Te Combined Driving Hanoverians of Little Everglades Ranch
By Annetta Coleman
L
ittle Everglades Ranch is a 2,050 acre working ranch just outside of Dade City, Florida, that specializes in exotic Belted Galloway cattle, Tifton 44 hay production,
agricultural peat mining, Camelina (a biofuel crop) and breeding topnotch Toroughbred race horses and Hanoverian performance horses. Additionally, Little Everglades Ranch is known as a premier site for hosting steeplechases and combined driving events. Katie Carris came to Little Everglades Ranch 14 years ago to care for the horse barn, the Belted Galloways and the Hanoverians, and eventually became general manager of the ranch. Performance Hanoverians are bred and raised at Little
Everglades Ranch with some of the training accomplished there and the bulk of the training done in Virginia. Te key to combined driving success is to have both well-trained athletes and well-matched horses who have similar build, coloring and size and also similarities in stride length, rhythm and gaits. Te horses are developed under saddle first and shown in dressage for a few years before they start preparing for combined driving. In the combined driving world, good dressage scores give a big boost to show success, thus the entire time the performance horses are in combined driving work they are also worked in dressage. Two of the legendary combined driving performance horses
at Little Everglades Farm are Feine Dame (Feiner Graf / Woodstock), a 1993 Hanoverian Mare, and her son, Rueben (Rienzi / Feiner Graf ). Feine Dame is an imported 1993 Hanoverian Mare shown in dressage until the age of 12, when Little Everglades Ranch purchased her as a broodmare. At age 16, after producing several foals, Feine was introduced to combined driving. "She was like a duck to water," says Katie, as she was able to quickly add the combined driving technique to her base of dressage talent. In combined driving, Feine Dame
64 March/April 2013
is known for being bold, confident and sensible, with presence and ability needed to make tight turns as well as great vascularity (which allows her to quickly cool down, one of the performance measurements in combined driving). Feine Dame competed between the ages of 16-20 and had quite a following of fans. Feine Dame's son, Rueben, foaled in 2003, was in under
saddle training for a full year before he started combined driving training. In 2012, Rueben was showing both Second Level dressage and Preliminary Level in combined driving, consistently in the ribbons in both disciplines. He demonstrates an even greater degree of athleticism and performance talent than his accomplished dam. Rueben is known for his presence, brilliance and his gorgeous movement, including a big, bold, forward trot.
In the combined driving world, Katie is convinced that the
athleticism, trainability and natural movement of Hanoverians allow them to excel. "Tey need the ability to excel in the dressage component of the event, including collection, rhythm and lengthenings, and need slow and medium range of speed. But they also need a mind that allows them to settle and a slightly flatter knee action that allows them to excel in the 8-10K marathon because they are not working as hard as horses with more up and down movement," she explains. v
Photos. Top: Feine Dame and Katie Carris show Dressage Test at Tampa Trial ADT. Bottom: Rueben at Dressage in the Meadows in Virginia ridden by Sherra Kosch of Buck Branch Farm spectacular.
Little Everglades Ranch
Pics of You
American Hanoverian Society
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