Combined Driving In Aiken
by Pam Gleason
Junior driver Abby Shultz from Southern Pines, NC
According to Jennifer Matheson, Combined Driving is the fastest growing equestrian sport in America. Jennifer manages Katydid Farm in Windsor, which holds the annual Katydid Combined Driving Event, scheduled this year for October 14-16.
A successful competitor herself, over the summer Jennifer traveled to Catton Park, England with her navigator, Nancy Mann, to drive in the FEI World Combined Pony Championships. Jennifer, who hails from Ontario, drove the 8-year-old German Riding Pony stallion “Danyloo” for the Canadian team. Danyloo, owned by Jennifer’s mother-in-law, Katrina Becker, is no stranger to international competition. In fact, Mrs. Becker bought him and brought him back to Aiken County after he won the Pony Championships in Germany in 2003.
“Combined driving is growing in Aiken,” says Jennifer, noting that a number of top competitors either call Aiken home or train here during the winter months. This includes several other drivers who competed internationally this summer, such as Aiken resident Jack Wetzel, who, representing the U.S, drove his 10-year-old Welsh Cob gelding, Birchgrove Llewelyn, at the Pony Championships.
Another top driver with an Aiken connection in Catton Park was Suzie Stafford, who comes from Delaware but trained in Aiken over the winter. Suzie, who had qualified for the event with her Morgan pony, was unable to drive him because he was injured a few weeks before the event. She ended up driving a different pony who happened to be in England without a driver: Cefnoakpark Bouncer, a 9-year-old Welsh Cob owned by Sybil Humphreys and qualified by Muffy Seaton. The pairing was magic: Suzy and “Bouncer” came home with the Individual Gold Medal; only the second time a North American has won a Gold Medal at an international CDE.
Alice Bentick driving
Muffy Seaton's ponies
Although driving competitions have been performed in various ways for centuries, Combined Driving, as an international competition, came into existence in 1968 when then-president of the FEI, Britain’s Prince Philip, codified its rules. In essence, the sport is the driven equivalent of a Three Day Event. It consists of three phases; Presentation and Dressage (Day 1), Marathon (Day 2), and Cones(Day 3).
The Dressage test, just as in Three Day Eventing, is executed in a grassy Dressage ring and is judged on “freedom, regularity of pace, harmony, lightness, ease of movement, impulsion and the correct positioning of the horse on the move.” Presentation also counts in the score; not only must the horse(s) and driver be perfectly turned out, the carriage also must be equipped with such things as spare tires.
Marathon Day is probably the most exciting. Drivers negotiate a cross country course of 10-16 kilometers at prescribed paces, all the while negotiating various obstacles or “hazards.” Hazards are often set up so that the fastest way through them is also the most difficult. A driver, assisted always by a navigator, must decide whether to take the safest route or risk a short cut.
Cones, the CDE equivalent of Stadium Jumping, requires the driver to navigate through narrowly spaced pairs of cones, each surmounted by a weighted ball. Penalties are assessed for knocking the balls to the ground, or for spending too much time on the course. Traditionally, drivers compete in the Cones section in reverse order of their current standing in the event, adding to the drama of the affair.
The Katydid CDE attracts drivers from throughout the region. According to Jennifer Matheson, combined driving is a terrific sport. “Especially at the higher levels, it’s a very close-knit community,” she says.
“In America, many of the people competing drive because they can no longer ride. In Europe, it’s more a family atmosphere, with lots of families camping at the events. It’s changing in America. More young people are starting to come in. Every year, it seems, there is more interest in driving.”
The Aiken Horse, P.O. Box 332, Montmorenci,
SC 29839
803-643-9960
Owned by The Aiken Horse, LLC
Copyright The Aiken Horse 2005