Shetland Ponies Pull Carriages In Competition

Patti Wolf lives on a cattle ranch near Ivanhoe, just south of the Red River in Northeast Texas. She and her husband have a large place that has a comfortable residence, barns and various outbuildings. Patti is one of the live wires in her community and does interesting things. She spearheaded a barn quilt effort, encouraging people to paint quilt patterns on barns. It developed into the largest barn quilt trail in Texas. She does other things as well.

“I show Shetland ponies all over the United States in Carriage Driving, something that pre-dated automobiles. I drive an antique 1908 Brewster Carriage. Brewster made automobiles until 1925 and I have a pony runabout Brewster, very rare. It’s a museum piece and I show all over the country. I hitch my Shetland ponies to it and they pull it. I ride and drive.”

Patti has 6 Shetland ponies, but only shows one or two at a time. Some have been retired because they’re old and have lost their teeth. She must be a leader in the sport because she has a room full of trophies, ribbons and a variety of awards and recognitions.

“I’ve been doing something with horses since I was 8 years old. I’m very competitive. I’ve done quarter horses, paints and pintos in contests involving reining, hunter jumping, and western pleasure. I’ve been showing forever. I wanted to try something new and started carriage driving 12 years ago.”

She competes in all kinds of events.

“I’ve just come back from Kentucky and the Kentucky Classic in Lexington’s Kentucky Horse Park. My Shetland pony actually won her division for the first time. That was great fun. I’m getting ready to go to Lake St. Louis, Missouri for a Shetland Pony Congress and I’ll be competing in the carriage class with my Shetland ponies. There will be horses there in halters, jumping, driving and all sorts of crazy stuff. It’s a full week up there.”

I visited with Patti just before she was leaving for the largest carriage show in the US at Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin.

“I’ll be driving my Brewster with my Shetland ponies and will compete against other horses. I’ll be in the antique class and there’ll be timed events as well.”

She does her own training.

“I usually start them at 2 or 3 years old and it takes about 8 years to get my horses ready to pull. I’m not very fast. They’re in harness every day and have special diets. They’ve got to be very aerobic because after all they’re athletes.”

Patti has 6 full-size horses and one mule that she hasn’t ridden in a while.

“I don’t want to get hurt in case I fall off.”