Misdee Wrigley Miller.
Misdee Wrigley Miller has proven her talent many times over in multiple equestrian disciplines. She has competed successfully in pleasure driving, racked up the ribbons in Saddlebred divisions, and traveled to the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France to represent the United States in combined driving.
Now, making her return to the Devon Horse Show, Wrigley Miller is in the spotlight again. She demonstrated her skill over five days of coaching competition to claim the championship.
“It was really special to come back and come back in a big way,” Wrigley Miller said.
The coaching division transports spectators back in time. Competitors dress to the nines to present their matched four-in-hand teams and antique vehicles, many over 100 years old. During the five classes of the division, entrants are judged on numerous qualities including performance, presentation and appointments.
The division ended Friday night with a timed competition over an obstacle course. Wrigley Miller added a third place finish in that class to three wins and a second place over the previous days of competition, clinching the championship.
“Coaching challenges me as a horsewoman, and I like that,” Wrigley Miller said. “It’s a good test, and it’s an accumulation of several nights.”
She and her team also have a strong presence in the Saddlebred divisions at Devon. She has two mounts in championship classes on Saturday, and her trainer, Larry Hodge, and husband, James Miller, are both competing as well.
“Devon is like coming home,” Wrigley Miller said. “It really is. The people here are so lovely. Being able to compete in front of a large and knowledgeable crowd is really special and something that we don’t do with the Saddlebreds so much. We basically show to ourselves. To be able to come here to Devon with the whole county fair atmosphere is so much fun. It’s so much more than a horse show. It’s an experience.”
Hodge rode Hillcroft Farm LLC’s Two Sweet to Kiss to victory in the Five-Gaited Saddle Horse Stake Friday evening, and taking the Three-Gaited Saddle Horse Stake was Luman Wadhams on Thunderboomer, owned by Overtime Farm LLC. Several of the Saddlebred, Hackney and Friesian divisions crowned their champions Friday night:
Western Country Pleasure Championship
Lynn Finelli and her own CH Winsdown Edgecliff
Fine Harness Championship
Smith Lilly and We Must Be Nuts, owned by Grace Arnold
Hackney Pony Amateur Championship
Kathleen Comeau and her own X-tremely Grand
Friesian Horse Pleasure Championship
Shawnda Smoker and her own Rouke H
Hackney/Harness Pony Amateur Championship
Carl Nichols and Crystal Creek’s Hot To Trot, owned by Kathryn Nichols
Show Pleasure Driving Championship
Cathy Rogers Holmes and her own Who
Roadster Pony Championship
Joe Harrod and Heartland River Dance, owned by Susanne Har
Mary Adelaide Brakenridge for Phelps Media Group, Inc. International
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