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Volume 4

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Number 2 October/November 2008

volume 42 the aiken horse october/november 2008www.lfsir.com 4 the aiken horse october/november 2008october/november 2008 the aiken horse 5one two three october/november 2008 the aiken horse 7aiken horseoctober/november 2008 the aiken horse 9a day at the races who will be racing?aiken fall steeplechase weekendoctober/november 2008 the aiken horse 13manyoctober/november 2008 the aiken horse 1516 the aiken horse october/november 2008also available 2008 aiken fallpolo pony sale20 the aiken horse october/november 2008october/november 2008 the aiken horse 21brigadoon takes the cupaiken!final (the campbell cup), which was played immediately before the ali finals. after the first game was over, the holley tractor players changed shirts and jumped on their horses for another four chukkers. lesley-ann masterson was overheard calling for oxygen, but when someone appeared to take her seriously she had to explain that she was only joking. the winner of the junior polo cup 0-goal flight was c-spear south, a mother-anddaughter team that featured julie boyle andnovember15, 2008 news and notesriding for justiceyoga for equestriansmike gorman estrella equine, llc theask the judgeoctober/november 2008 the aiken horse 3334 the aiken horse october/november 2008october/november 2008 the aiken horse 3536inside38 the aiken horse october/november 2008eco-friendly fence 40youbecome the rider your horse deserves!october/november 2008 the aiken horse 43going for goldwould suit me well.? jack traveled to greven and megan met him there for the first time. ?i think i drove him three times before the dressage test,? she says. ?he was a real show pony. he went in the ring and said ?i?ve arrived!? we actually won the dressage.? growing up in magnolia, texas, just outside of houston, megan and her sister cassandra both started riding at a very young age. ?i was about 6,? says megan. ?then my mom [peggy] decided she wanted to do something with horses. she had our pony eric trained to drive and took up driving. when i was about 13, i started driving, too. i realized i could do it more seriously than riding. the balance was easier for a short person.? ?i was glad,? adds peggy. ?she fell off too much!? ?i learned a lot from eric,? megan continues, still laughing at her mother?s comment. ?he was a great welsh pony. we showed him under saddle and in driving. cassandra even foxhunted him. our ponies started to multiply. some by nature, some by purpose.? the ?by nature? part started when the benges purchased a gray, 14.0 hand welsh pony stallion named tylwyth mystic prince (ziggy). ?ziggy was 2 when we got him,? megan explains. ?bill peacock, a trainer i worked with in texas, started him. i drove him and cassandra rode him. i wanted to compete in regular combined driving events, just like everyone else. but according to ads [american driving society] rules, i couldn?t compete with a stallion until i was 18. since by that time it seemed that ziggy enjoyed driving more than going under saddle, i took him over. he was my main competition pony until 2006 and we did pretty well.? eventually, the time came for ziggy to retire from competition and take up his breeding duties. trainer randy cadwell was driving a palomino pony pair at the time. one pony named rupert didn?t match as well as randy would have liked, so she turned him over to megan. ?rupert was a really good experience for me,? says megan. ?he was an old soul and really good at teaching. he wouldn?t let me get away with anything! we competed at the advanced level. he wasn?t the fanciest pony, but we did really well. he excelled at marathon and cones. i had trouble with the new advanced dressage test, though. the one-handed figure-eights are really hard for me. we?d have won a lot more without the dressage!? last spring, rupert was sold to a couple who, coincidentally, winter here in aiken. by that time, the benges had relocated here themselves. ?we moved about a year ago,? says megan. ?my mom really liked the horse community. there were lots of very good combined drivers moving here and the people are really nice, really friendly.? with rupert gone, megan needed a new driving project. ?my dad had a pair of palomino ponies named bert and ernie that i?d always had my eye on,? she explains. ?i knew they?d be good for me because they?re smaller ? only 12.0 hands ? and smaller would be easier for me. besides, they were full brothers and had been driving together forever. my dad wasn?t doing anything with them at the time, so i decided i wanted them and just sort of stole them from him.? it would seem that megan was right when she decided bert and ernie would be a good match for her driving skills. how did she decide to prove it? pick a nice quiet local driving trial to break them all in together? not megan. she took bert and ernie out for their first competition together at the usef national combined driving championships, the most prestigious of the country?s major events, also known as the laurels at landhope, held in west grove, pennsylvania. now one can be brave but foolish. or one can be brave with good reason. it is clear that megan benge is the latter. she and her palomino pair, competing together for the first time (and, in fact, the first time megan ever competed with a pair), finished second in the preliminary division. although