Dade City, Florida – Morgans come from behind to take the lead, winning at Little Everglades International CAI in Dade City, Florida February 24-27, 2011. With a strong showing of eight advanced pairs, the Morgans continue to put in a strong showing against larger equine competitors who dominate the sport of combined driving. Standing in 6th place after the dressage and marathon, owner Alan Aulson drove his athletic Morgans with speed and confidence winning the cones competition, pushing him ahead to win the blue in the FEI Pairs Division.
Nordby Coalie’s Duke (Caduceus Falcon x Coal Creek Sabra’s Coalie), Nordby Coalie’s Coal Dust (Ortawn Captain Royal x Coal Creek Sabra’s Coalie), and Nordby Shadow’s Sam Spade (Ortawn Captain Royal x Ribbon Shadow SRD) are all registered black American Morgan Horses. When driving a pair in competition you can alternate three horses in the three phases: dressage, marathon, and cones so all three horses competed. The Morgans are owned by Maureen and Alan Aulson of Georgetown, MA; who are also the owners of the state of the art equine resort Black Equestrian Center in Bronson, Florida.
This is a very important year for the advanced pair drivers as they are all being observed at competitions by United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) officials who will select the best pairs to compete on the United States Team at the World’s Pairs Driving Championship to be held in Conty, France August 24-28, 2011. Earlier this year, USEF held a week long Invitational Clinic at Black Prong Equestrian Center were all pairs, horses and ponies, schooled with the USEF driving coach, Michael Freund. For more information on Team Black Prong visit www.blackprong.com/Team or contact BlackProngCenter@aol.com.