Whoever thought carriage driving was a thing of the past clearly hasn’t hung out at the Huber Farm and Equestrian Centre in 70 Mile House.
“It went very well,” said Dennis Huber, who organized and officiated the races. “Everybody had a great time, the weather was fantastic. Things worked out really well.”
Around 14 people decided to compete in the two-day BS and Drive event starting on May 18 and ending with actual races the next day. The affair started with lessons and refreshers for new or dusty carriage racers to prepare them for two bigger events to happen later on in the summer.
“I worked [very hard] teaching, I was so busy doing that I didn’t have any time to see anything else,” said Huber when asked about what his highlights were.
He said that is was a fabulous opportunity to learn how to race or drive carriages.
The farm is equipped to handle all of the horses and people over the two-day period who came to learn the sport. The farm could actually fit roughly 10 more horses on the grounds.
“It’s not hard for us to do at all. Over the years we just got ourselves set up for it,” said Huber.
The number of people who participated in the event increased from previous years, with nine showing up to compete in Level 1 and four competed in Level 2.
The Level 1 winner was Heather Dolemo from Vernon and Level 2 was Joan B0urke from Quesnel. Both received ribbons to signify their success.
Huber said he was happy with spectators, though he said he couldn’t estimate how many came to watch the event.
“We had a pretty good selection of spectators here on Saturday and they were all asking questions and how they could get involved,” said Huber.
July 21 and 22 will be the next time carriage racing will happen at the Huber Farm for a two-day annual Combined Driving Event. The event draws drivers from all over the province and sometimes even Americans. According to Huber, it also brings an even bigger selection of spectators, with roughly around 300 to 400 people showing up.
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