Katydid Combined Driving Event Returns with ADS Intermediate Championships
As followers of driving events know, Katydid took last year off due to scheduling conflicts. This year the event returned with several changes, first, the Advanced division was dropped and the Training division was upgraded to a full fledged CDE rather than and HDT. Secondly, there was a dedicated small pony division. The Training Small Single Pony (that’s a mouthful) division drew seven entries. It is interesting to note that most of these drivers went forward and competed on Saturday during the worst of the winter weather. Additional changes at Katydid included two days of dressage instead of having two rings going. Also, the hazard that was previously located in the woods was repurposed and rebuilt near the main hazard area, making all of the hazards centrally located around the dressage ring. Boxes were also added at the flag hazard behind the hay barn.
Lastly, Katydid hosted the inaugural version of the ADS North American Intermediate Championships. Although the divisions were small, the single horse and pony divisions were competitive right up to the cones phases, with first and second place finishers only separated by a few points.
The largest and probably most competitive division was the Preliminary Single Pony, with thirteen starting the show. By Sunday, almost half the group had either withdrawn on Saturday due to snow or eliminated. The top two finishers were separated by 0.1 points after Tim Palloni put the pressure on Linnea Jilheden by driving a double clear cones round with Tudor Oaks Farm’s Haflinger gelding. Linnea had one cone down to just squeak through with the win, driving a pony owned by Belle Grey Farm.
Unless you live in a cave, you probably know that the competitors woke up Saturday morning to nasty weather – including the earliest snowfall ever recorded in South Carolina. The majority of the competitors that started the course Saturday finished without any problems except a few unfortunate eliminations. The ground jury decided to allow the competitors who had not competed Saturday to do cones if they chose. Cones day was sunny, if a bit windy, but no complaints after the previous day.
Several of the divisions had familiar faces not in their normal divisions. Wendy O’Brien drove her ponies as a four-in-hand (adding in a pony from her previous pair to make four) in the Preliminary division, which was quite fun to watch. Janelle Marshall drove Bob Burrow’s pair after Bob could not make Friday dressage due to business obligations. The pair, consisting of a KWPN x Haflinger and a Friesian x Morgan, are coming along and finished a close second to Paul Grippa with his Turbo Friesians.
Thanks for sharing the Katydid pics. Wish I could have been there!