The Slower Road

Sorry about this … but Monday flew by in a haze of catching up on things and meetings. Let’s pretend that today (Tuesday) is the “tomorrow” I promised you on Sunday night, shall we?

Here, then, are photos from the cones competition and the various awards ceremonies throughout the day on Sunday.

Paul Maye had the best dressage score among all the preliminary-level competitors (47.33) and won the prelim single pony class

Boots Wright and her pair of ponies won their preliminary-level class

Dean Lacey brought his Half-Arabian to the KHP for the Arabian Sport Horse Nationals and stayed for the CDE; they capped off the weekend by winning the preliminary-level single horse class

Misdee Wrigley Miller had a lead of nearly ten points after dressage, so a few balls down on the cones course didn’t stop her from winning the intermediate-level horse pair class

Suzy Stafford finished second in dressage, first in the marathon and first in cones, on her way to winning the FEI-level single pony class and the National Championship

after the awards ceremony for her class, Courage to Lead was officially retired from competition; here, her trainer (Lisa Singer) and owner (Bev Lesher) are attaching her fancy flower blanket to her harness …

… and then Bev Lesher drove her pony in a final lap of honor

Tracey Morgan (here, on her lap of honor) won the FEI-level pony pair class and National Championship

Lisa Stroud and her team of Connemara ponies

Fritz Grupe, formerly a pair horse driver, won the dressage phase and the overall National Championship in the FEI-level single horse class

Larry Poulin won his final National Championship (pair horses) in combined driving, before officially retiring from driving competition to return to ridden dressage

Chester Weber on the cones course, on his way to winning a record seventh (consecutive!) National Championship …

Chester Weber on the podium

Today was a full day of cones competition, several awards ceremonies, and two retirement ceremonies.

Bev Lesher’s pony, Courage to Lead (driven to the winning spot here this weekend by Suzy Stafford), is being retired from competition to take up a new life as a broodmare.

Veteran international pairs competitor (he’s represented the U.S. at an amazing ten world championships), Larry Poulin is retiring from driving competition to go back to ridden dressage.

And, in the KY Cup (the WEG test event) class, Chester Weber emerged the winner and claimed a record seventh consecutive National Championship.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll have lots of cones photos and a detailed recap of the weekend. In the meantime, complete results are available at www.hoefnet.com.

Here are the promised marathon photos. I’ve included six photos here and am saving several of my favorite shots for a blog post on Monday that will recap the entire event. So be sure to check back!

Caroline Whittle is leading the intermediate-level pony pair class

Misdee Wrigley Miller

Suzy Stafford and Courage to Lead, who won an individual bronze medal at this year’s FEI World Pony Driving Championships

Lisa Stroud and her team of ponies

Boyd Exell won the marathon phase in the FEI-level horse team class …

… but Chester Weber is still leading the FEI-level four-in-hand drivers (horses). Tomorrow’s cones course will decide the winners of all these classes and more, as well as six USEF National Championships

As noted above, it was a glorious day on the marathon course today … blue skies, sun, cool temps and breezes.

I’m still sorting through photos and will post some later this evening. In the meantime, though, here are the results after today.

In the preliminary-level single pony class: Dona Love won the marathon, Paul Maye came in second, and Beverly Patrick came in third. Overall, Paul Maye is still in the lead, followed by Dona Love in second and Suzi Dixon in third.

In the preliminary-level pony pair class: Wendy O’Brien won the marathon (even though she had already been eliminated from the overall competition during the dressage phase), Boots Wright came in second, and Meghan Benge came in third. Overall, Boots Wright is still in the lead, followed by Meghan Benge in second and Irene Gillis in third.

In the preliminary-level single horse class: Francois Fleury won the marathon, Dean Lacey came in second, and Celeste Pitts came in third. Overall, Dean Lacey is still in the lead, followed by Bonnie Hudson in second and Pamela Gordon in third.

In the preliminary-level horse pair class: Lew Smith won the marathon and is still in the lead overall; Fred Dearborn finished in second place in the marathon and is now in second place overall. Glenn McGirr was eliminated on the marathon.

In the intermediate-level single pony class: Debbie Schuster won the marathon, Philip Needs came in second, and Lorraine Potter came in third. Overall, Debbie Schuster is still in the lead, followed by Janelle Marshall in second and Lorraine Potter in third.

