American Highway allows KNLS listeners to travel America's back roads, highways, and byways.  You'll find some of this nation's most interesting people, places and events in the transcript below.

American Carriage Competitions

Photos of the Cannon Carriage Classic:

• Mule Team and covered wagon
• The Keithleys, Carriage Classic Hosts
• Linda Ward and Casper the pony
• Carriage and team in the show ring
• Dede Bushneck judging the contest
• Elizabeth Cole and her hand made show hats
• Judges watch a carriage run the cone course
• Driver and groom hitch a horse and wagon

MIKE: Throughout Europe equestrian competitions are so popular that most are now regulated professional sports and award surprisingly large cash prizes. Riding and driving contests are far less popular in the United States, but the sport is slowly catching on here. Travel with us now to Woodberry, Tennessee for a horse and carriage competition called the Cannon County Classic.

MIKE: Americans tend to put their own special brand on any foreign import and equestrian sports are no exception. It’s hard to imagine a horse show in Paris or Brussels, for example, opening with an exhibition by a club of mule team drivers.

SFX: Rumble of the mule teams and wagons as they enter the show ring…

MIKE: American carriage contests differ in more significant ways as well. Professional athletes dominate European shows because of the large cash prizes, but American competitions are strictly for amateurs. Veteran pleasure driver Elizabeth Cole says it gives the shows a very different atmosphere.

COLE: "Granted, everybody wants to win a ribbon when they’re in the ring, but at night, we all like to socialize together. And it’s a different type of sport where people will help each other; if someone forgot a whip, or they forgot part of their equipment, one of the other competitors will probably come up and say, ‘Well, I have an extra you can borrow.’ This lady this afternoon lost a bolt on her carriage, and one of the competitors ran in the barn, and he found a bolt that fit her carriage, and she went back into the ring. And you don’t find that in other disciplines. It’s a very friendly atmosphere, and I don’t think you’ll find that in any other sport.

SFX: Horses and carriage in the show ring…

MIKE: The absence of big prize money also tends to draw competitors of a different age. European contests attract athletes in their prime, but Jim Keithley, host of the Cannon Classic, says American carriage enthusiasts are generally older.

KEITHLY: "If you’ll notice the age of the people here, you’ll see several people fifty, sixty. Our oldest competitor here, he drives two ponies, and he is 78! When people are young, they tend to go out and ride hunter-jumpers, and do a lot of activities. As the body ages a little bit, that’s not as much fun as it once was, and so a lot of those folks learn to…hey, this carriage driving is kinda neat. It doesn’t hurt the body as bad as being thrown around on top of a horse.

SFX: Horse winney and ring noise…

MIKE: The horses themselves tend to be a less than distinguished breed. At this year’s Tennessee Cannon Carriage Classic, the big winner was Linda Ward and her pony Casper. Casper has no known bloodline and was on the verge of starving to death when Linda bought him for one hundred dollars. Four years later, the pair won the most prestigious carriage competition in America.

WARD: "Last year I went to Walnut Hill, New York. Pitsford, New York. It’s pretty much by invitation, so you pretty much have to be…you have to have won a lot, be very competitive. So I wrote them a letter and sent them a picture of my turn-out, which was required. They didn’t know who I was. And so, I was invited to go up there. And we won four ribbons there.

SFX: Ring master calls show commands…

MIKE: One thing that American and European equestrian sports do share is a respect for tradition. Show Judge Dede Bushneck inspects each team to insure that the carriage, tack, tool kit and even the driver’s clothing are all authentic to the heyday of pleasure driving, the late 19^th century.

BUSHNECK: "Tradition is very very important. If you notice, we don’t have a lot of bright colors or floppy clothes. We dress very conservatively. We carry spares with us. In the old days, everybody did, because you would leave your farm, and maybe go I don’t know how many miles to another farm. And if you broke down or had problems, you had to have your tools with you, so, tools to get you back on the road and home.

MIKE: There are two organizations here in the U.S. helping to keep carriage driving on the road to success. Jim Keithly is a member of the board of directors for the American Driving Society.

KEITHLY: "It regulates the shows, it issues and writes the rules, and licenses the officials. Now, it is not sitting up there all by itself. The American Driving Society is made up of people who drive, like any association. There is another organization, the Carriage Association of American that is not concerned about the rules of driving or about the licensure of judges, but it’s concerned with preservation and restoration of antique carriages. And so you have two organizations, two national organizations, in America that are involved in this sport. One focuses on the vehicle, and the other focuses on the competition.

MIKE: To learn more about American carriage competitions you might want to browse the association website: www.americandrivingsociety.org.

TAPE: SFX – Cone course noise up and out.

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