Inaugural TerraNova CDE Brings Carriage Driving to Florida’s West Coast
Misdee Wrigley Miller drove her four-in-hand team to victory during Sunday’s cones phase.
January 26, 2025, Myakka City, FL— Combined Driving at TerraNova, the equestrian center's inaugural Combined Driving Event (CDE) held January 22-26, 2025 was a smashing success, drawing competitors from more than 15 states as well as Ontario, Canada. Competitors ranged from age 12-82, and included one para equestrian driver.
The competition ranged from single ponies to four-in-hand horses, and the venue provided ample opportunities for spectators to view the action. Marathon course designer Marc Johnson built two of the marathon obstacles in direct view of the Pavilion, and two other obstacles were viewable from the Pavilion. Live feed coverage meant that anyone could enjoy the competition from any location.
As an unseasonable winter storm left several inches of snow on the Gulf Coast and in Florida’s panhandle region, the Sarasota area fortunately escaped the worst of the weather. After a little rain on Thursday the skies were clear and sunny and temperatures hovered around mid-fifties, with Sunday’s highs in the 70s starting to look more like a typical Florida January.
The Marathon course, designed by Marc Johnson, utilized the same terrain that has already been established as the cross-country course for The Event at TerraNova, with turf established over sandy footing. The Marathon course incorporated both newly built obstacles constructed for the CDE as well as obstacles constructed out of portable cross-country fences, built by ETB Equine Construction for The Event at TerraNova.
Overall, 12 competitors had errors in the obstacles, mainly knock downs, with about half of the errors – including both knock downs and course corrections - occurring at the second obstacle on course. Obstacles four and seven each had two errors and obstacles five and six each had one error.
Lynden Kersten was the youngest participant at just 12 years old.
The youngest competitor of the weekend, 12-year-old Lynden Kersten drove her trainer Laura DeFazio’s Single Pony, 21-year-old Morgan/Thoroughbred cross Splash of Chrome, as a scored exhibition drive, since the minimum age to compete is 14 years old. She finished the cones in the time allowed but with one ball down.
Lynden’s mom Alex explained that Lynden got into driving a little over a year ago when she did a driving camp geared to beginners, organized by DeFazio, who is President of the Brandywine Driving Club in Pennsylvania, and her sister Jamie Guiberson.
“It was a one-week camp, and Lynden was hooked,” she said. Of the gelding she said, “Lynden is smitten with him, she calls him her unicorn. He’s such a good boy, he really takes care of her.”
DeFazio, who competed this weekend as well as navigated for Lynden, drove all the way to TerraNova from Pennsylvania so that Lynden could get a preliminary test in before the Live Oak CDE in Ocala.
Alex said, “Lisa Stroud graciously offered for Laura and Lynden to come down a week before, to train. Lisa is at the polo club here and also competed this weekend. We really owe it all to Laura, she goes above and beyond. She sacrifices a lot and goes above and beyond for Lynden. It’s all her equipment and her horse, all her carriages. We call her our fairy godmother. There’s a lot that goes into it; Lynden homeschools and is able to spend time being mentored by Laura.”
Lynden said, “It was a really nice experience. Everyone was really nice and the facility was beautiful. All of the other competitors were really nice and wished me luck and I wished them luck too. It’s all like a welcoming family, the driving world.”
DeFazio said, “Lynden is there every day and her hard work is showing. She had a good show at Stable View and a good weekend here. She was faced with a new test here because they have to do preliminary at Live Oak, and when we found that out in November, this kid went to work. Myself and Paula Bliss, in Purcellville, VA have been guiding her – she’s my trainer as well. I think Paula and I have done a good job between the two of us.”
Andrew Marcoux and Lorette won the 2* Single Horse class.
Leading from start to finish and ending on his dressage score of 114.62, Andrew Marcoux and Loretta won the 2* Single Horse class. Dressed in bright yellow on the marathon and decked out in a bright yellow blazer for the cones phase, Marcoux was hard to miss. He joked that TerraNova forgot to pay their heat bill at the beginning of the week and that he hopes they arrange for better weather next year before saying, “Man, this place is just fantastic. My horse is spoiled forever – she expects only five-star hotels and this level of opulence as a driving princess now. It was just an absolute delight. It’s my first time at TerraNova and it’s a really impressive property, I can’t wait to see how things develop.”
