Smoky, winner of the preliminary single pony division at the Gladstone CAI-B, was unbroken and mistrusted people when Sherri Dolan purchased him. But after Dolan gained his confidence, the 12.3-hand, 6-year-old Modern Shetland (a Hackney-American Shetland cross) became a driving force and showed his mettle in Gladstone, N.J., Sept. 21-24.

Dolan, 33, Milford, N.J., said her win at Gladstone is very special. “We’ve been working all year, and this is the first show where we did well in all three phases,” she said after her double-clear performance in cones and score of 107.42.

A brief trip to a local driving show a few years ago gave Dolan a taste for the sport, so she bought a small mare who was too hot for pleasure driving. So Dolan scoured the area to find a replacement before she discovered Smoky, then 21�2, at his Pennsylvania breeder’s farm. Since she had competed her previous pony, she had a small pony carriage and harness that fit Smoky perfectly.

She sent the young gelding to Amy Bauman to be broken and trained to drive. Dolan and Smoky made their debut at the 2005 Lord Sterling (N.J.) driving show and went to Florida last winter to continue their partnership. This year they continued in the preliminary division, moving up to second at The Laurels At Landhope (Pa.) before this victory.

Better And Better
Kim Stover, Smyrna, Del., who won a spot on two United States World Single Horse Championship squads, had bad luck end her two tries. In 1998 she lost her horse to an illness, while in 2000 her horse was injured.

But things are looking up now. She and Tony, 6, won the preliminary class at Gladstone last year and came back this year to take the intermediate single horse class (126.73). The Standardbred-Hackney gelding led from start to finish, capping off the day with a double clear in cones.

“To win dressage and cones, yes, that makes this the best show,” said Stover, who had the best score in dressage and cones for the intermediate division. “He also won two hazards yesterday. He keeps getting stronger and smarter. He’s learning the game, and I’m patient, waiting for him to get it.”

Stover’s event wasn’t entirely smooth sailing, however. She almost lost her try for the blue ribbon when a quick-release snap on her harness broke in the second hazard. Stover finished the obstacle without all her breeching intact until her groom, Pat Augler, could make a quick repair outside of the hazard.

The bay gelding was bred by a Mennonite farmer who sent him to a Canadian auction when he was 4. Canadian horseman Jack Braithwaite spotted him there and bought him. Braithwaite sent a video of Tony to Stover, who purchased him, sight unseen, from Braithwaite.

“He has a fabulous trot, and I was told he had a good mind, which he does,” she said. “I was told through a friend of a friend to watch the video and bought him, even though I didn’t need another horse.”

Like Stover, Paul Martin has had his eye on the World Driving Championships. Chosen as an alternate to the 2005 World Combined Pony Driving Championships, Martin didn’t compete, but he and his wife, Karen, did some horse hunting while abroad. They acquired Westonian Samson, 8, and Westonian Comet, 10. The Section C Welsh geldings won the intermediate pair pony class (137.53) at Gladstone.

“I was very happy with the way they went; they were very forward,” said Paul, who owns and operates Martin Auctioneers in New Holland, Pa. “They are coming together as a unit now after a year.”

The Martins had imported three bay German ponies in 2003, which the couple shared in singles and pair classes. But Paul wanted to compete with a matched four-in-hand. Now with enough ponies to go around, Karen, drives in singles and pairs while her husband does the pairs and four-in-hands.

Promises Kept
Nancy Johnson, Maynard, Mass., kept her promise to her Canequin’s Look Out when she told the dark bay, Morgan gelding, now 18, that he would no longer have to compete as a single. She hooked “Robo” up with his12-year-old full brother, Canequin’s Leather-stocking, or “Naddy,” to take the preliminary pair horse title (132.47) in the geldings’ first time together at a CDE.

Johnson drove Naddy as a single for two years and is a veteran of two World Singles Driving Championships. “Then I decided driving him in a pair this year would be fun to try,” she said.

She began working with pairs driving veteran Larry Poulin eight years ago to help Robo earn his sport horse award from the Morgan Horse Association. Now she’s aiming Naddy toward that same honor.

The loss of Mark Borkoski’s combined driving pony, Moonshine Special, three years ago sent the Terryville, Conn., driver out to find a replacement. He got Mignonne, a 15.1-hand, black Morgan-Belgian bred by Jacques Lemieux in Canada, and owned by fellow driver, Ed Werner.

Their 115.49 in the preliminary single pony division at Gladstone brought them their first blue ribbon together.

Borkoski tried the mare at the 2003 Lord Sterling CDE and decided to buy her. “And that was after she got an 89 in dressage, which was horrendous,” said Caroline Borkoski, wife and navigator for her husband. “She did really well in the marathon, but in cones we had some issues.”

It took a year for Mark and “Marion” to bond, but “things are starting to click now,” said Caroline. “Now she will eat or drink whatever Mark is eating or drinking, such as Gatorade. That’s how we get her to drink at the vet check at the end of Section D.”

Truckin’ To Blue
Thor’s Toy Truck, the winner of the advanced single horse division at the Gladstone CAI-B with Robin Groves, has come a long way. He was born on a Standardbred breeding farm and spent the first half of his life as a stallion running in a pasture of young horses until Lana Wright took him in as a 5-year-old.

Wright, a combined training driver and breeder, owned his sire, the late Thoroughbred-Connemara stallion, Thor Of Greystone, who was crossed with a purebred Connemara mare to produce the future driving horse, now 11. The 15-hand, black “T.J.,” who looks a lot like his sire, came to Groves with the nickname, short for Thor Junior.

Although he was gelded and broken when he was at Wright’s Unicorn Farm, T.J. didn’t appreciate it and showed the world his displeasure through his actions, said Groves. He had developed some bad manners, which turned away potential buyers, so Wright sent him to the Groves� Brownsville, Vt., for training five years ago.

While Wilson Groves handled him the first year, teaching him some manners, Robin took over for her husband four years ago, showing T.J. up through the levels.

“This, though, is probably the best win he has had,” said Robin, “although he won the marathon and advanced class at Fair Hill [Md.] last year. He definitely is the best marathon horse I have had.”

Groves, a former eventer and endurance rider, is active in competitive trail rides, pleasure driving, foxhunting and gives clinics across the country. She believes horses profit by being exposed to several disciplines.

“T.J. and I will go to the Jersey Devil 50-mile competitive ride [N.J.] a week after his Gladstone victory,” she said. “Then he will be back in harness for the advanced division at Fair Hill [Md.].”

Nancy Degutis