The Tryon Fall CDE was the host event for the 2025 USEF Combined Driving National Championship for horses. A total of seven divisions ranging from training through advanced level saw national championship contenders complete their three phases across four sunny and mild days at Tryon International.

Photo – Melissa Wessel and Megan’s Valentine. (©Leslie Potter/US Equestrian)

Preliminary Single Horse National Championship

Local competitor Melissa Wessel (Rutherfordton, N.C.) and her own 2017 American Sport Pony Megan’s Valentine (Hiro T x Anza Bossa Nova) earned the champion title for preliminary single horse to cap off their first season at the level.

“She and I have a close kinship. She was born in my lap,” said Wessel. “I’ve done all the training myself with her. We’ve been moving our way up very slowly, and this was our first year moving up to prelim from training.”

Speeding Up

Wessel has been working on increasing her speed in the cones phase since moving up, and the work paid off in the championship with a double clear round.

“It was a big goal for me to step up and be able to go faster, more accurate, and consistently,” she said. “We did that at Charlotte’s Creek in our last competition, and we did it twice here, in the national championship and in the combined test. I feel like I’m getting my chops in the marathon—I still have a long way to go! And I’m getting more consistent and precise in dressage.”

Before she started in combined driving about five years ago, Wessel trained and showed Half-Arabians, and Valentine’s dam was a winning National Show Horse. Her sire is a Dutch Harness Horse that Wessel had long admired.

“You don’t always know what you’re going to get when you breed a horse—if it’s going to be physically able to do what you want in your sport,” she said. “In this sport, they have to be really emotionally centered, and Valentine is particularly centered. She’s solid, she’s kind, and she works her heart out. She’ll always give you 100%.”

Full Results

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