Blog - Page 3 of 7 - Meghan Benge

Live Oak International

Can’t beat Live Oak if you would like to take pretty driving photos. Below is Tracey Morgan with Fuego, her German Riding Pony. Tracey won the 2015 USEF Single Pony Championships at Live Oak in March.
Randy Cadwell was Reserve Champion with Leslie Berndl’s pony Leyla.

Paul Maye with Markus were third.

There were some jumpers there too!

It is, however, difficult to take many pictures when I am competing myself but here are a few from the FEI single pony and Intermediate Single horse dressage.

Posted: April 22, 2015 by megs

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Windsor Trace CDE

Windsor Trace CDE Hosts American Driving Society’s National VSE Championship.

The Windsor Trace CDE is held around the corner from my mom’s farm in the Windsor Trace subdivision. The dressage is held at Bev Lesher’s Courage to Lead Farm and the marathon winds through the surrounding farms, with the water hazard at Bob and Susan Burrows farm. Minis were out in abundance as the show was awarded the ADS’ national championship for VSE’s. While the participation in the ADS Championships has been a little lukewarm, one thing they do is give great prizes, with the winners receiving quarter sheets and halters. All in all, the second year of the Windsor Trace CDE seemed to go a lot smoother than the first and proves there is a place for low key type shows in this area. If you care about results, they are on drivingnews.us, otherwise, here are some photos from the weekend.

I took a lot more photos, which can be seen on my Shootproof page here: Windsor Trace CDE Photos.

Posted: April 21, 2015 by megs

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Windsor Driving Derby #1

A bunch of people turned up for the first driving derby of the year, held at Katydid Farm. Katydid is holding a series of driving derbies this spring, three qualifiers and then a final derby. There was a good turnout, with entries coming from North Carolina and Virginia, as well as local drivers.

The ADS put together rules for driving derbies in 2015. On one hand, it is good to have a rulebook for clarification. On the other, the entry fees went up. The ADS rules include a Training level division, which is trot only. Preliminary is any pace. Katydid ran two rounds with the winner having the best combined score. It was interesting that a few people eliminated or had course corrections on their second round. Oops.

Unfortunately, I had to leave in the middle, so not many photos. But here they are anyway!

Posted: January 19, 2015 by megs

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2015 Monster Mini CDE

Minis Take Center Stage at 2015 Monster Mini CDE

For the sixth year, Monster Mini CDE was a hit with drivers and spectators in Windsor, SC on January 10th and 11th. The show is held on the farms of multiple landowners in Windsor Trace, and is specifically tailored to minis and small ponies (under 11.2 hands). Otherwise, the Monster Mini CDE is exactly like a combined driving event for “average” size equines, with a dressage test, marathon course and cones course.

Drivers bundled up on Saturday, as the weather was sunny but very cold. Sherri Lower, from Florida, judged the dressage tests. Andy Cross built and designed the cones course, which included a “drive off” section for the double clear drives.

Sunday was also very cold and cloudy, but most of the drivers did not let that dampen their spirits. The course wound through the various farms of Windsor Trace, with five hazards for drivers and horses to negotiate. Everyone seemed to have a good time. A variety of turnouts made it interesting, with two four-in-hands, two pairs and a special “plus size” division (for small ponies).

It is fun to watch as many of the minis have developed fan clubs after participating for multiple years. For instance, Flake, a palomino paint, who is very small in size but definitely not in attitude, has competed with various drivers over the years. Other favorites are Smokey, Pippin and Harry Spotter. Fudge, who was the only Intermediate entry, also has his own fan club.

Monster Mini CDE is held at the same venue as the Windsor Trace CDE on March 28th and 29th, which will also offer a dedicated VSE (very small equine) division as well as divisions for ponies and horses. Most people are familiar with Katydid CDE but there are smaller driving shows and events in Aiken throughout the winter season. Katydid will hold a schooling driving trial on February 7th and 8th. Katydid is also producing a series of driving derbies – a timed event run over a course of two marathon type obstacles and cones, the next of which is February 14th.

I took a whole bunch of photos. You can view them all by going to my 2015 Monster Mini CDE gallery here.

Posted: January 12, 2015 by megs

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Dr. Paul Leslie – Website Redesign

I recently completed a website redesign for Dr. Paul Leslie, a psychotherapist and author working in Aiken, South Carolina.

