Garden State Combined Driving Event Crowns Five USEF Combined Driving National Championships

Five national championships and five amazing stories of success were found at the Garden State CDE, held on October 11-13 at The Horse Park of New Jersey.

In 2018, the inaugural preliminary combined driving national championships were held at the Garden State CDE, but this year, the intermediate championship divisions joined the lineup. A total of 17 combinations competed for titles in two intermediate and three preliminary divisions for national honors. The intermediate and preliminary national championships were created to serve as a catalyst to ignite further interest in the combined driving discipline and cultivate combinations for the development and elite levels.

Lawrence and Top Secret Overcome Obstacles

It has been a long road to the USEF Intermediate Single Pony Combined Driving National Championship for Deborah Lawrence (Shelbyville, Ky.) and Top Secret 53, her 10-year-old German Riding Pony gelding. Their partnership began in 2014 after Top Secret was imported from Germany and Lawrence bought him. They have been competing actively for two-and-a-half years and captured the Preliminary Single Pony “Horse of the Year” honors from US Equestrian in 2018.

Working well at the Garden State CDE didn’t start with dressage, however. “We started off kind of badly,” said Lawrence, who had a 52.52 score after the windy, cool day and obstacle distractions wound up Top Secret. But it was a turnaround in the marathon, where they won five obstacles and won the phase, sitting on a total of 137.07 penalty points.

With a double-clear in cones, they took the national championship. “Cones has always been our strong suit, but the course was a very challenging, [Barry] Hunter course,” said Lawrence, who also praised Garden State and horse show secretary Jan Hamilton for their organization. “We went into [cones] knowing we didn’t have a lot of chance, but we always want to do our best. The person in the lead [before cones] gave us a great run for our money this weekend. I really appreciated the difficulty of the course; it needs to be difficult for a championship and taken just as seriously as the other sections.”

At 65 years old, this is Lawrence’s first national championship victory. “I can’t even begin to tell you what it means,” she expressed. “I was in tears for the whole 10 minutes of the award ceremony. I’ve wanted to win a national championship my whole life.”

“To find myself at this age competing in national championships and [with] goals to make a team and go to a world championship is such a shock; it’s otherworldly,” she continued. “To achieve and validate all the work I’ve put into it, it just means everything. I love driving and the camaraderie you have. It’s lovely to have a group of friends who have the same goals and appreciate what it takes to be where you are. They become like family and that’s the best part.”

Lawrence hopes to move up to the advanced level with Top Secret later in 2019. “This sport is very hard work,” she said. “It is my hope to reach whatever goal I can with him.”

Gold for Goldwine

The biggest division of the competition was the USEF Preliminary Single Horse Combined Driving National Championship with six entries, and it was Maggie O’Leary (Califon, N.J.) who came away with the national championship driving Goldwine of TFV, Sara Schmitt's eight-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding.

As a dressage rider and on a horse that does riding dressage and is owned by a dressage trainer, O’Leary and Goldwine had their personal best in dressage at Garden State CDE, coming out with a score of 44.73 to sit in second place. With a “very conservative, but safe and clean marathon,” they had 113.63 penalty points going into Sunday. They tallied 12.00 penalty points in the cones phase, but claimed the national championship with a score of 125.63.

“He’s one of the best horses I’ve ever met,” said O’Leary, who works for Goldwine’s owner, dressage trainer Sarah Schmitt. Schmitt recently bought Goldwine in 2019; it was O’Leary’s first full CDE with him and their third competition overall.

O’Leary counts herself as a dressage rider and started driving after Schmitt taught her the sport so that she could keep Schmitt’s driving horses in shape while Schmitt was away judging and competing in dressage. “[Sarah] taught me, let me compete, and I started really getting into it,” said O’Leary, who had Goldwine’s dressage rider as her groom and her boyfriend as her navigator this weekend. “There were so many people from our barn who came out and supported me and helped me get through it. It was a huge team effort and to win with everyone’s support behind me is just unbelievable. I’m completely on cloud nine. Sarah wasn’t able to be here this weekend, but I can’t thank her enough for letting me take him to the championships.”

