Bennington Carriages

03/09/2026

Dressage day,
Duke danced his socks off for me, so proud and I absolutely loved it, smiling all the way. It was definitely our best test of the year with a score of 60.43, with a minor canter error. The arena and atmosphere was world class, such an absolute privilege.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported us and Bert Sheffield for all your ridden and driven coaching.

To finish an absolute brilliant day, Nations night, a great time had by all.

Lots to of obstacle walking tomorrow. Signing out, Wendy, Sue, Joss and Duke. 🇬🇧

02/09/2026

Trot up day and opening ceremony.

It was a great honour to wear our team 🇬🇧 kit and wear my 🇬🇧 badge again.

The afternoon followed with a timed arena familiarisation, giving Duke the chance to see all the judges boxes and big screen.
This evening was the opening ceremony, a feast of traditional carriages, horses, music and food.

Tomorrow is our dressage day at 2.08 pm, our biggest highlight of our career so far. Thank you again for all your support from Team Bennington. Enjoy the pictures.

01/09/2026

World Championships arrival day 🇩🇪
All arrived at the showground and Team GB all set up, looking very smart with all the 🇬🇧 flags.
A massive thank you to the whole GB support team, we still can’t believe we are here.
Today Duke has been out grazing, checking out the area and felt so special to drive in the 1972 Olympic stadium this afternoon.
Thank you again everyone for all your good wishes.
More pictures to follow tomorrow.
From Team Bennington

01/09/2026

The journey to Munich 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇩🇪
Our journey started on Saturday, leaving Long Bennington to Dover, across to Calais, with our first stop over just outside Calais. 2 more over night stops, arriving at the showground at 8 am this morning.
Duke has travelled so well, now the preparations start.
Here are a few photos we took, thank you for following our journey, from Team Bennington.

01/09/2026

Team Bennington are honoured to be competing this week at the Single Horse FEI Driving World Championships this week in Munich 🇩🇪 🇬🇧

We started the journey on Saturday and now arrived at the showground. Duke has been a super star and we are ready to start our preparations, trot up tomorrow.

Thank you for all your support and we will be sharing updates, with lots of pictures during the week.
Sue, Wendy, Joss and Duke.

A special moment for Sue Mart and A Duke of Bennington as they take on their first World Championships together. Duke a KWPN × Hanoverian joins Sue on the international stage, although she has previously competed with her single pony Zac (Steppers Viceroy).

Many in the carriage driving world know Sue from Bennington Carriages, but also for her dedication as a coach and inspiring new drivers through her Try Driving sessions.

Supporting Sue at the Championships are Wendy and Joss Smith, with heartfelt thanks to the home team whose commitment helped turn this goal into reality.

Sue shared how excited they all are for the days ahead: “ We are all so proud and honoured to be representing our country.”

Bennington Carriages
Sue Mart
Wendy Palfrey
Joss Smith

28/08/2026

A very special visitor at Bennington Carriages!
This adorable donkey came to visit us at Bennington for a fitting of his Zilco harness, and we think you’ll agree, he is just absolutely gorgeous!

To achieve the perfect fit, we used a mixture of sizes from the Zilco range, demonstrating how important the correct fit is for your horse, pony or donkey’s comfort and well-being.

If you are looking for expert advice or need your harness checked for the perfect fit, get in touch, we would be delighted to help!

21/08/2026

Behind the scenes at Bennington this week!

Our team have been busy creating new carriages, getting them ready to be enjoyed by their new owners.

Great to see some rain and cooler weather so we can get out and about carriage driving.

Have a super weekend everyone and happy driving from Team Bennington.

18/08/2026

Congratulations again to Sophia, her fantastic team and not forgotting her super pony Dream on 🥇 🇬🇧. Sophia sent Team Bennington these lovely words, whilst she was travelling home.

“An amazing week at the European championships in Romania! After 4 years in the making, and a strong partnership the end goal was insight. Bennington are such a supportive team from the design of the Bennington Spirit to the end product. It handled the ground well with the added extra of turntable brake which proved crucial for the challenging days”

17/08/2026

Congratulations to the British Young Drivers and support team who all competed at the FEI Driving European Championships this weekend in Romania.

A big shout out to Sophia Routledge driving Dream to her Bennington Spirit in all three phases winning 🥇 individual gold in the U25 P1.
A massive achievement and congratulations to you all from all Bennington Carriages

4th place for Great Britain 🇬🇧

After an incredibly close showdown across all three phases, GBR finish just outside the medals in 4th place. ❤️🤍💙

Congratulations to our team drivers Jamie, Sophia, Phoebe, Izzy and Ilaria, and a huge well done to all of our British drivers who represented GBR so well throughout the championships.

So close right to the very end — a fantastic effort from everyone involved! 🇬🇧👏

Full Team table ➡️ https://www.horsedriving.fr/ftpresults/ROU/OSORHEI.20260811.20260816/PDF/TeamsfinalYouth.pdf?10435243