Other CDE's
Combined driving events are held throughout the country and we have had the opportunity to visit some of them and even to compete at some outside of Arizona. In addition to being able to experience a new setting and meet new people, some of these events offer the highest level competition and national championships. Here is a selection of photos from some of them:
World Pairs Championship, 1993
Only once has the United States held a world championship and that was for the pairs championship in 1993. Held at the United States Equestrian Team headquarters in Gladstone, NJ, it was a spectacular event, allowing us to see the best competitors from Europe, South America as well as our own team. We didn't win, we never have, but it was still a great show.
Fair Hill, 2001 and 2003
Fair Hill is held in a 1000 acre equestrian center in far northeastern Maryland. It is the last of the "majors" held just at the end of the season, which means we were able to attend during the beautiful fall colors of the mid Atlantic area. It is an Advanced level only event, so that only the highest level competitors participate. The National Singles Championship was being held there in 2001.
Left: Tucker Johnson with his four in hand in the second hazard
Right: The beautiful grounds at Fair Hill
Left; Chester Webber in the water hazard
Center: A hunter jumper competition was running at the same time, not always with the desired result
Left: Jamie O'Rourke in dressage during the 2003 competition
California Classic, 2001
The California Classic is considered the premier competition in the West. Held in the Orange County area and organized by Hardy and Juta Zantke for many years, it was moved to Lodi, CA in 2000 and held on the farm of Fritz Groupe. Mary Jane competed in early years in the Southern California locations, and this was her first venture at the Lodi location. She didn't do really well, though.
Left: David Ketcher is famous in the west for competing with his mules, who often beat the horse competition
Center: Walt Rector in the water hazard. You drove down into a water filled pit then up onto a bridge over the water.
Right: Hardy Zantke driving dressage
Cal West, 2002
When the California Classic moved to northern California, a group formed a new event, held in Temecula, CA. Although a large contingent from Arizona went to compete, the event was not a financial success and was not repeated.
Left: Mary Jane and Peter in the dressage test.
Right: Fritz Groupe going into one of the two Advanced level water hazards.
Left: Walt Rector driving his pair into one of the two water hazards
Parker, 2003 and 2004
An eventing center in Parker, CO hosts a very fine driving competition. In the 2003 event, it was designated as the National Single Horse championship. Unfortunately, none of the top level single horse drivers from the eastern part of the country came, so it was more of a western championship. Four people from Arizona competed, and Lynn Simpson, also from the Prescott, AZ area, finished sixth in the National Championship while Walt Rector finished second in his pair division.
Left: David Ketcher with his mule in dressage
Right: Drew Callahan driving his Morgan, Export. Drew was raised in Phoenix and now lives in Texas. He has competed and placed in many of the top level competitions around the country. Export is Melodie's full brother.
Left: Brian Gwartz in the water hazard
Right: Here is Lynn Simpson blasting her way through Old Mine hazard
Our visit to the Parker CDE in 2003 so enthused Mary Jane that when the 2004 event was announced, she quietly sent in her entry - then told Peter. It was again a National Single Horse Championship, but unfortunately had even less entries than last year. Mary Jane entered in the Intermediate level, but was called to see if she would mind moving up to the Advanced division - and into the competition for the National Singles Championship.
Given all, we didn't do badly - finishing fourth. The six competitors were all friends and people we knew, with the Drew Callahan - Ryan Weatherford battle for the blue ribbon expected to dominate the competition. It started out that way with Ryan having the better dressage, but Drew doing better in the Marathon. But then, Ryan eliminated by missing a gate on the last hazard, taking him out of contention for the blue ribbon.
Mary Jane had a terrible dressage test, a sudden storm dumped rain all during the warmup and test. We discovered that Melodie doesn't like to drive in heavy rain. But the Marathon was great and we finished second best for that event. Mary Jane has not mastered cones at the Advanced level, so that did not move us up from our fourth place standing, even though second through fourth places were only twelve points apart. Drew continued his dominance and took the blue. Eileen Davis from Prescott had the best cones of the three of us - Mary Jane, Diane and Eileen - and moved into second place. So, in the end, Arizona drivers (counting Drew as still in his heart an Arizonan) took three of the four top places in the Singles Championships!
Eileen
Davis of Prescott took second place driving her Morgan, Daniel. Her cones
test moved her ahead of Diane Kastama and into second place for the competition.
Left: Diane Kastama hit a post in the first hazard with her front wheel, bending the axle. The resulting misaligned front wheel proved too much for any accuracy hopes in the cones and Diane dropped from second to third place in the final event, cones. Diane is driving Jasper, a Welsh Cob she bought after she drove him this spring in Scotland in the World Championships for Driving for the Disabled.
Right: Drew Callahan, with his bride, Jennifer as groom, completed their domination of the Advanced Singles class and reigns as the National Single Horse Champion. Drew is driving his Morgan, Export, who is Melodie's full brother.
Ram Tap, 2004
Ram Tap, located in Fresno, CA has grown to be the largest event in the west. With over 80 entries, they turned down at least 20 more. A small group of Arizonans competed and did well against the best of California. Mary Jane took a fourth place in the Intermediate division.
Left: Allan Hale driving his mules in the hazard for Training level only.
Right: Gene Hegberg driving in Cones. Gene was on this year's US team in the World Driving for the Disabled championship held in Scotland
Left: Jill Warren driving in Cones. The course had an unusual feature, a pond your went through on course
Right: Steve Olsen entering the Training level hazard
Left: There were two beautiful water hazards at Ram Tap, and the course got you into the water very frequently.
Right: The grounds were right alongside the Union Pacific main line so we were treated to frequent freight trains. Well, Peter felt treated, at least.
