One could feel the pleasure of the 83 participants all the time!

The Members of AIAT, Presidents of 12 National Associations, judges, technical delegates, collectionners and some interested people were there on the kind invitation of Mr Ad van der Pluijm, President of AIAT-The Netherlands and Mr Nikolaas Conijn, who took a lot of trouble to organize the event from the beginning to the end!

It was, as usual, a good opportunity to discuss all sorts of questions, to harmonize the judgments and the scores and to work together on the problems which can occur during traditional driving competitions, generally technical problems, and the way to solve them in a friendly atmosphere.

The judges’clinic started on Saturday morning, with 10 interesting turnouts presented by Dutch drivers in the very beautiful gardens of Kasteel De Haar. Very nice carriages put to big Frisian horses, or KWPN or charming ponies and a special Dutch turnout of local tradition, a chaise. A very big thank you to the drivers for taking the trouble to come and help with the judges’clinic, sometimes after a long drive, at a time when everything is stored and kept away from the weather  – and with  their well groomed horses!

The judges, coming from Belgium, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Poland, France, Great-Britain, Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal and United-States of America, Spain and Chili being represented, could give their marks or points to the different turnouts in the view to analyze them at the debriefing of the Sunday morning.

After an interesting visit to the reserve in Kasteel De Haar and an analyze of the different carriages, amongst them a Grand break and a Calèche both signed Muhlbacher, and after a good lunch there, the group of 83 participants went by bus to visit the extraordinary private collection of Mr Kuivenhoven in Rijnsburg. To discover this collection was a really enchanting moment for all!

On two stores were presented not only very beautiful carriages, Coach, Break, Victoria, Curricle Phaëton Wagonette and other sledges – but also lanterns and numerous carriages accessories, all restored by Mr Kuivenhoven himself when his business left him a little time!

One could also admire carriage clocks, coffers, pic-nic baskets in wood or wicker, toilet necessaries for gentlemen or ladies, hats, umbrellas and even wheel-covers so that ladies could step in the carriages without damaging their dresses…

On the walls, many very nice engravings, well disposed, a dream !

Back to Utrecht for the Gala Dinner in Paushuize or “House of the Pope”, imposing building from the XVIth century, built for Adrien V, before he was elected Pope. Very interessant ensemble of beautiful furniture and a large space for this elegant dinner.

On Sunday morning, two important meetings, one for the Technical Delegates with Baron Christian de Langlade, and another one for the Judges. They had to explain their marks given the day before  to the turnouts in Kasteel De Haar. A system on internet, organized by Constantin Thierry and Etienne Fromageot, the two grand-sons of the Langlades, very much helped to compare the marks of the judges and to evaluate them.

Numerous technical questions were discussed, and the solutions found and generally well understood by all participants. No change in the rules but some interesting explanations on important points.

Then the 2023 Calendar was established, with many competitions and events, to be seen on the AIAT website. Invitations were made  by the Presidents of National Associations to build new international venues.

To conclude, this meeting has been a great satisfaction for all delegates, thanks to his excellent organization and to the work accomplished in the expected order, without hurry and seeing well all aspects of the announced plans. A very great thank you to Ad van der Pluijm, Niclaas Conijn and Christian and Antoinette de Langlade for their involvement, their courtesy, their collaboration and constant presence, and their attention to this nice group of more than 80 participants, who greatly enjoyed this meeting in Utrecht!