Championship Intermediate Single Pony Class was dominated by Jessica Reuterskiold (WI) and Wood’s Kandi, a 1998 Fjord mare, scoring 176.63 over three phases.

Photo ©TIEC

Reuterskiold and the 22-year-old mare have been driving together for ten years, and have enjoyed several disciplines together before finding their niche:

“I’ve had her 15 years. Before I did Driving with her, I did some English, Western, and some Jumping with her. The Driving seems to be her niche, and we’ve been having a lot of fun doing it. She’s headed to retirement in the next few years, so I wanted to bring her to a big show and see how it would go.”

Intending to come to the Tryon CDE for a learning experience, Reuterskiold shared that she “wasn’t expecting to walk away with a win. I came to learn; it was a big trip to haul halfway across the country. It was the first big trip for both me and my horse, so it was a lot of learning with a great result at the end! It was an amazing experience that I’ll certainly not forget about.

“I thought it was an amazing facility,” Reuterskiold concluded. “The course was very tough, which was to be expected, so I knew I was fighting an uphill battle, there, but I was up for the challenge. Cones went well. I had some time penalties, but I was going for an easy-going round. Walking it the first few times was a little intimidating, but once I got my plan down it drove very nicely.”