Allentown, N.J. – Five USEF Preliminary Combined Driving National Champions were crowned at the Garden State Combined Driving Event CDE at the Horse Park of New Jersey on October 12-14. It was the debut of national championships at the preliminary level in order to serve as a catalyst to ignite further interest in the combined driving discipline, and cultivate combinations for the development and elite levels.
Leslie Berndl (Lexington, Ky.) drove to the championship in Preliminary Single Horse division, guiding her own Impressive, a 5-year-old KWPN gelding, to a final score of 103.23, 14 points ahead of second place. “I’m really excited about him; I’ve been excited about him since I was able to get him. I think he’s going to be my next rising star,” Berndl said of Impressive. “He’s a fabulous mover, and he’s got a big heart. He’s very intelligent and super-sensitive in a good way. He’s just the type of horse that wants to do everything to please me.”
Berndl is a former USEF national combined driving champion, having won the 2013 and 2014 Advanced Single Horse and 2016 Advanced Single Pony titles. Impressive is a horse she’s been driving for just a year and the national championships were his third competitive outing. “I’ve been working quite slowly with him to bring him along the correct way,” said Berndl. “I just felt this was a great way to end the year with him because he now has the confidence to work at that level.”
As part of the USEF Development Athlete Program for Combined Driving, Berndl and Impressive participated in clinics run by the program. “It was great to get him out to different venues and get him experience in a bigger environment than we have at home, but not a show environment,” Berndl said. “Anything we needed to work on or correct, it was much better than doing it in a show environment because I could take my time and teach the horse how to do it without the show environment.”
Gabriella Funk (Lexington, Ky.) claimed the Preliminary Single Pony title driving Teressa Kandianis’ Sweetwater’s Zorah Belle, a 14-year-old Norwegian Fjord mare. Funk, 22, is a working student for Berndl at her Whispering Oaks Performance Horses, and was driving in her first combined driving competition. She and Sweetwater’s Zorah Belle were fourth after the dressage phase, they then won the marathon to move into the lead, which they held through the cones phase.
“I’ve groomed and navigated for Leslie [Berndl] for years, so I know driving from being on the back of the carriage,” said Funk, who is also working toward a bachelor’s degree studying online with Colorado State University. “Being able to actually have the reins was an amazing experience.”
Sweetwater’s Zorah Belle has extensive experience at the advanced single pony level and was the pony Berndl drove to the 2016 Advanced Single Pony National Championship. Funk had helped warm up and cool down Sweetwater’s Zorah Belle in training at home, so Berndl gave her the chance to compete with the mare.
“It’s been a long road of building that relationship, and it’s opportunities like this that build confidence and gain experience. I couldn’t have done it without the training and preparation I had from Leslie [Berndl]. And that pony is a rock star,” Funk said. “It’s a great way for me to make a splash in the driving world. Not having had much experience, being able to compete at a high level and handle the stress was great. It was nerve-wracking going into the show knowing it was a national championship and being a little green myself, but it is really exciting and promising for the future for me as a driver to win.”
Sandy Rose took home the Preliminary Four-In-Hand Pony division title, while Dan Rosenthal drove Singletree Roadside Skipper and Millcreek Rice Krispy to the Preliminary Pair Pony championship and Anna Klumpp claimed the Preliminary Single Very Small Equine title driving Mighty Aphrodite.
“It’s great that the USEF has taken the preliminary and intermediate divisions under their wing also,” Berndl said. “I think it’s a great way to build better horses and drivers for the United States.”
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