You can visit his website at: http://www.drpaulleslie.com

Posted: January 4, 2015 by megs

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Katydid CDE 2014 Returns

Alan Aulson and his Morgan horses

Deborah Branson

Linnea Jilheden

Rebecca Gutierrez

Tim Palloni

Sandy Rose and Rum Runner

Wendy O’Brien

Tim Palloni drove Tudor Oak’s Haflinger to a second place in the Preliminary Single Pony

Dana Diemer

Doris Leacy and Katydid Baroness were second in the Intermediate Single Pony championships

Janelle Marshall

Doris Leacy

Paul Grippa and Turbo Friesians

Sandy Rose

Debra Spark

Alan Aulson and his Morgan horses

One of the junior drivers competing at Katydid

Cute Dartmoor pony

Training small ponies brave snow

Rebecca Gutierrez

Nifty Hamilton finished second in the Preliminary Single Horse division.

Janelle Marshall driving Bob Burrows’ pair were a close second in the Preliminary Pair Horse division.

Janelle Marshall

Belle Grey Farm’s pony Aurelius flew around the marathon.

Sandy Rose

Kelly Valdes won the dressage phase.

Dana Diemer

Barbara Chapman traveled from Michigan and narrowly missed winning the ADS Intermediate Single Horse Championships

Daphne White was the eventual winner of the ADS Intermediate Single Horse Championship.

Doris Leacy

Paul Grippa won the Preliminary Pair Horse division.

Tim Palloni drove Tudor Oak’s Haflinger to a second place in the Preliminary Single Pony

Barbara Chapman

Janelle Marshall driving Bob Burrows’ pair.

Boots Wright was uncontested in the Intermediate Pair Pony Championship

Doris Leacy

Wendy O’Brien

Tim Palloni finished second in the Preliminary Single Pony division.

Rebecca Gutierrez won the ADS Intermediate Single Pony championship.

Nifty Hamilton had the best Preliminary dressage score

Wendy O’Brien’s leaders during the cones phase.

Debra Spark’s Connemara

Paul Grippa and Turbo Friesians

Rebecca Gutierrez

Irene Gillis and Hemingway

Judy Portmann won Training Single horse dressage.

Tim Palloni

Pam Pruitt

Deborah Branson and Hidden Spring’s Bossanova

Sterling Graburn won the Preliminary Single Horse division.

Training Horses brave snow

Paul Grippa with Turbo Friesians

Janelle Marshall

Dona Love won the small Preliminary Single Pony division

Fred, the Welsh Pony.

Boots Wright

Sherri Dolan’s ponies warm up for cones

Deborah Branson and Hidden Spring’s Bossanova

Jane Hostetter

Linnea Jilheden won the Preliminary Single Pony by the narrowest of margins, 0.1 points.

Dana Diemer

Barbara Chapman

Sandy Rose

Cute Dartmoor pony

Nifty Hamilton had the best Preliminary dressage score

Dona Love

Katydid Combined Driving Event Returns with ADS Intermediate Championships

As followers of driving events know, Katydid took last year off due to scheduling conflicts. This year the event returned with several changes, first, the Advanced division was dropped and the Training division was upgraded to a full fledged CDE rather than and HDT. Secondly, there was a dedicated small pony division. The Training Small Single Pony (that’s a mouthful) division drew seven entries. It is interesting to note that most of these drivers went forward and competed on Saturday during the worst of the winter weather. Additional changes at Katydid included two days of dressage instead of having two rings going. Also, the hazard that was previously located in the woods was repurposed and rebuilt near the main hazard area, making all of the hazards centrally located around the dressage ring. Boxes were also added at the flag hazard behind the hay barn.

Lastly, Katydid hosted the inaugural version of the ADS North American Intermediate Championships. Although the divisions were small, the single horse and pony divisions were competitive right up to the cones phases, with first and second place finishers only separated by a few points.

The largest and probably most competitive division was the Preliminary Single Pony, with thirteen starting the show. By Sunday, almost half the group had either withdrawn on Saturday due to snow or eliminated. The top two finishers were separated by 0.1 points after Tim Palloni put the pressure on Linnea Jilheden by driving a double clear cones round with Tudor Oaks Farm’s Haflinger gelding. Linnea had one cone down to just squeak through with the win, driving a pony owned by Belle Grey Farm.