O’Leary, who is part of the USEF Developing Athlete Program, and Schmitt plan to take Goldwine to Florida this winter to start one-star qualifications and she hopes to take him to one of the intermediate championships. O’Leary said, “He’s definitely a horse that can go all the way and do advanced. He will also continue his riding career. He is a horse that can do and succeed in both.”

Big Moves for the Championship

The USEF Preliminary Single Pony Combined Driving National Championship went to Damara Gailliot (Alexandria, Va.) and Nick, a 12-year-old Haflinger gelding owned by Paula Bliss.

Gailliot and Nick have been driving together for almost three years and are in their second full year of competing. Gailliot started her career in combined driving with Nick.

“He’s teaching me,” she said of the pony, who competed at the intermediate level with owner and Gailliot’s trainer, Paula Bliss. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity Paula has given me to work with this pony. He’s a good, solid guy.”

Gailliot and Nick were second after dressage with 63.03 penalty points, and they sat second after the marathon (130.59), something that meant a great deal to Gailliot.

“It was really a thrill,” she said of her “best marathon” finish. “It’s been my weak point, so be able to come in second in marathon was really exciting for me.”

After going double-clear in cones, Gailliot took home the national championship. While she “hasn’t absorbed” her win yet, Gailliot did note, “To be able to be consistent in marathon and cones and come through with a championship is very gratifying. This is a good bunch of people to compete with. Everybody just tries their best.”

Gailliot and Nick will compete next at the Katydid CDE in the preliminary single pony division with hopes to move up the intermediate division in 2020.

Five for Five

The USEF Intermediate Single Horse Combined Driving National Championship had five entries and driving to the top was Sarah Reitz (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and Awesome George, a 12-year-old Dutch Harness cross gelding owned by Ken Perkins. They sat in fourth place after dressage (56.46 penalty points) and moved into the lead with a strong marathon run with 124.98 penalty points. They kept that lead despite collecting 6.00 penalty points in the cones phase to finish on a score of 130.98.

“It wasn’t his best dressage of the year, but it was by far his best marathon,” said Reitz, who first drove Awesome George in 2013 and continued again when she started leasing him in 2018. The pair have competed five times in 2019 and come home with five wins.

“For a little horse, he’s got a lot of speed and stamina,” described Reitz of her horse, who has Standardbred pony breeding crossed with Dutch Harness Horse. “He’s just intense. He wants to do it. It makes him not perfect for everybody, but he and I get along.”

This was the pair’s first gold medal. “It’s exciting!” said Reitz. “It hasn’t even sunk in yet. It’s a big honor for being a small-town kid who started driving a pony at eight (years old).”

Reitz and Awesome George have eventual plans to compete at the advanced level and qualify for the world championships in the upcoming years.

A Repeat for Rose

USEF Preliminary Four-In-Hand Pony Combined Driving National Championship for the second year in a row went to Sandy Rose (Hamilton, Va.). She drove her team of River Runner, her eight-year-old Welsh Pony Cross gelding, and Patchwork Lookout, her 13-year-old Welsh Pony gelding, as leaders; as well as Dragonwyck Twist of Fate, her seven-year-old Welsh Pony mare; and Chewy, her Welsh Pony Cross gelding.

Rose took this same national championship in 2018, but with a different team of ponies. This year’s team was “a young team, a very green team,” she said. “It was a great learning experience for Team Wynnbrook. We are always slotting in new ones all the time, and this was the first time to try ‘River’ as a leader for marathon.”

Rose was a Welsh pony breeder for more than 30 years, but now most of the ponies she drives come to her not knowing the sport. “Welsh ponies are really versatile,” she described. “They adapt, they’re kind, they’re willing. They just need to know what their job is.

“Garden State is a great event and it’s a perfect venue for green ponies to get experience,” she continued. “I love this sport and the challenge of team driving. It makes me hungry to learn more. I think this team will come along; we just need more events and experience.”

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