Chester Weber completed a sweep of all three phases of the 2016 Live Oak International combined driving competition to claim his record 13th USEF Four-in-Hand National Championship.
On Sunday, Weber won the cones event and finished with an overall score of 173.20 to seal his gold medal win.
The cones win came after he won the marathon on Saturday and the dressage on Thursday.
“They (the horses) were very good today. I think it’s going to be a very competitive team internationally and I was really, really pleased,” Weber said, referencing this year’s Four-In-Hand World Championships for which the Live Oak event was a Selection Trial.
The Single Horse division at Live Oak also served as a selection trial for this year’s FEI World Championships and topping the Singles division was Suzy Stafford with her Hall Of Fame horse, Morgan PVF Peace of Mind. Stafford completed the competition with a score of 138.65.
“This show is very different from most of the shows in the United States because of the tremendous crowds. That’s really good for the horses to be able to get used to that when you’re preparing to go to Europe for competitions like the World Championships,” Stafford said.
Peace of Mind, known as “Hunny,” was the 2015 USEF International Horse of the Year and was named to the Horse Stars Hall of Fame for 2016.
Lisa Stroud placed second in the Four-in-Hand division with a score of 211.61. She finished second in the marathon phase and was third in dressage.
“My horses today really loved the crowd. They were in total show-off mode,” she said.
Third place went to Craig Grange.
Leslie Berndl was second in the cones for Single Horse. Her cones test was good enough to edge her into second place overall in the class.
For Weber, the win was personally satisfying, but the entire event was a source of family pride.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my family and the whole team’s effort to get this done. The City of Ocala and the 900 horse farm owners and all the people who are interested in horses around here, it’s almost shocking,” he said, “and I couldn’t be happier with the team effort and the result.”
Full results of all divisions are available at www.liveoakinternational.com.
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