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2005
FEI World Combined Pony Championship Report
Jennifer Matheson, (nee White) of Alliston, Ontario, now living in Aitken, South Carolina, drove to eighth place at the recent World Combined Pony Championship in England with her German Riding Pony, Danylou. The competition grounds at Catton Hall are on a working farm that has been in the same family for over 600 years and were ideal for such an event. The river Trent meanders through the property and offered a refreshing dip for the more adventurous team members. Camping is the norm at most European driving events; either tenting, or staying in a travel trailer, or living in deluxe accommodations in specially designed lorries that also transport the horses. As electricity and a water lines are available to each nation’s area, and most countries have a common dining tent and bring a chef along as part of the team. The smells throughout the camping area were wonderful, and the sharing and friendliness amongst the several hundred people on site was unsurpassed. There was a great mixture of nations, all sharing resources, stories and camaraderie. In all there were twelve nations competing, nine of which were able to field a full team consisting of at least one single, pair and four-in-hand entry. Imagine the logistics of the Opening Ceremony – over 250 ponies, 83 drivers in presentation vehciles, 104 grooms, and the 12 Chefs d’Equipe plus all the trainers, cooks, assorted support staff and families attending the championship. Everything considered, the Organizing Committee decided that only one turnout would be allowed from each nation, and no stallions in the parade.
Since Canada was campaigning a stallion, we marched on foot, being lead by one of the indigenous pony breeds. Our escort was a 12-year-old Fell pony gelding who had a very successful show career. The Chefs d’Equipe were driven on the initial course walk early Wednesday morning with the course designer and technical delegate. The course walk was limited to Sections A and D. The course was quite challenging, starting out along the river Trent with large white swans floating by, across fields of barley and rape seed, rolling up and down several hilly parts revealing some spectacular views of the English countryside. Section E obstacles were laid out very similar to Birds Hill in Manitoba – a daisy pattern of tracks between each of the 8 obstacles. It was possible to follow your team from obstacle to obstacle while the entry was gone for about five minutes in a big loop. The First Inspection called some 250+ ponies into a large field – a sea of Halflingers, Fells, Dartmoors, Fjords, Welsh crosses, German Riding ponies and Shetlands to name a few. The Veterinary commission had formed two inspection lanes, each going in opposite directions on the hard packed gravel drive. The first night’s social was a great hit and a very interesting ice breaker. Each country’s team was asked to bring samples of national food. The logistics were staggering – foodstuffs to be taken on an airplane, for about 100 people to sample, and representative of Canada, without refrigeration. We opted for the appetizer and dessert – crackers with Saskatoons and maple syrup over local ice cream – a great hit in the 30¼ heat.
Considering the heat, we considered our draw position of 5th to drive was really great. The exercise area and warm-up rings were about a kilometer from the stables, and was scheduled for over an hour through two practice and one collecting ring before the Driven Dressage test. As the each driver rounded the corner in sight of the ground jury, a huge dinner gong was sounded starting the 90 second countdown for the drivers to pass the VIP tribunes, crowds of well-wishers and on into the competition arena. Jennifer and Dannylou held the best performance of the morning – the only driver to score less than 50 (49.4) penalties. After another 35 competitors, Canada was in 8th place. The USA was able to field a full team (at least one Single, one Pair and one Four-in-hand turnout) and also did very well putting a total of 8 drivers in the top 10 from the three classes. Suzy Stafford, who drove this spring at CAI-B Bromont, was very disappointed when her pony became lame only three weeks before this Championship. Events turnout out that Sibyl Humphries Welsh cob Bouncer was in Europe and had previously been qualified by team alternate Muffy Seaton. Suzy drove Bouncer to a third place finish with 43.6 just ahead of Jack Wetzel’s 7th place with 49.4 and Sarah Schmitt’s 9th place with 51.2. The Singles class was won by Yvonne de Ruyter of Netherlands with top score of 39.8 penalties. The pairs drove on Friday morning – Katie Whaley from Southern Pines, NC drove first with a 22nd place finish of 51.84 followed by Tracy Morgans 5th place (51.84) over Ewoud Boom (NED), the class leader with 46.88. The four-in-hand class was in the afternoon was lead by Mia Allo of Belgium with 41.6, Lisa Stroud in 6th place with 56.0 and Boots Wright in 12th with 62.88 in a field of 21 competitors.
