Equiery World Travelers Driving Champs
Tracey Morgan of Beallsville is no stranger to World Cham- pionships,
having competed
in four with her pair of Dart- moor ponies before competing in single ponies with Fuego 88. T is past summer, Morgan and Fuego headed to Europe for their third World Cham- pionships together, making the competition the seventh for the now 61-year-old Morgan. “T at is one of the things I like so much about combined driving,” Morgan said, “it doesn’t matter how old you are. You can still be competing internationally at my age!” Morgan has been around horses most her life and was an avid three-day event rider in her youth. She also competed in classical dressage, earning her USDF Bronze and Silver Medals. “I got invited by a friend to take a ride on her carriage and that was it, I was hooked!” ex- plained Morgan when asked how she got into
Germany • Netherlands • Mongolia England • Ireland
Racing Through Mongolia
Pierre Germain of Upperco, a twenty- one year old economics major at Colo- rado College, spent part of his summer vacation in Mongolia participating in the famed Mongol Derby, in which 43 people from around the world set off to see who could cover a distance of 1020 km through the Mongolian steppes that fastest. Germain is the second Marylander to participate in this race, the fi rst being Barbara Smith in 2014. Germain found out about the Derby
In preparation for the 2017 FEI World Driving Championships for Po- nies, Tracey Morgan and Fuego 88 competed in a CDE at Beekber- gen, Netherlands where they fi nished second overall.
T is year, however, the US only sent individual
drivers to the World Championships, as they did not have any 4-In-Hand drivers qualify. Mor- gan was one of two single pony drivers that went to the Worlds along with one pony pairs driver. “T ere were 99 competitors from all around the world that competed this year,” Morgan stated adding, “and 420 ponies on the grounds!” And if one thought packing for a trip abroad
is diffi cult for a person, imagine traveling with one pony, two carriages, several harnesses and all the other gear needed for a three phase competition.
“Combined
driving is very much like eventing, which is one of the reasons I like it so much,” she said. “You have dres- sage fi rst, then the marathon, like cross-country, and fi nally cones, which is similar to show jumping.” Morgan said that the same carriage is used for the dressage and cones phase and a second more sturdy carriage for the marathon. Morgan traveled with
Ninety-nine competitors and 420 ponies from around the world competed in the World Championships.
combined driving. T at was 25 years and sev- eral national and international medals ago. Morgan looked at Fuego, a German Rid-
ing Pony gelding, for a client but decided he was too green for that person and bought him for herself instead. Since then, the have been the USEF National Single Pony champions three times. Now 16 years old, Fuego traveled to Germany for his third World Champion- ship. “Being selected for a team is just like any other USEF sport. You have to earn qualifying scores and win a spot on the team,” Morgan ex- plained. Morgan and Fuego won the CAI2*-P1 divisions at the Palm Tree Combined Driving Event CDE at Little Everglades and the Live Oak International earlier this year.
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Fuego and a pallet of gear from JFK Airport in New York to Amster- dam in the Netherlands.
From there, they competed at an FEI Combined Driving competi- tion in Beekbergen, Netherlands, as prep, where they fi nished second in dressage and second overall. Next up was the FEI World Driving Championships for Ponies in Min- den-Kutenhausen, Germany. “T e crowds there are incredible! It is like Rolex [Kentucky] for driving,” she remarked. “T e whole competition was big and busy.” At the World Championships, Morgan and
Fuego placed seventh in dressage and sixth in cones. Overall, they fi nished 16th out of 41 competitors.
through an article in the Wallstreet Journal and since he did not have an internship lined up for the summer, decided to apply to compete in the Derby instead. “I did it because I want-
ed to prove that I could do something hard like this,” Germain said. “Plus it was a great way to see a diff erent country.” Part of the Derby application process is to ex- plain why applicants want to participate, as well as answer several detailed questions about their riding background. Both of Germain’s parents rode as children in France, which is where he learned to ride when he was three years old. Germain’s riding education was a varied one that included vaulting, hunters, jumpers and dressage. Currently, when home on breaks, Germain trains in horsemanship with Barry Dornon at AOPF Stables in Upperco, the farm his mother runs. After sending in his application and being
interviewed over the phone, Germain was in- formed this past January that he had been ac- cepted to race. From that point on, Germain started his Derby training. “I really focused a
Pierre Germain racing across Monglia on horseback
lot on fi tness training as you must stay below 90kg (about 200 lbs) to race,” he explained. “I also booked my fl ights, bought the various gear I would need, and started fundraising for the Derby’s charity Cool Earth.” Once in Mongolia, by way of Korea, Ger- continued...
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