Mill Spring, N.C. – The Tryon Fall CDE was the host event for the 2025 USEF Combined Driving National Championship for horses. A total of seven divisions ranging from training through advanced level saw national championship contenders complete their three phases across four sunny and mild days at Tryon International.
Preliminary Single Horse National Championship
Local competitor Melissa Wessel (Rutherfordton, N.C.) and her own 2017 American Sport Pony Megan’s Valentine (Hiro T x Anza Bossa Nova) earned the champion title for preliminary single horse to cap off their first season at the level.
“She and I have a close kinship. She was born in my lap,” said Wessel. “I’ve done all the training myself with her. We’ve been moving our way up very slowly, and this was our first year moving up to prelim from training.”
Wessel has been working on increasing her speed in the cones phase since moving up, and the work paid off in the championship with a double clear round.
“It was a big goal for me to step up and be able to go faster, more accurate, and consistently,” she said. “We did that at Charlotte’s Creek in our last competition, and we did it twice here, in the national championship and in the combined test. I feel like I’m getting my chops in the marathon—I still have a long way to go! And I’m getting more consistent and precise in dressage.”
Before she started in combined driving about five years ago, Wessel trained and showed Half-Arabians, and Valentine’s dam was a winning National Show Horse. Her sire is a Dutch Harness Horse that Wessel had long admired.
“You don’t always know what you’re going to get when you breed a horse—if it’s going to be physically able to do what you want in your sport,” she said. “In this sport, they have to be really emotionally centered, and Valentine is particularly centered. She’s solid, she’s kind, and she works her heart out. She’ll always give you 100%.”
Intermediate Single Horse National Championship
After winning the dressage and marathon phases for the intermediate single horses, Ryley Miller (Morriston, Fla.) and Jeff Day’s 2012 KWPN gelding Humorist secured the national championship and overall win for the division. It was a big success for the relatively new partnership, which just started in April of this year.
“My mom’s my trainer, and we came here with the mindset to just have fun and see how he handled it before we make plans for the winter,” said Miller. “He handled everything pretty well, so we’re really happy with how he went. The highlight for him was the marathon. He’s a marathon horse, and his favorite thing to do is obstacles.”
Humorist, also known as “Hammy,” is an eye-catching liver chestnut with a flaxen mane and lots of chrome, and his beauty is more than skin deep.
“He has his moments, just like any horse, but he’s actually very, very sweet,” said Miller. “He loves to be Posture Prepped, which is a cross-fiber grooming tool that helps with myofascial tissue. He loves it and he loves the one-on-one attention. He’s kind of a goober, but when he gets to work, he’s pretty serious about his job. He knows when it’s time to focus.”
Miller recently relocated from Pennsylvania to Florida, but the fitness regimen she uses with her horses helps keep them prepared for the rigors of marathon day, even without training on the kind of hills that are so influential in venues like Tryon.
“Down in Florida, we back up to the Goethe State Forest,” she said. “We do a lot of forest training. Just nice, long trot sessions, some gallop sessions, and we walk a lot. A lot of our horses’ fitness comes from walking. We’ve noticed it makes a big difference. He did not have a problem with the terrain here. He had another obstacle in him [at the end of the marathon.]”
Advanced Single Horse National Championship
The longtime pair of Raymond Helmuth (Cambridge, Iowa) and his own Kendro (Globetrotter x Genderose), a 2015 U.S.-bred Dutch Warmblood stallion, earned their national champion title after a second-place finish in the dressage, a winning marathon, and the only double-clear cones round in the FEI3* Single Horse division.
“I love Tryon. I like the footing and the obstacles, and Kendro has always done well there,” said Helmuth. “He seems to just like it there.
“He’s definitely a stallion,” said Helmuth. “He has a bit of an ego. Nobody would realize it, but he’s got a bit of a ‘You’re not going to tell me what to do,’ thing. That comes with challenges, but he’s always showing me that he’s got more to give. He was a little spicy in the dressage ring, which caused us to not get quite the score that we could have, but I wasn’t upset. I just knew that it meant we’d have to go back to basics and work on building our partnership.”
The marathon and cones phases at Tryon showed off the strength of Helmuth and Kendro’s partnership.
“The more difficult the obstacles are, the better he drives,” said Helmuth. “He wants me right there with him, and if I’m right there with him, he gives me every ounce. He loves cones. He always pulls it off, like he knows it’s the last day. He has this attitude of, ‘This is my day. I got you. We’re doing this.’ It’s just a really amazing feeling.”
Helmuth has his eye on qualifying to compete at the FEI World Championship in 2026. In the meantime, Kendro will get some downtime at home before starting preparation for next year.
“He’ll have a week or two off, and then we might do some ridden dressage and possibly some jumping shows this fall. I do a lot of cross training,” said Helmuth. “And then we’ll start to plan for the Florida season.”
Training Single Horse National Championship
The training level championship for single horses saw one of the country’s most accomplished driving athletes partner with an up-and-coming young horse to earn the national champion title. Paxton E-S (JustinTime x Allie), a 2020 KWPN gelding owned and driven by Leslie Berndl (Lexington, Ky.), secured the win in the division and the national champion title.
Paxton E-S’s correct and powerful movement earned him a dressage score of 45.51. A fast marathon and double clear cones round gave them the winning overall score of 94.97.
Advanced Four-in-Hand Horses National Championship
Reigning champion Chester Weber (Ocala, Fla.) came out to claim his 22nd national champion title in the four-in-hand division. Weber brought his team of eight well-matched bay geldings—seven KWPN and one Oldenburg—a combination of veteran and newer horses who earned good results across the three phases.
Though Weber and his team were the lone entry in the FEI3* division, they produced excellent results, earning a dressage score of 39.12 that was the highest of the show across all divisions. With a clean marathon and just one ball down in the cones phase, Weber finished on a score of 149.39 to continue his legacy as the country’s leading four-in-hand driver.
Training Pair Horse National Championship
The training pair champions came to Tryon from just down the road in Columbus, N.C. Michael Cece drove the matching pair of black horses owned by K. Loyd Cece: Supah Girl, a 2018 Thoroughbred cross mare, and Cicero, a 2018 Friesian gelding. After successfully completing all three phases, they took home the tricolor in their combined driving championship debut.
Preliminary Pair Horse National Championship
Alice Tarjan (Oldwick, N.J.) turned in three impressive phases with Dennis Sargenti’s Matser M (Roy M x Fenderose), a 2020 KWPN gelding, and Oregon (Idol x Havanna), a 2019 KWPN gelding, to secure the national championship for preliminary pairs. Matser M is a bright chestnut and Oregon is a dapple gray, but the otherwise perfectly matched pair of young geldings moved in lockstep to earn a 46.23 for their dressage test. They followed it up with a fast and clean marathon and a double clear cones to finish on a 123.61.
Stay Connected
Keep up with the U.S. combined driving news by following USA Driving on Facebook and US Equestrian on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.