horn player. I have found that there are times when every team is short of help for some reason and often to become involved, it’s just a question of gaining appropriate horse and carriage experience then introducing oneself to a local coaching team. For me, my horn playing experience alongside my general driving background has been the ticket that allowed me to get involved and enjoy handling big carriages and teams of horses.

Any coaching enthusiast will be aware that of all the showing classes, the competition at the Royal Windsor Horse Show is the prestigious one that everybody would like to win. This year there were ten entries, and they all came forward on the day. It proved to be a manageable number both on the drive and in the ring.

There were eight Private Coaches –

Mr Max White driving Paul White and Haydn Webb’s chestnut Gelderlanders to a green Holland and Holland Drag:

Mr Daniel Williams driving his black Gelderlanders to his green Fenix Drag:

Mr Sonny Hillier driving his Friesian team to a maroon Holland and Holland Drag:

Mr Peter Gibson driving a grey team to the Harris family’s Holland and Holland Drag:

Mr Leigh Phillips driving his cob team to an English provincial Coach he has rescued and restored:

Mr Geoff Dudley driving a grey team to a Holland and Holland Drag he purchased from a Reading Carriage Sale and has restored beautifully himself:

Royal Mews Head Coachman Matthew Powers driving a team of Windsor Greys to a blue Whitlock Drag:

Bradley Jagger, Coachman, driving a team of bays to the Royal Whitlock Drag.

There were two entries forward in the Road Coach class.

Mr Russell Hand brought his Tantivy Road Coach with a team of Warmbloods:

Mr David West, well known for many years as the ‘Harrods’ coachman, driving his own ‘St David’ Road Coach with a mixed team of blacks and a grey.

There were no entries in the Regimental Coach division this year.

The judge for the class was Mr David Freedman, the well known Canadian harness maker and current overseer of the coaching classes at the Toronto Winter Fair each November.  The judge for the ‘Best Turned Out’ prize was Mr Mark Broadbent, the President of the Coaching Club. The judge for the best performance on the coach horn was Mr Richard Nicoll from the USA, long time head man at the Colonial Williamsburg living history museum.

The Coaches were allowed onto the showground in the Home Park Private area again this year to unbox and prepare for their preliminary judging.  This works very well, bringing all the competitors together for the judges and ruling out both the rather vicious sleeping policemen on Romney Lock Road and the awkward road crossing into the Town Gate. It means that once the initial inspection is complete the Coaches can step off straight onto the park roads.

This year Mr Martin Horler, a groom on the Williams family’s green Drag blew the call for the start and the line moved off. The judge had already been taken on his way to watch the line on some early corners so wasn’t there to watch and see which coaches could pull away on soft ground with a load. It is a time when all four horses must be asked to work together and can be a good indication of later results.

The drive around the park was damp! The weather was not particularly kind but better for the horses than coaching on a really hot day. The judge had the opportunity to watch the way the whips handled their teams on some tight turns and steep places. The horn playing was judged on the ascent on the Long Walk. The Coaches went out on to the Old Windsor Road for a little way and back into the park by the Shaw Farm gate so almost all of the drive was enjoyed on the roads of the private area of the Home Park. The final descent back to the showground was on a steep place where two Coaches took the choice to demonstrate skilful use of their drag shoe.

A brief drinks stop surrounded by enthusiastic spectators gave everyone the chance to shed raincoats and stow umbrellas before the turnouts went forward to the Castle Arena for the final line up.  The time in the ring ran smoothly and quickly. David Freedman proved to be an effective and decisive judge, giving the stewards a clear order to pull in his chosen prize winners.

The Drag class went to Max White with his super chestnut team and the Road Coach class was won by David West driving his ‘St David’ Coach, a genuine working Road Coach in its role offering drives in the Woburn Deer Park drawn by his perfectly mannered working horses.  The Show Championship was awarded to Max White.

Mr Mark Broadbent presented his Best Turned Out award and it went rather appropriately to the Royal turnout driven by Matthew Powers, Head Coachman, driving the ex Royal Artillery Whitlock Drag finished in Sir John Miller’s blue livery, now one of two kept at the Royal Mews.

After some discussion regarding eligibility, (having been the Ring Guard at the show for the past twenty years, although that has never been raised before and I have won it a few times in the past!) the judge was adamant that the coach horn performance of the guard on the ‘St David’ Coach was the best and it was announced that I was to be given the prize.

The organisers must be congratulated on the way that this year’s Windsor Coaching Marathon was run and it must be considered a great success.