At the conclusion of four exciting days of driving competition at the 2024 Spring Fling CDE, five new USEF Combined Driving National Champions emerged. With both veteran teams and some new faces gracing the winner’s circle, it was an enticing look at some of what’s to come for the sport in the season ahead.

Photo – Jacob Arnold with Kenzo and Kenji V. (©Leslie Potter/US Equestrian)

Advanced Pair Horses National Champion: Jacob Arnold with Kenji V and Kenzo

Jacob Arnold (Stamping Ground, Ky.) earned his fifth consecutive USEF National Championship title in the Advanced Pair Horses driving his own 2015 KWPN geldings, Kenji V (Emilano x Dironette) and Kenzo (Crescendo HBC x Zodancy M). While Arnold has already had a couple of successful European outings with this pair, they’re still a fairly new team.

“I competed them at the last FEI World Championship in 2023 in France, and they also won a show in Poland last year,” said Arnold. “I’ve had Kenji three years and Kenzo two years. This is only the third marathon and cones for Kenzo, so he’s developing and we’re trying to grow the team.”

Spring Fling proved to be a positive experience for Arnold’s pair as they turned in three solid phases on their way to winning the national championship.

“I was honestly pleased with all three phases,” said Arnold. “They all improved from the show before. We had a 41 in dressage, which I was happy about. I was pleased with the marathon because it was Kenzo’s third marathon, and he was super. To go double-clear in the cones is always the icing on the cake. The cones round at the last show two weeks ago didn’t go quite the way I was hoping, so I was really pleased to be able to go clear and have a good result.”

Full Results