Combined driving competitors started the season off strong this week at the 2023 Spring Fling CDE hosted by the Florida Horse Park. This year, the event hosted USEF Combined Driving National Championships for CAI3* Advanced Pony divisions, CAI3* Pair Horses, and all Preliminary divisions. In total, seven national championship divisions were contested at the event.

Photo – Mary Phelps with Kimba, Bugsy Malony, Tony Da Pony, and Al Capony. (©Leslie Potter/US Equestrian)

The Advanced Four-in-Hand Pony division saw another returning champion defend her title. Mary Phelps (Micanopy, Fla.) and her team of pinto American Shetland Ponies won both the marathon and the cones phases and won the division and the USEF National Champion title. Phelps’s ponies, affectionately referred to as “the gangsters,” are Kimba, Bugsy Malony, Tony Da Pony, and Al Capony.

Final Results