Everyone was delighted to awaken early Marathon morning to find a low overcast with a temperature cool enough to wear our team jackets! Danny would be excited as well to do his work at a breezy this 13¼ this morning, heading out as the 23rd to drive out of 83 entries, and was finished by the time the cloud burned off and the temperature climbed to another scorching day. Both Section A and Section D used maximum book speeds – thus time allowed for the 7 kilometer ‘A’ was an even 30 minutes. The 10 minute walk was a full kilometer followed by a neutral zone of 350 metres to arrive at the rest area where a jury member and veterinarian observed the inbound 50 metre trot to determine no obvious lameness. Danny’s vitals were excellent at the 10 minute compulsory rest, and we were set to proceed on schedule. Dr. Wolfgang Asendorf’s course design was definitely a challenging, world class course with the required 8 obstacles, each asking a different question and unique in some way. The first was very open and inviting, a couple of slopes to contend with and this ugly little post that seemed to jump out and catch Jennifer’s wheel by surprise with a big smack just before a hard right hand turn. The was a momentary silence in the crowd of a hundred or so onlookers as Nancy catapulted off the carriage doing a summersault and landing hard on her back. “What a surprise that was!” Nancy recounted later, explaining the stars she saw as her head landed next to another post. “Sure was glad I always wear my helmet!”
Obviously Jennifer had to drive the rest of the Obstacle with great caution, not having the weight and balance on the vehicle. A similar fate happened to Sarah Schmitt (USA), losing her navigator in the second obstacle which was based on a steep hill, reminiscent of the “Hole” at Fair Hill. The third obstacle, known as the Snow Flake, was by far the most technical. Jennifer drove it very smoothly, exhibiting a lot of skill weaving through the complex design of six gates camouflaged by shrubbery. The top performer here was Weronika Kwiatek of Poland completing the task a mere 15 seconds faster than Jennifer. The Beech Grove was the fifth obstacle. As the name suggests, this was a grove of beech trees with an undulating surface that had a few surprises, driving somewhat different than anticipated. By this time the ponies had been in harness for almost two hours, with over an hour of than being timed competition. More than a few were starting to tire. The morning’s low cloud had now dissipated, and the sun was out in full force, giving a sharp rise to the temperature. George’s Alley presented a unique use of space. Developed from a long, relatively narrow laneway, it was effectively eight rows long by four rows deep forming a rectangle. A few random rail rearrangements in the center and lots of options reminded one of a maze.
The ever-present water obstacle was essentially two ponds with a mandatory small bridge crossing from the in/out gate. The ramp was rather steep, slatted, and ended directly in the water. More than a few ponies looked with trepidation, carefully trying to balance the refreshing splash through the water to any desire of continuing this madness. The final challenge, just 350 metres from the end of ‘E’ was the signature obstacle – with a large bridge. In addition to devising and executing a winning strategy to compensate for the varied footing and topography, one has to remember there were a total of 47 obstacle gates in this section. As several drivers later commented, there were no give-aways. Suzy Stafford had the best North American marathon overall, demonstrating that consistency and even pace does win over the short bursts of speed and very technical driving.
Competition for the Single pony class was over shortly after noon making way for the Pair class continuing on with 4 minute spacing. Katie Whaley had the best North American pairs time finishing in 7th place, just 5.3 penalties behind the winner illustrating how close the competition really was. Tracey Morgan was right behind the winner at the most complex obstacle, but finished an average of just under 25 seconds slower than Katie, dropping into 12th place. The class leader was Ewoud Boom of the Netherlands, winning every obstacle but number 2. Unfortunately he had a miscalculation in obstacle two that resulted in a rollover. No one was hurt, but the 60 point penalty took him to the bottom of the class. The first competitor in the four-in-hand class was HRH Prince Philip, who at 83 gave a crowd-pleasing performance and much applause from the thousand spectators gathered along the course. Class winner was Aart van de Kamp Sr. (father and son were both driving the smallest ponies – black and white pinto Shetlands – in this Championship) with a final score of 97.54 penalties, winning the last four obstacles. Boots Wright (USA) was only a total of thirty seconds behind finishing in 14th place. Lisa Stroud (USA) was going very well until the water obstacle when a post jumped out and stopped the carriage. It took some time to get the grooms down and redirect the leaders. The crowd was all holding its breath watching Lisa skillfully drive the herd with a missing off-wheeler outside trace. Once outside the grooms quickly installed a spare and off they went to complete the course. The purpose of the last day’s Competition C is to test the fitness, obedience and suppleness of the ponies after the Marathon, and the skill and competence of the Competitors. It also tests the driver’s nerves and ability to plan a winning strategy. Adding together the scores of Driven Dressage and Marathon produces a number which is used to establish the order or go with the best driver (least number of penalty points so far) being last out. Drivers anxiously watch the ones who have done not as well trying their very best to overtake your position. For example, in the Single class there was just one ball (3 penalty points) and a few seconds (0.5 penalties each) spread between first and second place, and not one ball between second through to fifth place. In the Pair and Four-in-hand classes, difference between Gold and Silver was less than one ball. The course measured at 750 metres, giving a book speed maximum time allowed of three minutes with a 20 cm clearance. The fours are slightly slower having a time of 3:29 over the same course with a slight increase in clearance. There were no closed multiples, which has become very popular in modern course design. The course started with a modified ‘ladder’, then a four element zig-zag with a 90¼ turn into a 3 element zig-zag for numbers 4 and 5, plus a couple of reversals and finishing with a four element serpentine just prior to the finish line.
