Dr. Brandy Snedden didn't set out to become a combined driving competitor. An ambulatory equine veterinarian running her own practice in Thornville, Ohio; a single mother; and a lifelong horse enthusiast, Snedden's path to the sport reads like a string of fortunate coincidences, each one leading naturally to the next.
That path – as many good ones do – started with a pony.
A client of Snedden's owned a small herd of Welsh ponies, and she had hoped that one day, if her young son showed interest in horses, she might buy him one. When the client shared that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer and was liquidating his herd, he offered Snedden a yearling for $300, on the condition that she'd give her a good home. That pony, registered as Mischief Managed (Shenandoah Tristram x Lemontree Lucky Sparkler) and known around the barn simply as "Miss," became the unexpected avenue into a new discipline entirely. As Snedden put it, "that was my whole gateway drug."
Snedden's son ultimately lost interest in riding, but Snedden felt a responsibility to make sure their pony, who was too small for her to ride, had a purpose.
"I needed to make sure [Miss] had a soft landing," she said, so that if she ever needed to sell her, Miss would "know how to do something" rather than risk ending up in the wrong hands. She began taking driving lessons, eventually connecting with her now-longtime coach, Parveti Wood, who has deep roots in combined driving and had grown up around native pony breeds in the United Kingdom, as well as Shetland pony racing.
The first time Snedden got behind Miss in a two-wheeled carriage, trotting and cantering in a round pen, something clicked.
"I just started laughing out loud," she recalled. "It was so fun."
She was hooked.
The pair have been climbing the levels together ever since, competing at Intermediate and Advanced levels, including at Live Oak International. Mischief Managed was crowned the Novice Advanced Single Pony as part of the U.S. Combined Driving 2025 Year-End Awards. This year at the 2026 USEF Combined Driving National Championships for Ponies & Para Driving, Snedden and Mischief Managed were named Reserve Champions in the Advanced Single Pony National Championship, a result that reflects just how far the pair have come since that first laugh-filled lesson in the round pen.
"We don't get to practice marathons a lot, so that's a challenge for us," Snedden explained. "We try to make it smooth. Fast will happen if it happens."
As for Mischief Managed herself, the 9-year-old mare stands 12.1 hands and carries a personality that outsizes her driving resume. Miss’s name is a fitting one for a lifelong Harry Potter fan like Snedden, and an even more fitting one for the pony herself.
Championship for Ponies and Para Driving (©Shannon Brinkman)
"She's a princess. She knows what she wants," Snedden said. "She's pretty sure I don't know anything."
That confidence extends to a well-documented dislike of children, despite Miss never having had a negative experience with one.
"She may be little and cute, and you think you should put pink ribbons in her hair," Snedden said. "But she’s tough."
Adults, on the other hand, have no trouble at all. Her favorite treats include bananas, peels included, though as a pony prone to easy weight gain, her turnout and grazing time are carefully managed.
For Snedden, the throughline connecting the veterinary work, the single parenthood, and the driving career is simple: horses.
"I feel like horses are their own connection, and that's how I view the world and where I connect to most people," she said.
Nearly all her closest friendships, she noted, trace back to horses in one way or another, including her best friend, met and re-met over the years at horse shows across the country.
With her Ohio practice, her 9-year-old son at home, and Mischief Managed standing ready in the barn, Snedden is looking toward future competitions with the same instinct that first got her into the carriage: take it as it comes and see where the coincidences lead next.
No matter where they appear in the standings, Snedden and Miss have a built-in promise to each other of the fun ahead before they begin the day.
"I solemnly swear we're up to no good," Snedden said with a laugh.