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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Tony Green
He's never had a riding lesson.
He's never sat on, let alone ridden a horse.
Yet today, just four-years after he took up carriage driving, he is one of the top Club-level carriage drivers in the whole of the South East.
This year his objective is to qualify for the National Horse Driving Trials at Windsor.
And in 2012 he's got his eye on a gold medal for carriage driving at the Olympics. Except, of course, carriage driving is not an Olympic sport.
He is Tony Green, 53, a Brighton-born chartered surveyor, an ex-horse widower and probably the most enthusiastic and determined carriage driver in the country.
If it was 300-years ago, he'd hold the record for driving stagecoaches between London and York whether Dick Turpin got in the way or not. The amazing thing is that seven-years ago, he knew nothing about horses.
"It was only when I met Denise, my wife, that things changed," he says. "She was a happy hacker. She had this pony, Ed, a hairy cob. She'd go out riding. I'd be left behind. I was a horse widower."
"Then quite by chance, I met this old boy who had a barn full of everything. Including a little two-wheel carriage. No springs. All covered in dust. A real bone shaker. He asked me if I wanted it. I said, Yes. Why not? He also gave me all the harness as well."
"It took me some time to work out how the harness went. Then we discovered, again by chance, that Ed had had some experience driving as well. We backed him into the carriage. No problem. The only problem was knowing what to do."
Tony then did what anybody would do in the circumstances.
"I started to look for an instructor. I found the Oaks Driving Club on the web. I rang them up. I went to see them and they introduced me to Katie Eyres, who is one of the best carriage drivers in the country - Six times she has been the indoor carriage driving supreme champion - as well as her mother, Val, who is training officer of the Club."
Since then, Tony hasn't looked back.
With Ed coming up to retirement, Val lent him one of her competition ponies, Prince, a Welsh Section B , which he describes as a "pocket rocket", for the indoor driving season. Now moving in to the summer, Tony drives Rosie, another of Val's competition ponies. Most weekends he usually spends driving out keeping Rosie fit for competitions. Saturdays, he covers around 10-miles in the country lanes in and around Waldron. His usual weekend passenger, who travels on the back of the carriage, is Denise.
For competitions, he has recruited Sarah Turner, 19, who lives in Piltdown, East Sussex and who is also training to be a driver.
Competition weekends Tony is competing all over the country. Already his
trophy cabinet is beginning to fill up.
"I am completely hooked," he says. "Absolutely. No question about it. I am
also very competitive. I'm passionate about doing whatever I turn my hand
to. If I enter a competition, I want to win."
"I also, I will admit, enjoy the social side. It's a good laugh. Carriage driving is something everybody can do. It is also something where everybody competes with everybody else. It's the complete mix."
"I say to people, If your kid has gone off to Uni and you're stuck with the pony, take it carriage driving. It's great fun. It needs patience. It needs a complete lack of nerves. To win you have to be brave. You have to take it to the edge. It's great fun."
"I think Denise is surprised at how enthusiastic I am about carriage driving and how determined I am to do well. Some people say it was all the result of a mid-life crisis. I say that if it was a mid-life crisis, I would have gone and got myself a motorbike."
Can't argue about that.
He's
a natural -
Katie Eyres Six times indoor carriage driving supreme champion
When I first met Tony, I thought, Oh My God, I wont be able to do anything with him. He didn't know anything. He didn't know anything about horses. He didn't know anything about carriage driving. He didn't even know the lingo. Once I said to him, Change the rein. He thought I meant, Go back in the lorry and get another set of reins.
But we persevered.
He's a great chap. Very committed to learning and, I suppose, betterment. It's not easy for him. He is not like people who are fully committed to the sport. He comes home from work of an evening and has to have a lesson. That can't always be easy for him. But he's always there.
He's got the right sort of balance between commitment and enjoyment. He's a natural
We've picked him up and polished off the rough edges. He's improved enormously since he first started. The ponies he drives now he couldn't have driven when he first started. His skill levels have improved. If he had all the time and was able to make the commitment, he could go the whole way. He could easily get in the British team.