Team Robinson Review: Lessons Learnt at Ashfields National Driving Trials
Written by Jackie Robinson
The first British Carriagedriving National outdoor event at Ashfields provided our team with the perfect opportunity to assess our progress and identify exactly where we need to improve for the rest of the season.
Every outing offers valuable takeaways, and this event certainly delivered its fair share of learning moments for our fantastic team!
Day 1: Arrival & Settling In
We arrived at Ashfields and got the camp set up without a hitch. With the sun shining, we headed out for a drive around the dressage arenas to run through our test. However, within just 20 minutes, my horse, Topspeed Fresno, was really feeling the heat. It was a stressful moment but we continued to work quietly and finished on a good note with lots of walking , but it left me incredibly grateful that it wasn’t competition day yet!
Day 2: Dressage & Cones Phase
Our dressage afternoon timeslot of 15:09 gave us plenty of time to polish and present a lovely turnout. As a finishing touch, I even put the lamps on my 3-phase Bennington carriage, even though they weren’t strictly required.
The dressage went much better than expected. While Topspeed Fresno was still a bit hurried, he felt nowhere near as tense as the day before. We aren’t quite matching our relaxed work at home yet, but I’m optimistic that as the season progresses, his competition performance will mirror his home training.
Cones Phase
Following a fantastic warmup where Topspeed Fresno went beautifully, we headed into the cones course feeling confident. But as the saying goes with our team: if anything is going to happen, it happens to us!
As we approached Cone 5, one of my carriage lamps bounced out of its holder, landed in the footwell by my feet, and then bounced straight out onto the ground.
The sudden noise and movement understandably spooked Topspeed Fresno, who shot forward, taking out a few cones in the process. My immediate priority was to keep calm, reassure him, and regain composure.
Thankfully, it worked. He focused back on the task, and Sian Ideson quickly removed the second lamp just in case! We knocked a few more balls due to the shaky line, but we finished the course safely with a massive sigh of relief.
Important Lesson Learnt:
Always secure your lamps with tape and tie them down securely with a lace. If your lamps are rattling at all, they aren’t secure—remove them immediately!
Day 3: The Marathon Phase
The marathon is our absolute favourite phase, and the team felt well-rehearsed and excited to get going. Overall, we had a fantastic marathon with some solid times. We were held up on the course a couple of times, which was a new experience for us, but it was excellent practice.
We have spent time learning exactly how marathon timing works, emphasizing the critical importance of the green card, agreeing on start/finish times, and tracking any hold-ups to relay to the stewards.
Groom of the day award goes to :-
Mistakes happen, but Sian was absolutely on top of it. At the start of Phase A, she brilliantly spotted that the official had written the wrong start time on our card—marking us 2 minutes earlier than scheduled. She had the error corrected immediately. A year ago, she wouldn’t have noticed that, and would have signed it off. I am incredibly proud of her eagle-eyed focus!
Moving Forward
With Topspeed Fresno finding his rhythm and Sian keeping everything on track on the carriage, we have made massive improvements since last season. Despite the unexpected drama, we came away with smiles, safety, and a much tighter team dynamic. We are incredibly excited to see what the rest of the season unfolds for us!
This event was superbly organised very friendly and everyone left with smiles