We Did It!!

It was a very foggy start to the day as we walked the cones course. The time for FEI ponies was 2:38, a very fast time for the long windy course. Preliminary went first and I watched a few of them go, several went off course by going through a set of cones out of order or backwards. The course drove fairly well but not a lot of double clears at that level. The show ran exactly on time and before we knew it, it was time for our class.

This is the first time that Fran rode with me as groom in cones. Jack Wetzel very kindly lent me his pony size Kuhnle Spider Phaeton, which he used to win several National Championships with his great pony Harry. I've always used a road cart for dressage and cones, but we've been practicing in the four wheeler for about three weeks. It was great to have Fran on the back and Dottie was our ground person, ready with a cold drink or some fly spray as needed. I couldn't hear too much from the warmup area, but I did hear that no one had gone double clear. I tried to stay positive - it was Cooper's kind of course, where he could stay in his big swingy trot and the new carriage handled very well. Soon it was our turn and Cooper was up for it, he knows his job at this point and was eager to get to work. We went through the finish with no balls and just three seconds for the best score in the class and we won the Championship! We got lots of great prizes and a gold medal and the coveted Live Oak director's chair.

Cooper also won the Hanzi Award (he also won last year) which is the horse/pony chosen by the judges as the best in the competion. As part of this award, we won a Breyer Horse of Chester Weber's Jamaica. I'll save that for my granddaughter, Adeline. We had a great cheering section with all the Aikenites in attendance. That made the victory lap great.

Cooper is getting a few days of well deserved rest and we will get ready for Southern Pines CDE in mid April.

There are some photos from the event on www.usefnetwork.com/2011drivingnatlchamps/