His year-round home is Massachusetts but Marcoux is based in Ocala for the winter and said that the drive to Myakka City was very do-able. “It’s so easy in Ocala, nothing for us is more than an hour away, and we get all snobby about driving two or three hours. But it was totally, a hundred per cent worth the drive. It took between two and three hours, and that was in the rain. The footing, the hazards, the footing in the hazards, was just amazing, even after a significant amount of rainfall.”
Regarding his mare, he said, “Loretta is a superstar, she’s ten years old and I’ve been driving her since she was four. She’s owned by Kathy Devine and Tara Devine, a mother-and-daughter duo, and Tara is my super-duper navigator and has been navigating for me for about three years. The great thing about Tara and Kathy is they’ve let me take my time with Loretta and let me develop her correctly, fundamentally from the ground up. She was Horse of the Year in ’23 for Intermediate and last year HOY for Advanced Novice, which is equivalent to 2*. She was a peach as usual this weekend and we’ll be looking to move her up the three-star soon. She was a beast on the marathon - she eats it up - and she was fantastic today, and she’s wicked nice to be around in the barn, too. I couldn’t be happier with her performance this week.”
He added that he was grateful to all of the volunteers who showed up, and to his own sponsors.
Ryley Miller, 19, drove Harmony’s Java, a 10-year-old Dutch Harness Horse gelding owned by Paul May. A U25 driver, she was the 2024 Novice Advanced Driver of the Year. She has been borrowing Harmony’s Java, who typically drives as part of a pair, while her own horse recovers from a pasture injury. Her mom, an FEI judge, rode in the carriage with her. They finished second in the 2* Single Horse division.
Janelle Marshall won the largest division of the weekend, the 3* Single Pony, with Halcyonia Mistletoe.
The 3* Single Pony was the largest division with seven entries, and was won by Janelle Marshall driving Jackie Kane’s 15-year-old grey Welsh mare, Halcyonia Mistletoe. Originally from Renwick, Australia, Marshall now resides in Aiken, SC. The pony was put to a Bennington pony Phantom carriage and was nimble, eager and accurate for a double clear to win the Single Pony class. Marshall represented Australia at the 2023 World Championships in the Netherlands.
The competition concluded with the 3* Horse Teams driven by Gerben Steenbeek, who is from Ontario, and Misdee Wrigley Miller. Both drivers handled their teams masterfully and showed their experience and skill. Steenbeek’s team of Friesians presented a dramatic picture and they worked in harmony. Fifteen course penalties for Steenbeek on the cones course gave Miller a little breathing room.
Local favorite, Misdee Wrigley Miller took home top honors in the 3* Horse Team division.
The penultimate round of the weekend belonged to Miller and her team. The local favorite is a veteran competitor and won the gold medal at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon in 2018, and can now add the TerraNova CDE to her list of wins.
Miller owns Hillcroft Farm in Paris, Kentucky and Sarasota, Florida and has been competing in combined driving since 2009. She said that she hasn’t been training as hard as she usually would lately because her business got in the way, but said, “I’m very pleased, my horses are such pros and I hope I didn’t let them down this weekend.”
Miller competed with five horses over the weekend. “My dressage team is three veterans and one new horse, so I was very pleased with him; in the other phases I went with my veteran team, because on the Marathon course and in a difficult cones course, which we had, you need your 'A' team.”
She said, “This is probably one of the most - if not the most - competitor-friendly venue. The stabling is amazing, the fact that we can wash our horses in proper wash stalls with hot water, and the arenas and footing are the best I’ve ever competed on and there’s plenty of room to work your horses. The whole facility gets five stars, for sure.”
Miller said that her husband James, who is a polo player, first came to Sarasota to play polo, and the next year he encouraged her to join him. Together, they own the Sarasota Polo Club, just 17 miles from TerraNova Equestrian Center. "It’s the most beautiful small city: the people are friendly, the arts and culture – whatever you want to do, listen to music, go to the ballet, go to the theater. For me it’s the water, I love being on the water.”
Miller concluded, “I think that by having a competition here it really shines a light on the Sarasota area. It’s not the first place that people think of when you talk equestrian sport - people usually think of Wellington - but this facility is doing an amazing job to grow the sport on the west coast. I’m thankful to the Herrig family for being willing to host a driving event here.”
Words by Amber Heintzberger
