Advice for Drive Organisers
Location
Decide on a couple of suitable dates, and discuss them with the Secretary in plenty of time in case there is a clash with other events. Decide on a starting time. Will you offer food or drink afterwards? This is up to you. It’s not compulsory! The Secretary will put the date into the Newsletter. Give a contact phone number and a brief set of directions to the location for the newsletter, and write yourself a detailed set to read out over the phone in case of further enquiries.
You need plenty of level, dry space to park horseboxes, unload the horses and carriages, and put-to. Make sure the gates are wide enough to get the horseboxes in.
Decide on a route, and a format. Drives can be led, as a convoy. They can also be driven solo or in small groups. You can send them over a flagged route, or (as with Treasure or Scavenger Hunts, Poker rallies etc) give them a set of instructions and/or a map. If it’s the first time you’ve run a drive, you can ask the Committee to send someone to check out your route and planned activities.
Choose a drive leader (if you are not leading the drive yourself, or if it ’s not an individual effort like a Treasure Hunt). See Leading a Drive.
Choosing a route
5 miles is the least distance that people will expect on a drive. Anything up to about 12 miles is acceptable for a single drive. Obviously you must tell people when they enquire, how long the drive is, and whether there will be a stop for a picnic (or whatever) partway round.
Allow roughly one hour for every 5 miles, to accommodate halts for traffic, gates and walking spells, when estimating how long you will be out. If the scenery is very important to enjoyment of the drive, allow longer!
It helps if there is a shorter option for those with small, young or very unfit ponies and you should either give them a map with the alternatives marked or have a spare drive leader for that option.
If the local roads are very steep or the terrain is rough, consider choosing the solo/small group option.
On return
If you are planning to put up “fun” obstacles remember they may be attempted by inexperienced drivers and novice horses, so try to make them easy to knock down, rather than solid. There must be no more than 6 compulsory gates per obstacle, and all compulsory gates must be a minimum of 2 metres wide.
Don’t build them on banks, next to barbed wire fences, over tree roots or rabbit holes, or in water (except for straight crossings with a sound bottom).
They don’t have to be timed.