Unless you live in a cave, you probably know that the competitors woke up Saturday morning to nasty weather – including the earliest snowfall ever recorded in South Carolina. The majority of the competitors that started the course Saturday finished without any problems except a few unfortunate eliminations. The ground jury decided to allow the competitors who had not competed Saturday to do cones if they chose. Cones day was sunny, if a bit windy, but no complaints after the previous day.

Several of the divisions had familiar faces not in their normal divisions. Wendy O’Brien drove her ponies as a four-in-hand (adding in a pony from her previous pair to make four) in the Preliminary division, which was quite fun to watch. Janelle Marshall drove Bob Burrow’s pair after Bob could not make Friday dressage due to business obligations. The pair, consisting of a KWPN x Haflinger and a Friesian x Morgan, are coming along and finished a close second to Paul Grippa with his Turbo Friesians.

Posted: November 7, 2014 by megs

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Pine Tree CDE

Maggie Sullivan with Welsh cross pony, Elmo

Aaron Soldavin and Welsh cross pony, Rally

Paul Maye on the marathon phase of the Pine Tree CDE

Leslie Griewe on the marathon phase of the Pine Tree CDE

Maggie Sullivan on the marathon phase of the Pine Tree CDE

Aaron Soldavin on the marathon phase of the Pine Tree CDE

Pat Belskie on the marathon, dressed very stylishly.

Suzi Dixon on the marathon phase of the Pine Tree CDE

The Pine Tree Combined Driving Event takes place at Claire Reid’s Big Sky Farm in Southern Pines, NC. This low-key show is competitor friendly and runs Training, Preliminary and Intermediate divisions. Competitors had great weather and a great venue. Many people chose to do both the combined test on Friday and the CDE on Saturday and Sunday, in a rare chance to get to do dressage “over.” A different ground jury judged dressage each day.

I missed most of dressage, but got some nice photos of the ever competitive Preliminary Single Pony class. Suzi Dixon won the combined test on Friday, cones being the deciding factor, as the dressage scores were all very closely grouped. It was Aaron Soldavin, with Welsh cross, Rally, who won the CDE by winning both the dressage and marathon.

Pine Tree (and Southern Pines CDE, as they share the same caterer) has the best competitor’s party food. A giant salad bar, prime rib and the best desserts. This is the important stuff!

Next weekend is Katydid CDE and competitors who do both shows will have a shot at winning the Carolina Challenge (goes to the combination with the lowest score from both shows), as well as the ADS Intermediate Championships.

Posted: October 25, 2014 by megs

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Katydid Farm Traditional Drive

Just a few photos from the Katydid Traditional Drive held October 11, 2014. At the traditional drive, drivers are judged on turnout, then complete a course with different obstacles followed by a cones course.

All types of turnouts and horses/ponies are welcome to compete, this year there was a variety of minis, single horses and ponies as well as one four in hand.

Posted: October 22, 2014 by megs

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2014 Kentucky Classic CDE

Leyla & Miranda Cadwell

Kaylee Angstadt

Leyla & Miranda Cadwell

Fuego, driven by Tracey Morgan

Lily and Reggie Glover

Colten Parker with Jack and Jill

Colten Parker with Jack and Jill

Did not have a chance to take many photos at the show, however, it was fun to see a number of junior drivers competing. Reggie Glover came from Texas, he and his pony, Lily, flew around the hazards. Colten Parker won the Preliminary Pair pony class and the overall junior driver award.

Mary Phelps’ small pony pair was also fun to watch cruise around the hazards. At 11.1 hands, they prove bigger isn’t always better!

The Kentucky Classic CDE takes place at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park. Although everything is spread out, it is simple to navigate down to the dressage and hazard fields.

Posted: October 8, 2014 by megs

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Southern Pines Horse Park HDT

Boo Fitch

Manny Diemer

Carol Greata

Franny

Suzi Dixon

Deb Branson

The Moore County Driving Club put on an HDT at the Carolina Horse Park for competitors gearing up for the fall shows, or just to school. The Horse Park has a great facility for driving, with tons of space for rings and warmup, permanent hazards and the nicest stabling.

Around 20 entries took advantage of the wonderful weather and setting. Competitors did their dressage and headed straight to cones. Miranda Cadwell set up a deceptively tricky course that caught many drivers out.

Next, four hazards were marked and timed for everyone to practice on a short Section E (B!). The water hazard was also open for schooling.

Posted: September 28, 2014 by megs

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