Tryon, N.C. – The Tryon International Equestrian Center hosted the 2024 USEF Combined Driving National Championship for Advanced Ponies last week, welcoming some of the country’s top driving athletes to compete among the full slate of driving classes at the Tryon Fall CDE.
USEF Combined Driving National Championship – Single Pony
Amy Cross (Chestertown, Md.) and Eulenhof Spencer (Arvalon Sion x Carmana’s Summer Surprise) earned their first national champion title with three strong phases in the single pony division. The pair kicked off their event with a strong dressage score that put them in second place position in the national championship standings. They maintained that spot after marathon before clinching the win with the fastest cones course in the class and no penalties added.
“This was a goal that my coach, myself, and Spencer’s owner had set for this year,” said Cross. “My first CAI3* with him was at last year’s championship at Spring Fling CDE (in Ocala, Fla.) so this was nice, for all the hard work to fall into place. I was over the moon.”
The marathon on Tryon’s scenic White Oak Course suited Spencer well, said Cross.
“The hazards at Tryon were really set up to help him,” she said. “He’s very good when I can make it more of an open and flowing type of course. In the hazards, my routes can be more open and flowing because he covers the ground really well. This whole show, he was right there and he was listening to me, so I was able to get done what I needed to get done.”
Cross has been working with Spencer, a 2010 Welsh Pony owned by Wendy O’Brien, since 2020, and started competing with him in 2023. He was originally purchased in 2019 to be part of O’Brien’s pony team, but competition shutdowns due to COVID-19 changed his career trajectory.
“None of us did any showing, and I was just doing normal, single-horse training with Spencer,” said Cross. “Wendy said, ‘He’s too nice of a pony. I would like him to do more. Let’s talk about going to the World Championship in 2023.’ I’ve been absolutely blessed to have Wendy want to continue further.”
Cross and Spencer started working with driving coach Taz Lester in May of 2023, and they ultimately did make the team and successfully completed the 2023 FEI Driving World Championship for Single Ponies in Oirschot, Netherlands, in August. Cross is eying the 2025 FEI World Championship as a next big goal for Spencer, aiming to build on what they’ve already learned and accomplished in their journey together so far.
“He’s a really cool pony. He’s an extremely smart pony, and you have to be on top of him—you have to drive him in dressage every inch of the way,” she said. “He’s not a push-button pony. He is making me a better driver. But he’s an absolute character—we joke that he should be a Breyer model because he would love to go to Breyerfest and get all that attention. He’s so easy to travel with and show. Anybody can take care of him, and he’s nice to other horses. He’s just a treat to do this with.”
Sarah Reitz (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and her own 2007 Welsh Pony gelding, Fferm Gwenffrwd Onyx Star, won the reserve champion title for the single ponies. Anna Koopman (Middleburg, Va.) finished in third place with Chandler Creek Eclipse, her 2010 Morgan gelding.
USEF Combined Driving National Championship – Pair Ponies
In the pairs division, Katie Whaley (Paris, Ky.) took home her seventh national champion title in the division. She drove her own Timmy, a 2015 Welsh Pony gelding, and Clanfair Sunglow, Gail Riley’s 2012 Welsh Pony gelding also known as “Topper,” to the win.
This season has been something of a rebuilding season for Whaley and her pair as Timmy, the greener of the two ponies, continues to develop in the sport.
“Timmy was new in the marathon—this was only his third marathon, and Topper had to switch sides,” said Whaley. “Topper didn’t turn as well to the left at the spring CDE at Tryon, so we’ve been working on that over the summer. The whole goal this weekend was to get Topper and Timmy to turn really well, and the marathon was great. That was one goal that we achieved, and I was thrilled with them.”
While the pairs division was uncontested this year, Whaley is looking ahead to the 2025 FEI World Championships, which she and her pair of chestnut ponies have already qualified for. In addition to competing selectively at CDEs as they prep for the big events, Whaley likes to take the ponies to carriage pleasure driving events to give them a well-rounded experience.
“It’s great that they have such great minds that they can do that,” she said. “It’s so good for them. They do a lot of different kinds of classes. They have to stand a lot. They have to be in company. The warmup ring is sometimes crowded. They just have to have good brains—there’s a lot going on at different times. Plus, it’s a higher standard of turnout. In pleasure driving, they count so much on turnout, so the bar is just a little bit higher.”
Whaley’s pair will get a few months off before the winter season in Florida gears up, and then she’ll start to plan a potential European trip ahead of the world championship in 2025.
“My thanks to Gail Riley for letting me use Topper,” said Whaley. “He’s just been a wonderful pony, and he’s really helped Timmy, because Timmy is still pretty young. I’m just thrilled with them.”
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