The Carriage Association of America Winter Meeting, held in January 2025 at The Grand Oaks Resort in Weirsdale, Florida, USA, brought together 100+ attendees for two days of tradition, education, and old and new friends. The meeting centered around the theme of exploring the Association Internationale d’Attelage de Tradition (AIAT) and its traditional driving competitions, Concours International d’Attelage de Tradition (CIAT). The AIAT and its competitions are new to the United States.

Thursday morning’s first session began with engaging presentations that delved into the history and intricacies of Concours d’Attelage de Tradition competitions. Raimundo Coral & David Saunders began the morning with an “Introduction and Explanation of an Attelage Event.” Raimundo is one of the AIAT’s most experienced judges and joined us from his native Spain via Chile where he had judged a CIAT the previous weekend. David, who is also certified as an AIAT International Judge, heads up the CAA’s committee implementing the roll out of CAT competitions in the United States.

The morning continued with an engaging talk by coachman Melissa Warner, who discussed “How to Present a Winning Turnout.” Following lunch, the afternoon continued with presentations from Sally Armstrong who joined us via zoom from Texas for “Organizing an Attelage Avent” as well as “Attelage Performance Challenges Explained” by David Saunders.

Friday morning kicked off with a talk by Jill Ryder about a topic of interest to keen potential organizers of CAT events: How to Score an Attelage Event.
The knowledge gained during the presentations was then put to the test as promptly at 10 AM the judging began for The Grand Oaks Concours International d’Attelage de Tradition. The panel of judges, Raimundo Coral, Dr. Tom Burgess, and Bob Longstaff, carefully looked over each turnout. During the judging, David Saunders provided engaging commentary to the spectators watching the judging process and answered many questions from the crowd. The set out on the Routier through the 400 acres of The Grand Oaks encountering several PC’s, along the way.

The meeting and live CIAT event provided the perfect location for a clinic for learner Judges and TD’s for CIAT competitions. Since the CAA has become the representative for the AIAT in the United States, the committee has been educating new officials in the intricacies of the CIAT competition format. The AIAT-USA Committee qualified 10 National Judges and 6 National TD’s at the clinic. The learners benefited from the experience of Raimundo as well as Paul Mills of Great Britain who was the official TD for the CIAT.

The winter meeting concluded that evening with a lovely dinner. The CAA sponsored the overall awards for the Grand Oaks Concours d’Attelage de Tradition, and these were presented at dinner to Mary Stokes Waller for the Overall Best Presentation and Bob Koopman as the Overall Champion.

For more information about Concours d’Attelage de Tradition competitions in the United States visit www.caaonline.com/AIAT