Aiken, SC (November 10, 2011) – Chester Weber, the eight-time USEF National Four-In-Hand Combined Driving Champion, drove away as the winner of the Four-In-Hand Advanced Horse Teams with a new team of horses during the 2011 Katydid CDE in Aiken, South Carolina. Weber’s new team, including three horses owned by Jane Forbes Clark and two by Weber, proved their future star power by winning the dressage, marathon and cones during the event.
Weber, who has proven he can dominate the Four-In-Hand field regardless of the horses he is driving, said he was pleased with the effort his new team gave. “Boris W is a five-year-old that I have had in training in Ocala for a year. This was his first show and I have high hopes for him. I drove him in the left lead in dressage and cones,” Weber said. “Caletta is an eight-year-old Austrian bred mare owned by Jane Clark and I drove her all three days in the right wheel. Caletta previously competed at the World Equestrian Games with Jim Fairclough.”
Caletta’s full sister, Celina, also made the team and the 10-year-old competed all three days in the left wheel. “The other two were Boy W and Jane Clark’s Splash and I drove them together in the lead of the marathon,” Weber said, adding that he feels he has added great depth to his stable with the combined talents of Team Weber and Team Clark.
Boris W’s debut drew a great amount of attention from spectators who commented that the talented bay is a “phenomenal mover” and looked “fantastic” in the lead. In addition to the debut of a new team, Olof Larsson, a member of Team Weber, competed Weber’s Reno W in the USEF National Single Horse Championship at Katydid. “It was their first advanced show together and their dressage was very good. I still believe there is room for improvement which will get them below 40 points in the dressage,” Weber said. “Their marathon was very good also, especially since it was their first time at a national championship.”
Larsson and Reno W took part in a three-day USEF clinic with Michael Freund prior to Katydid and Larsson said he and Reno learned a great deal. “Reno was excellent throughout the show. This was his first advanced single show to participate in and during the show he showed me strengths I was unaware he had,” Larsson said. “I hope to continue showing Reno as a single during the winter and spring season. The goal is to give him experience in the singles so he will learn to ‘stand on his own legs’ and become an even more valuable asset to the team.”
While Larsson and Reno put in a solid effort in the single championship, it was Scott Monroe, of Sharon, Connecticut, and his black Morgan gelding Bethesda After Dark, who drove away as the USEF National Single Horse Championship during Katydid. Monroe’s victory earned him the “Jamaica Perpetual Trophy,” donated by Weber in honor of Weber’s legendary equine partner Jamaica who was named the 2008 USEF Horse of the Year. Jamaica, 20, is now retired and lives happily at Weber’s Live Oak Stud in Ocala. Throughout his career, Jamaica helped Weber win the Individual Silver Medal at the Four-In-Hand World Championships in The Netherlands, competed in two World Equestrian Games, four World Championships and earned seven National Championship titles as part of Team Weber.
“Although Jamaica never competed as a single horse, he had the honor of being the only Four-In-Hand horse ever singled out to win the USEF Horse of the Year title. Jamaica’s fame really helped to promote the sport of combined driving over the years and I am pleased that his name will live on in the form of this trophy,” Weber said.
For more information on Weber and his combined driving team, visit their website at www.chesterweber.com. To view Team Weber in action in the dressage phase at Katydid, watch them on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsn-V-xtLRs&sns=fb. Weber’s new team can also be seen on YouTube in their marathon at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_zWcXKGOc&feature=share.
For more information contact:
Chester Weber
chester@chesterweber.com
www.chesterweber.com
1-352-895-1139