Robin Groves’ training regimen prepares her perfectly for her first national title.

Robin Groves and Thor’s Toy Truck just might scare off the competition next year at the Fair Hill CDE. This pair took home their third victory there in three years on Oct. 19-21, and Groves earned her first U.S. Equestrian Federation National Championship in the process.

While other drivers said the course in Elkton, Md., was quite challenging, Groves didn’t think so.

“It was more like the kind of courses we used to drive several years ago,” she said. “It was a championship. It should be tough. The people who have been to Europe said it was like European courses, and that’s what we need to see.”

But Groves had an advantage over the difficult terrain and steep hills.

“I live in the mountains. I train in the mountains,” said the Brownsville, Vt.,resident. “We have endless miles of dirt roads, so fitness isn’t an issue.”

Although the mountains help with fitness, “T.J.” has another advantage over the competition when it comes to endurance. “I’ve also been competitive trail driving him over long distances,” said Groves. “He did a 50-mile and a 100 this year, and he’s got a 100 to do next week.”

Robin and her husband, Wilson, who also competed in the advanced single horse championship, believe that their driving horses should be versatile. So Robin added pleasure driving to T.J.’s repertoire this year.

“That’s really improved the dressage and the cones,” she said. “He’s always been good on the marathon.”
T.J. will have a two-month break once he completes the 100-mile drive, but then in January sleigh rallies will start in Vermont.

“Where I live, all the roads are dirt, and they’re all plowed and sanded. We can go out every day,” said Robin. “Our ring is a sand ring in a sunny place, so we don’t have to deal with mud. We grade it using the horses. If it gets too deep, we use the snow blower and go back to using the horses. We have a 25-miler in January. We run a training barn, so we have to keep working.”

This is Robin’s third year competing T.J. for owner Lana Wright, who also designed the marathon track at Fair Hill. He’s by Wright’s stallion Thor Of Greystone, a Thoroughbred-Connemara.

“We go back a long way with Lana,” said Robin. “She was Wilson’s Pony Club D.C. I first met her at the Vermont 100-mile ride in 1970. This was a horse that was by her stallion that was kind of tough, so we got him. We’re all very proud of him.”

T.J., now 12, has always been a forward horse. “He doesn’t get tired, and he never says ‘Uncle,’ which works for you and against you,” said Robin. “I never have to feel bad for him. He goes into the last hazard, and I pick up the reins, and he says ‘Let’s go!’ ”

A Close Call For Stroud ADVERTISEMENT Lisa Stroud hasn’t had much time to sit idle this year as she toured the international CDEs with her team of Connemara ponies. She had just returned from FEI World Pony Driving Championships in Denmark. “To turn around and come home and secure the national championships makes it  pretty much a complete year,” said Stroud. “I don’t know how you top that.” Stroud won the marathon phase with her four-in-hand, but she still started the cones phase in second place behind Boots Wright. “I hit the last cone. But Boots had two,” said Stroud. “It’s usually the other way around. I’m not necessarily known for my cones, although it’s improved this summer. We actually were second overall in the cones at the World Championships, so I’m feeling like we’re on an upward trend there.” Stroud, West Grove, Pa., said her strategy was to save time on the turns. “I went as tight as I could. I was inside every single previous track,” she said. “Instead of trying to be really fast across the ground, I tried to go the tightest lines because on this surface as you go faster, you skid more.” Although three of Stroud’s ponies are purebred Connemaras, the right leader, Mosby, is a U.S.-bred mix. “He actually went to the 50th reunion Connemara show last year in Middleburg [Va.], and they asked about the breeding,” said Stroud. “I said one is not a Connemara. He was the only non-Connemara on the show grounds. We did this demonstration through the cones, and they were so excited that they gave him an honorary Connemara ribbon.”

T.J. didn’t start working until he was 5, and Wilson spent a year driving him before he handed the reins over to Robin.

“When he handed him to me, everybody said, ‘Oh, now he’s safe for Robin?’ And he said, ‘No, he’s just not treacherous anymore,’ ” recalled Robin. “Once in a while I think I’d like a quiet one, but I don’t really. When they’re quiet I hate them!”

He’s Hot To Trot
A fast pony also helped Sara Schmitt take home her second national title. Schmitt, Glen Gardner, N.J., won the single pony title in 2005 with High Country Doc and claimed victory this year with Julia Greifeld’s Batman.

“This pony is hot, whereas Doc was very laid back,” said Schmitt. “He would jog between the hazards and then run really fast in the hazards and then jog again. This pony wants to gallop the entire marathon course.”

Although the pair finished third after dressage, Batman’s desire to go fast on the marathon gave Schmitt a substantial lead going into the cones phase.

“He was still running at the end,” said Schmitt of their marathon. “I had to walk really slowly into the finish because we were about 3 minutes ahead. We did the funeral march up the hill to get into the window.”

They entered the cones more than 20 points ahead of their nearest competitor. “It was nice because I didn’t have to run in the cones,” said Schmitt. “We could just stay at the trot and do it at a steady trot. That was good for him for the future.”

Schmitt has only been driving the 10-year-old Morgan-Welsh for a year. He does double duty as a dressage pony for Greifeld’s daughter Katie and was driven by Schmitt’s farrier at the lower levels.

Schmitt also rides Batman when he needs some dressage schooling. “I don’t ride him that much, maybe three times a month, and especially if I’m working on something,” she said. “I ride all my driving horses, so if I have a problem I need to work through, I usually do it on their back. It’s nice that I’m small and can ride the ponies.”

They Do Double Duty
Larry Poulin is another driver who likes to work his horses under saddle, and all of the horses he used in the pair horse competition show in recognized dressage shows.

“We compete equally under saddle as in harness,” said Poulin, Petersham, Mass.

The most experienced horse on his team, Cody, shows at fourth level.

The pairs victory marked Poulin’s seventh national title, and it was a great finish to a year that included a trip to the FEI World Pair Driving Championship in Warka, Poland.

“This course is more testing than what we dealt with over there,” said Poulin. “The hazards are extremely technical. The terrain—you’ve got some serious hills here—and we had a lot of humidity here.”

Poulin won the marathon, and he said he appreciated the artistic decoration that made each hazard unique.

“In Europe they’re all the same. They’re all a bunch of posts, and they’re all a different color, and you have to try to remember where to go,” he said. “Here they’re all particular hazards, like the water and the flags, and that made it easier for me to remember where to go at full speed.”

One horse Poulin used for the marathon was fairly new to competition. Wiley, an 8-year-old Hanoverian, looked to Conyer, a 15-year-old Dutch Warmblood, to show him the ropes.

“Wiley’s only done three marathons, nothing at this level,” said Poulin. “He did all three phases. I was extremely happy with him. The Cody horse is extremely tired from a long year. He went to Europe, so we thought we’d unplug Cody before we came down and plug in Wiley so he could get a little education. We had no idea that we would end up winning.”

Poulin found Wiley in Colorado three years ago.

“We were looking for a horse for a client, and he happened to stick his head out the shed row. I liked the way his head looked, so we pulled him out,” he said. “They tried to make a jumper out of him, but he would bolt when you got on him. We taught him to drive and gave him another job. He likes the buddy system.”
Poulin has his eyes fixed firmly on the next World Pairs Championship in 2009.

“They’re young horses. They’re still in the B+ phase,” he said. “In a couple years they should be at their peak. By then the horses will be more than ready. I don’t feel that they’re physically strong enough or finished in their education for this type of sport, but we’ve got some good veteran horses that will help them to learn what to do.”

Sara Lieser