Was the course challenging? Oh yes, very much so. In fact only 5 of 36 Singles went double clean, none of the Pairs, and only one Four-in-hand. Mid-field number 18 obstacle proved most challenging for the Singles, toppled by 25% of the class in which only 13 managed to drive within the time allowed. While the pair drivers were somewhat slower (only 4 within the time allowed), 5 of 24 had problems with lone obstacle number 18. It was interesting to see the four-in-hand drivers, chefs and trainers studying the earlier classes and analyzing the problems and looking very carefully at number 18 in their course walk. Although only 4 out of 21 made it within the time allowed, only one driver missed that devil cone. Yvonne de Ruyter (NED) who won Competition A and was eliminated for missing an obstacle gate in Obstacle 4 completed cones in eight place. The competition was won by teammate Dirk van Beckhoven (NED). Ann-Christine Arvidsson (SWE) was second after her Marathon win, and Susan Denney (GBR) finished third, holding her same position as the previous day. Sarah Schmitt (USA) was just 1.13 seconds
over time on a clear round for 6th place; and Suzy Stafford (USA),
the last single to drive was 0.87 seconds over with the dreaded
ball #18 down for 11th place. Canada’s Jennifer finished with
one ball down, 17 seconds over time allowed for 24th place. You
can see how tight the placings in this competition became –
obviously all of world championship calibre. Aart van de Kamp (NED), the youngest driver with the smallest ponies was the only double clear for the four-in-hands. Our American friends were both about 10 seconds over time allowed. Boots Wright had problems in both zig-zags for a 17th place finish while Lisa Stroud cleared the multiples but seemed to have an alignment problem after number 11 creating a flush of knockdowns to finish in 19th place.
Team standings are made by the best Single, Pair and Four-in-hand performance from each of the three Competitions. Since Canada was only competing in the Single class this time, we were not ranked as a Team. At the end of the event were Gold to Germany; Silver to Netherlands and Bronze to Great Britain. Austria was in fourth place and the United States in fifth. The Closing Ceremonies is a magic time. Everyone present has something to celebrate – a medal, a ribbon, a new friendship, a lot of camaraderie, and the satisfaction of realizing just being here is a dream come true – whether as a competitor, a team member, a volunteer or a spectator. In light of all the sadness and news we read and hear of these days, it is truly a special time when you can experience all the nations coming together and celebrating their passion for their equestrian friends. From living together, sharing and cooperating there was a tremendous amount of good will. As FEI Driving Committee Chair Richard Nicoll stated in his closing address, the Combined Pony Championship was a great inspiration created by Jack Pemberton; has been well received; has proven very successful and will definitely be a part of our future. Was it exciting? You bet! Jennifer and Dannylou represented Canada very well and were encouraged and supported by all the folks on the Carriage Association’s tour. If you would like a commemorative lapel pin, send $10 to cover postage and handling. All proceeds will be used to help support transporting the horses or ponies to the next Championship. Those wishing to help with larger donations to support equestrian transportation for the team will be eligible for a Canadian income tax credit. Please contact Drive Canada by return e-mail for further information, attention Bill MacGillivray, driving fund chair for the Canadian Equestrian Team. Day-by-Day Reports July 1 - Team Canada In the Ribbons!
Read
the full day's report (PDF format) July 2 - Marathon at the Pony Worlds!
Read the full
day's report (PDF format) July 3 - Suzy Stafford Wins the Gold!
Read the full
day's report (PDF format) UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL EVENTS UPCOMING NATIONAL EVENTS |
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