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Texas Takes Home the Blue at Georgia International Combined Driving Event!
by Karen Garrett
For those new to the sport, first a couple of definitions. A CDE is a "Combined Driving Event". It is patterned along the same lines as eventing. First there is Dressage, then the Marathon (i.e. cross country) and finally obstacles or, in the vernacular, "cones" (the driving version of show jumping). There are a fair number of small local shows which offer some variation on the full CDE. We, my driving partner Katie (an Irish Draught Sporthorse) and I have participated in a number of these over the last couple of years and I also competed Sue Holland’s RID mare Belle while Katie was out of commission last summer. But because of injury to either Katie or me (a broken wrist dancing with my dog at a pleasure driving show) we have had to cancel out on each CDE we entered.
With some trepidation that a yet unknown disaster awaited, we (Katie, myself and as the Irish say "himself"- my husband Pat) pulled out of our farm in Texas for the 950 mile journey to the Georgia International Horse Park, the site of the equine events for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The disasters were minimal, the truck stop food predictable and gas prices outrageous, but we all arrived safely. Of course my nerves were a mess. The local shows with our driving friends were one thing. This was an entirely different matter. Here we were far from home and newbies (although the other drivers at the show, like all other drivers we have met, were very friendly and supportive). You compete in the competitions, not in the stalls.
We arrived 36 hours before we were to compete to be sure Katie had a rest and we had an opportunity to walk or drive (in a golf cart) the various courses. I was not too distressed when I found out the first part of the marathon course had been modified because a bridge had washed out, or even when I walked the dressage arena set up in the multi million dollar show jumping arena with the footing guaranteed to dry in 3 hours and bogged to my ankles 12 hours after a rain. We began to wonder when our golf cart became stuck on section A of the marathon course. Poor Katie – she had to pull a 400 carriage plus the two of us for over 10 kilometers in this yuk!
Fortunately, the first day of the competition (Dressage) was only overcast with modest puddles in the arena – still really boggy. Katie and I drove our dressage test and were pleased with our performance. The stress began when we learned we had the lowest score (one collects penalty points in each of the three competitions so low is good) in single horse training. We had come to attempt to complete our first CDE (it is ever so easy to get eliminated in the marathon or the obstacles). Now we had to defend our dressage score! If you have a good dressage score you need to take extra care in the other two events. A higher score allows you to go hell bent (and maybe have more fun) for there is nothing to loose and always the hope your competitor will make a dramatic mistake.
The next day was marathon day. Pat as the "Gator" (the Navigator hangs on the back -supposedly to keep the carriage from flipping, but from the driver’s standpoint primarily to have the opportunity to make gratuitous and unhelpful remarks about the progress on the course) strapped on all sorts of stop watches, pulled out the duct tape to position timing goals on the carriage so failing eye sight and memory could attempt to remember the time we needed not to earn penalty points or elimination. He even took his ibuprofen for his less than satisfactory knees. Off we went and despite every temptation (and Pat’s fumbling with the stop watches) we came within the time and didn’t go through a hazard gate backwards. On the course there were five hazards, sort of mazes, and one has to go through each gate in the hazard in alphabetical order. No additional penalty points! Katie performed in the expected unflappable Irish Draught-cross way including through the ever feared water hazard.
So back to preparing for the third event. I walked the obstacles time after time (clocked about 3 miles as the course was 700 metres). We were more than one obstacle ahead of our nearest competitor, but it was still close. I needed to drive conservatively, but not so conservatively that we obtained significant penalty points for time. As the person with the lowest (best) score, I went last. Based on what the other competitors had done, my objective was to go clean and run the risk of getting some modest time penalties (they count less than a ball down in the obstacles). We went through the first 19 obstacles as planned, including the last three which were the most difficult. Relieved to have not had a major wreck, I had a mind blank and stopped driving (i.e. lost my focus – you must drive every stride!) and took down the last obstacle. But we did well enough to retain first. We had come with an objective of completing a CDE and we had won our division. Our friends back home shortly knew, and we found the return trip to be less stressful than the trip out. Pat hung the blue ribbon on the truck mirror like a Texas high school graduation tassel.
I will compete in Ireland this summer and hope not to be a disgrace to the Yank (we’re all Yanks to the Irish!) driving community even at my beginning level. The elation at finally completing a CDE without injury to Katie or me is a memory I will forever cherish.