Join the Carriage Driving Community

Ask anyone who has been in carriage driving for more than a year what they love most about the sport and you will receive, more often than not, the same answer: the people. The carriage driving community is extraordinarily welcoming — to complete beginners, to people with physical limitations that have led them away from riding, to older newcomers, to young families and to anyone with a genuine love of horses and the countryside.

Unlike some equestrian disciplines where there can be a gatekeeping culture, driving is genuinely open. The equipment can be borrowed to try. The horses can be the club's school ponies. The first event can be a gentle pleasure drive through a local park. There is no pressure to spend a fortune immediately, no need for prior equestrian experience, and no shortage of experienced hands willing to help a newcomer find their footing.

1. Find Your Nearest Club

   Use the BDS club finder (available on the BDS website) to identify the regional clubs closest to you. Most areas of the UK have at least one active affiliated club within reasonable travelling distance. Contact the club secretary — their details are on the BDS website — and introduce yourself. Driving club secretaries are unfailingly helpful to newcomers.

2. Attend a Club Event as a Visitor

   Before committing to membership, attend a club event as a visitor. Most clubs welcome visitors to their shows, group drives and open training days. Going along as a spectator first allows you to meet members, ask questions in a relaxed environment and get a feel for whether the club's culture and activities suit you. Virtually no one in the driving world is unwelcoming to a genuine newcomer.

3. Join BDS Membership

   Once you've visited a club and are confident carriage driving is for you, join the British Driving Society. Membership is typically £60–£80 per year for an individual, with lower rates for juniors and family memberships. Your membership card arrives within a few days, and access to the members' area of the BDS website — including the full trainer directory — is immediate on joining.

4. Book Your First Lesson

   Use the BDS trainer directory to find a qualified coach near you and book your first lesson. If you don't have your own horse, many trainers work from yards that have their own driving horses or can arrange a suitable horse for lessons. Your first session will be an introduction to the sport in a safe, supervised environment. Come with questions — your trainer will be happy to answer all of them.

5. Come to Your First Competition or Drive

   When you feel ready — and this might be after your first lesson, or after a year of regular driving — enter your first event. This could be a gentle club pleasure drive, an introductory dressage class or a local show. Whatever it is, you'll find the atmosphere is warm and supportive rather than intimidating. Every experienced driver at every event was once a nervous first-timer. The driving community does not forget this.

Every driving event you attend — from the smallest club show to Royal Windsor — depends entirely on volunteers. Behind every well-run hazard there is a steward who has given up their weekend to be there. Behind every dressage test is a scribe, a ring steward and a judge's writer. Behind every marathon course is a team who built the hazards from scratch.

Volunteering at events is one of the very best ways to learn the sport from the inside. Stewarding at a marathon hazard gives you a close-up, standing-still view of how the best drivers navigate the challenge — educational in a way that watching from a distance is not. Scribing for a dressage judge teaches you exactly how movement quality is assessed in a way no book can replicate.

Contact your regional club or the organiser of any event you'd like to support and offer your help. No experience is necessary — volunteers are trained on the day — and your contribution will be genuinely valued. Hazard building (typically done the day before an event) is particularly sociable, often ending with supper and a lot of storytelling from experienced drivers.