megan definitely plans to keep competing, her college schedule is also important to her. she usually drives at aiken?s major cde, the katydid combined driving event, held this year november 13?16. but this fall may be different. ?i?m not sure if i?ll be doing katydid yet,? she says.?it?s the same weekend as my finals, so it will depend on how classes are going.? but if things are going well, she, bert and ernie may be making another appearance.?cari swanson 914.456.3155 cari@cariswanson.com aikenflat branch houndsday october/november 2008 the aiken horse 51where?experience has shown that the best driving horses should have some andrade or coudelaria nacional [two of the three major lusitano bloodlines] ideally not less than 50 percent,? she says.?this mixture will normally produce tall, strong horses with progressive movements indispensable for the sport.? peter van borst?s new base in aiken will enable him to continue training lusitano horses as a u.s. extension of the brazilian interagro program. another group of horses is currently training in southern pines, north carolina with scott padgett. ?a major part of my decision to move to aiken is to meet the growing demand of people who want to continue training their lusitanos in the same philosophy as interagro,? says peter. ?interagro lusitanos and mr. gonzaga have a deserved reputation as one of the premier breeders of the lusitano. this reputation is founded on knowledge, a passion for the breed and a respect for its heritage and well-preserved bloodlines.? it is this respect for tradition that has largely steered peter to aiken. ?i am moving to aiken because it is one of the very few places left in the us that has a great empathy for high quality horses and the presentation of them. the town accommodates horses first and people second. there could not be a better proving ground to demonstrate the flexibility and versatility of the lusitano. we are not trying to impose the breed on anybody but we are keen to promote awareness of the lusitano and welcome anyone who wants to know more about this breed to contact us.?theoctober/november 2008 the aiken horse 5556 the aiken horse october/november 2008first flight or first place?the new world of saddlesmany choicessolving jumping problems with gridworkfinishing the basic gridwhat do you want to do today?over5. beat the bushes.6. the final steps877 polo 888 october/november 2008 the aiken horse 6768 the aiken horse october/november 2008october/november 2008 the aiken horse 69for saleinside70 the aiken horse october/november 2008october/november 2008 the aiken horse 71threeall two strides apart and set at about 3?9?. (imagine how that looks when you ride toward it ? a veritable sea of rails!) all eight competitors made the first round look easy. up the fences went. round two saw one entry eliminated with two rails down, leaving seven horse-and-rider combinations to contest round three. for this round, the line was reduced to four fences and again the jumps were raised. horses jumped in at 4? and the final fence was now set at 5?2?. tension built and spectators were on the edge of their seats. rails fell and the competition narrowed. just two horses made it through to the next round, ben goggel on his own contra bass and taylor land riding her horse, canaille. on to round four. the fences were raised again, with the last fence an imposing 5?5?. the first to go, ben goggel , carefully took aim at the line of jumps. contra bass, a brave and powerful 17.1 hand, 9-year-old oldenburg, never hesitated, jumped clean, and the crowd went wild. taylor land decided not to jump and settled for second place. although born in lucerne, switzerland, ben has spent most of his life based in colombia, south america. ?i have visited maybe 35 countries around the world, and this, the u.s.a., is the best,? says ben. ?this will be home for me. here everything is possible if you put your mind on it and are willing to work hard.? ben currently trains horses for competition and sales at in your dreams farm in alpharetta, ga. (www.horse1.com). ?i look for horses that are of the same type and quality as contra bass,? he says. contra bass is by conterno grande (by the great jumping stallion contender) out of loewen as, a mare from another famous jumping line. ben found him on a trip to germany, purchased him and started competing him there in the 4?? 4?9? classes. ?we got ribbons in all of them,? he says. ?his big gift is that he always gives his best. he enjoys human contact and we have a very close bond and communication. we really trust each other. i ride him in a snaffle ? no spurs or stick as he is so sensitive and sweet. i am blessed to have this partnership.? the partnership evidently works very well. ben and contra bass were also the show?s open jumper champions.and company equine insurancesusie cain can help you ?bustin? loose? pam gleason 2008theequestrianselectrical stimulation80 the aiken horse october/november 2008october/november 2008 the aiken horse 81quality tree service inc.october/november 2008 the aiken horse 838687aiken area calendar of events17-19 cphc cardinal classic open paint horse futurity:novemberdecember6 pine mountain 3-phase, ct, dressage show:business cards www.carriageandplowgifts.comoctober/november 2008 the aiken horse 93?????????????????????????????????????????www.sportingdaysfarm.comclassifiedsdirectory of services index of advertisersoctober/november 2008 the aiken horse 99102