In the intermediate-level pony pair class: Linda Yutzy won the marathon and remains in second place overall, Caroline Whittle came in second on the marathon and remains in the lead overall, and Ray Mansur came in third on the marathon and remains in third overall.

In the intermediate-level tandem pony class, Mark Dahlberg of course won the marathon and remains in the lead overall, as he’s the only competitor in the class.

In the intermediate single horse class: Bob Giles won the marathon, Marcie Quist came in second, and Kelly Valdes came in third. Overall, Marcie Quist is still in the lead, followed by Boo Fitch West in second and Sue Mott in third.

In the intermediate horse pair class: Rae Fischer won the marathon, Misdee Wrigley Miller came in second, and Geoffrey Gee came in third. Overall, Misdee Miller is still in the lead, followed by Raie Fischer in second and Pat Hastings in third.

In the FEI-level single pony class: Suzy Stafford won the marathon and remains in the lead overall, Sherri Dolan came in second on the marathon and remains in third overall, and Shelley Templs came in third on the marathon and remains in second place overall.

In the FEI-level pair pony class: Tracy Morgan won the marathon and remains in the lead overall, Katie Whaley came in second on the marathon and remains in third overall, and Jennifer Matheson finished in third on the marathon and remains in second overall.

In the FEI-level pony team class: Lisa Stroud won the marathon and remains in the lead, and Elizabeth Keathley finished in second on the marathon and remains in second place overall (they’re the only two competitors in the class).

In the FEI-level single horse class: Scott Monroe won the marathon and moved up from third to second overall, Fritz Grupe came in second on the marathon but remains in the lead overall, and Mary Ruth Marks came in third on the marathon. Robin Groves moved from second down to third overall. Both Robin Foster and Bill Peacock had turnovers (no one was hurt, as far as I know) and retired.

In the FEI-level horse pair class: Larry Poulin won the marathon and remains in the lead, and Lisa Singer finished the marathon in the second spot and remains in second overall.

In the FEI-level horse team class: Boyd Exell won the marathon, Chester Weber came in second, and Mike McLennan came in third. The overall placings didn’t change: Chester Weber, Tucker Johnson, and Boyd Exell. Wendy Ying retired on section A of the marathon, and three drivers (Eugen Hug, Bill Long, and Casey Zubek) were eliminated.

Stay tuned for photos and tomorrow’s exciting finish on the cones course.

The intermediate-level dressage tests are now finished, and with them, the entire dressage phase at this year’s Lexington Combined Driving Classic.

Here are the top three drivers in each of the intermediate-level classes:

Single ponies (eight competitors): Debbie Schuster is in the lead, with a score of 49.56; Sybil Humphreys is in second place (51.56); and Janelle Marshall is in third (52.00).

Pony pairs (three competitors): Caroline Whittle is in the lead, with a score of 62.22; Linda Yutzy is in second place (68.00); and Ray Mansur is in third (71.78).

There is only one driver in the tandem pony class. Mark Dahlberg scored 65.78 on his dressage test.

Single horses (seven competitors): Sue Mott is in the lead, with a score of 49.78; Boo Fitch West is in second place (53.78); and Marcie Quist is in third (62.67).

Horse pairs (five competitors): Misdee Wrigley Miller is in the lead, with a score of 49.56; Pat Hastings is in second place (57.11); and Rae Fischer is in third (66.78).

I made it out to the dressage arena late this afternoon (after a walk around some of the marathon obstacles, but more on that in a minute). The only class I was able to see all of were the intermediate horse pairs. So, naturally, I offer a few photos (in no particular order):

although she said she wasn’t very pleased with her test, Misdee Wrigley Miller is leading her class and is tied with Debbie Schuster for the best dressage score among the intermediate-level drivers

Pat Hastings, who finished in second place, was driving an adorable pair of Dales, which is an English pony breed, although these two have matured to horse size

Rae Fischer, the 2008 winner in this class, finished in third place despite five points being added for an error of course

Terry Tobias is in fourth place after dressage; look at his rear wheel to see how bad the mud had gotten by this afternoon, after this morning’s heavy rain

As mentioned, I did a bit of a walk around to see some of the marathon obstacles decorated for tomorrow (before the ground gets churned up too much by all those hooves and wheels). Here are three of the seven obstacles:

obstacle number 1, the Wishing Well

obstacle number 4 (this is one we’ve been calling the “hill” … it’s official name is “Mick’s Mountain”); the people on top of the hill lend a bit of perspective, don’t you think?

the entrance to obstacle number 5, the Hollow