Alison Osborne and her super, nippy pair of ponies, Osborne Refrigerators Woody & Buzz, finished a fantastic week in the Osborne Refrigerators Double Harness Scurry, taking the overall Championship on Saturday night at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
Alison not only qualified both her pairs of ponies for the final but won every single class this year at HOYS in the process! Woody & Buzz competed in the small section and Chip & Dale in the large.
10 pairs of ponies across the large and small sections qualified across three days at HOYS to battle it out in the most prestigious final of Scurry driving.
Woody & Buzz were seventh to go, finishing clear on a breath-taking 42.46 seconds. A handful of competitors took the risky decision to go inside the seventh element to save precious time, but even going wide, Alison was still just over two seconds quicker than second placed Jemma Millman with Tigger & Owl; a team who have been on the best of form in the lead up to HOYS. They finished on 44.79 seconds tonight.
Sally Edwards and The Marlow Saddlers L 4 Leather came in a close third on 45.05 seconds.
Woody & Buzz have only been together for a month, as Buzz’s usual partner sustained an injury. However, Alison has had both ponies from three-year-olds; Woody is now eight and Buzz is 11.
Alison said: “I’m just over the moon; they’ve been absolutely brilliant all week.
“We had 46 seconds in the first class, then 44 – I never thought we could do 42 – what a week!
“It was a brilliant course tonight; twisty and technical with stretches to gallop.”
Woody & Buzz will now go hacking for 10 days to calm down and relax, and then go out until Christmas. The pair have a big responsibility of pulling Santa’s sleigh at their local charity event in December. They’ll then come back in around March to get started on the 2020 Scurry season.
Alison finished fifth with her large pair, Chip & Dale, after just knocking the first element.
Osborne Refrigerators Ltd., established in Bognor Regis in 1960, is a world leader of point of sale food, beverage, milk & wine coolers which are today distributed to all the leading soft drink, beer and wine producers. Osborne Refrigerators can be found in Europe, the Far East, USA, South America and Australasia.
