This driving veteran gave his final salute with a blue ribbon in hand.

Larry Poulin’s long and illustrious career in combined driving had a fairy tale ending at the Lexington Combined Driving Classic, Oct. 1-5, as he took home the USEF National Pair Horse Championship with Wylie, Rivage and Conyer.

“I’m very pleased with my horses. It’s not all about me, it’s about my animals,” said Poulin, Petersham, Mass. “I enjoyed the day. I knew that when we went in they were loose, soft to the hand, and if there was a mistake it was my doing. They did not make a mistake.”

Natasha Grigg’s horses performed flawlessly throughout the weekend in Lexington, Ky. Wylie, a 10-year-old Hanoverian, and Rivage, an 11-year-old Oldenburg, have been a core part of Poulin’s team for the past few years.

“Rivage was found in New Mexico in a round pen, and Wylie we found outside of Denver,” said Poulin. “Just last fall Wylie became my ace horse and started doing all three phases.”

However, Conyer, a 17-year-old Royal Dutch Warmblood, was pulled out of retirement about a month ago after Cody, part of Poulin’s World Championship team in August, was injured.

“I promised [Conyer] this wouldn’t happen again,” Poulin, 60, said with a laugh. “He’s on his way home to Massachusetts, and he’s going to go live happily ever after.”

Poulin won the dressage with 37.50 penalties before dominating the marathon with 78.38 penalties. While Lisa Singer won the cones, Poulin had enough of a cushion going into the final phase to take home the blue despite two balls down and ended on 123.52 penalties.

“They’ve been great horses,” said Poulin fondly. “They’ve come a long way, and I’ve spent more than five years getting to this point with these particular horses. I’m happy that they came here and competed and gave me 110 percent, and they’re going home to start a whole new career.”

An Amazing Career

Poulin began driving in 1978 when he started working for Margaret Gardiner, and that relationship proved to be highly fruitful. Driving Gardiner’s Morgans, Poulin captured three national titles (1985, 1986 and 1988) and was the highest-placed U.S. competitor at the World Pairs Championships in 1985 and 1987.

“It was such a young sport at the time that we kind of grew with it,” said Poulin.

After Gardiner’s Morgans retired, Grigg stepped in to support Poulin and has been his sponsor ever since.
“We’re both from New England, and we competed against each other,” said Poulin. “I was the young guy on the block, and the driving world is a very small family. She helped me tremendously.”

After his successful run with the Morgans, Poulin went on to capture national titles in 1989, 1995, 1996 and 2007 and represented the United States at the World Pairs Championships 10 times.

While Poulin’s final appearance at the World Championships in Hungary this summer didn’t quite go according to plan—he was eliminated after missing a gate in cones—Poulin was thrilled to finish his career with another national title.

“Larry had a lot of people rooting for him,” said fellow driver Fritz Grupe. “After the World Games he had to come back and win, and he did.”

Poulin pinned his last dressage test as one of his favorite moments in the sport.

“I’ve been trying to duplicate the first two horses I ever competed. I retired them in 1988, and it’s taken this long to duplicate that quality,” said Poulin. “Having a standing ovation after dressage on Thursday was special. I was the only driver to get into the 30s, and there were over 90 of us there. It was special to end that way. That was a highlight.”

The Final Gate

While Poulin is no longer going to be competing in combined driving, he hopes to remain a part of the sport.

“There are other areas that I want to focus on,” he said. “My whole program and family is based around ridden dressage. It’s been something that’s been nagging me to get back into, and I’m very fortunate that we’re going to continue on with a different discipline with Natasha continuing to support my horses and myself.”

Poulin’s team has pulled double duty for years, as dressage is an essential part of his training program. Cody is starting to contest the small tour classes, Rivage is working at third level, and Wylie moved up to fourth level in early 2009.

“I want to ride Grand Prix,” said Poulin, who would also like to dedicate some time to young rider programs and coaching. “That’s my goal. I’m more at peace with myself and my horses and the education we have.”

Even though his final national championship was a little bittersweet, Poulin is looking forward to the future and is grateful for everything the sport of driving has given him over the years.

“When I went through the final gate I said, ‘Come on boys, we have one more gate and that’s it,’ ” reflected Poulin.

“They knew exactly what I meant. I won’t forget that particular hazard because of what it meant. I made it through the sport, learned a lot, and came out on top. That was a good feeling.”

Weber Takes Seventh National Title

Chester Weber knows how to win when the pressure is on. Despite Tucker Johnson and Boyd Exell breathing down his neck during the Kentucky Cup, he pulled out all the stops to win his seventh USEF Four-In-Hand National title.

“Tucker made me work really hard for this all weekend,” said Weber, Ocala, Fla. “I remember watching his dressage test and thinking that he had me. I fought really hard in the marathon and had enough of a lead going into cones to be comfortable.”

Weber, 34, and his team made their way through the cones with 2.3 time penalties and finished the weekend with a final score of 131.35. Exell, an Australian who is based in Leicester, England, finished second (138.91), and Johnson, Hobe Sound, Fla., was third (141.40) over 13 starters.

“I thought the [cones] course was up to international standard,” said Weber, the 2008 individual World Championship silver medalist. “I had Jamaica at the left wheel, and he was a little difficult and fresh because he didn’t run the marathon. That’s what you get for trying to save an 18-year-old. The time was tricky, and that’s where our sport is. You have to fight to get the time.”

The competitors were happy with the marathon course and enthusiastic about the improvements that will be made before the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Course designer Richard Nicoll, who will also design the WEG course, collaborated with course builder Mick Costello to incorporate the driving hazards into the prominent features of the Kentucky Horse Park’s cross-country track. Competitors contested a hazard in the Head Of The Lake before heading to the newly constructed Mick’s Mountain, and then took a spin through The Hollow.

“The course was super horse friendly,” said Weber. “The corners were nice and round, and the construction was substantial. It was the same for the first and last driver. The track itself was heavy enough and tough enough that it compares to Europe, but it needs to be more technical. It’ll be a tough course for WEG next year when they have four or five more technical hazards.”

Excell, 37, commented that the course looked out for the many new team drivers who competed and “gave them a great confidence boost for next year.”

One surprise of the weekend was Mike McLennan, Brenham, Texas, who finished third in the marathon with his team of homebred Friesian-Quarter Horse crosses.

“It’s so nice and exciting to see such an incredible performance from Mike,” said Johnson. “We have a lot of promising drivers working really hard, and there’s some good things happening.”

McLennan, 64, ended the weekend in seventh.

“We have some great things in the works including a development program,” said Weber. “It’s huge evidence of the success of that program that Mike [had such a good finish]. As a driver from the U.S., I have big hopes for our team next year.”