OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Combined driver Boots Wright has been horse crazy for as long as she can remember.

The USEF Combined driving season kicked off Jan. 9, 2025, at the Florida Horse Park with the first leg of the Florida Driving Triple Crown, and Wright was among those participating.

“All I ever wanted to do was ride,” said Wright, who was competing in the United States Equestrian Federation’s Combined Driving Event and Combined Test at the intermediate level with her pony pair, Schermeer’s HOF Figaro and Nostradamus, or Dom as he’s known around the barn.

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Horses themselves have been extremely therapeutic for one’s soul, and the same could be said for Wright, who has been involved with the sport of combined driving since 1978. There was never any doubt that Wright would be spending the rest of her life with horses.

“I believe Winston Churchill said, ‘There’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man,'” said Wright. “It’s absolutely correct. I don’t think there’s another animal on earth that’s as generous and kind as a horse. They want to please, they want to do, and they want a job. Once they understand what their job is, then basically all you have to do is get out of their way and do it. Horses are beneficial. They’re wonderful creatures.”

A Deep Background in Horsemanship

Prior to transitioning into combined driving, Wright rode amateur owner hunters for years and also had an opportunity to experience the world of polo—a sport where more than 50% of the players are now women, but that wasn’t always necessarily the case.

“My first husband was a polo player in Houston, and I was involved in polo,” said Wright. “I liked the horses. I couldn’t play myself because, number one, I was left-handed, and number two, I was a woman, and back in the dim, dark ages, they wouldn’t let women play polo. I loved him, so I moved to Houston.”

A Feeling Wright Will Never Forget

It was through Wright’s cousin that she became introduced to the world of combined driving, and it’s been a love affair that’s lasted more than four decades. It was an experience that would transform her life.

“He drove a team of horses called the four-in-hand of horses, and he lived on the next hill over from my mother’s farm in Delaware,” said Wright. “He would drive his team over from my mother’s house every once in a while. He drove over one winter’s evening and asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, and of course I did. He put the four reins in my hand. He said, ‘All you have to do is click to them, soften your hand, and they’ll walk on.’ And I’ll never forget how that felt.”