Meet the 2007 Team!

The team at the start of the season:

Back row from left: Jacque Pollock, Amber Lanzer, Kylie Clarkson, Kim Fierla, Amanda Eyers, Cindy Roberg.

Front row from left: Kelsey Bergloff, Josa Comstock, Janelle Raven, Eden Manuel

The team at the end of the season:

Back row from left: Jacque Pollock, Kim Fierla, Amber Lanzer, Cindy Roberg.

Middle row from left: Eden Manuel, Janelle Raven, Aubrey Coley.

Front row from left: Josa Comstock, Kelsey Bergloff, Amanda Eyers.

Rissa Barclay (pictured below) subbed in for Midwest and Door County.

Team coach is Linda Lanzer, assisted by moms Rikki Pollock and Linda Fierla, who also enjoy driving. Costume designer this year is Linda Fierla, music coordinator and web designer is Stacy Lucht, drill routine designer is Amber Lanzer with the coach.

Kim has driven with the team for 3 years now. She drove a leased mini in 2003 named Bailey. He was a blue roan and was really nice to drive. He was loaned to her by Hogan Farms. Then she stepped out for a year, when other activities took precedence. However, she missed it too much, so she came back to the team in 2005 with her own mini. Kim is a junior in High School, is in the band and plays softball. She is also a member of the Clover Rockets Equestrians 4-H club and was elected treasurer this year.

Cheyenne is a 5 year old flashy grulla and white pinto mare who is full of get up and go. Kim started teaching her how to drive when she was 2. She is about 35" tall. They really enjoy driving with the team and are now the second lead.

Cindy started with the team in 2006. She missed the Midwest Horse Fair that year, since she was a member of the DeKalb county 4-H Horse Bowl team and their state competition was on the same weekend as Midwest. This year she made it and managed to fit in some 4-H activities also. Cindy is in 8th grade and rides and shows event horses at hunter shows and 3-day events and also shows ABRA in Wi and IL.

Susie is a 6 year old mare who had a very nice filly in 2004. She was trained to drive while she was in foal and then went back to driving after the foal was weaned. She is 34" tall and is very sweet. Cindy leased her in 2006 and fell in love with her. They purchased her that fall so she could continue with the team in 2007.

Janelle joined the team in 2007, with her newly acquired mini she bought from Double L. She is one of the 4 youngest drivers and practices hard to keep up with the older girls. She also rides and has her horses at her mother's barn, showing them at local open shows and in 4-H.

Beauty is a 12 year old mare who was already trained to drive and took to the drill team right away.

Eden began riding lessons in November 2005 at Double L Equestrian. Inspired by her older cousin, she has wanted to ride horses since she was 4. She participated in several local horse shows and in the drill presentation at Double L. In summer 2006, she turned 9 and started driving lessons, after seeing the mini team perform. By Sept, she was ready to perform at the Holistic Animal Health Fair. Now she's hooked also and plans to continue with the team through 2007 and longer.

Romeo is a mini she is leasing from Double L Equestrian. He was acquired as a yearling and was trained to drive in 2006 as he turned 3. He drove with the team then and Eden had her eye on him as her chosen mini when he became available.

Amanda and Chili came together towards the end of the season, when Kelsi had to drop out of the team. Amanda lives in IL and is a sophomore in high school. She's been riding for about 2 years and started driving on the team in August 2006. She doesn't really do any sports at school, but she likes to swim, run, play tennis, basketball and volleyball.

She says Chili is a very strong willed, well built mini who has been on the team for a couple of years. He is a high speed horse, but an admirable driver. She plans to continue on the team into 2007 and is looking forward to all the new events she will be driving in.

Kelsey joined the team in August 2006, after seeing the minis driving and asking for some driving lessons. She picked it up quickly, since she already had been taking riding lessons and had participated in a riding drill routine at Double L Equestrian. Once she started, she was hooked and plans to continue through 2007 with her own mini, She is one of the youngest members on the team at 9 yrs old. She drove at the Holistic Animal Health Fair performance in Sept and did very well.

Stormy is her own mini who she got for Xmas '06 from her parents. She has spent many hours playing with him, riding as well as driving.

Josa has been riding for several years on her own pony. In spring of 2006 at age 8, she started driving lessons, after seeing the mini team drive. She fell in love with driving immediately and was very excited to drive with the team at the Holistic Animal Health Fair. When she's not driving, she is busy riding her pony, Curly Tango. She is also helping to train her new puppy, Sugarbear and keeps up with her dance classes.

Bugsy is Josa's own mini who she bought in 2006. He was a little strong for her at first, but now they are working well together and she is very happy to be driving him with the team and occasionally at shows.

Jacque has been driving for 3 years and joined the team in 2005. Her mini's registered name is C.R.Carousel Pepperoni, but she calls him Pepper. They were both born in 1994. Her mom trained him to drive in 2003 and then Katie drove him on the team in 2004. Pepper is actually a grey appaloosa. He has spots around his eyes and mouth and when wet, you can see the spots all over his body. Pepper and Jacque have won many ribbons in open driving classes as well as halter classes. They have also been in several parades, including the Chicago Jingle Elf on Thanksgiving morning. Pepper has been the flag ceremony horse for the last 2 years at the Midwest Horse Fair. He even drove in a wedding, carrying the flower girl and ring bearer from the church to the reception. She will continue in 2007.

Kylie started with the team after Midwest 2005 with her fancy, spirited mini Cadbury. She trained him to drive during the winter and had him ready to drill by June for the Wild West Rodeo Days drill competition. She was one of the three youngest drivers at 10 yrs old. Cadbury was also the youngest mini at 3 years old. He is a brown and white pinto and measures 35" tall.
Kylie also rides and shows Dressage, jumping and does 3 day events and speed shows. She is a member of the Central Wranglers 4-H club. She moved to Texas in fall of '06, but is back in this area for the summer and will drive with the team for some of the events.

Aubrey joined the team during the summer after moving here from New Hampshire. She is a sophomore in high school in Crystal Lake and loves driving with the team.

Rowdy came to Double L in late summer 2006. He had been driven and shown by another family for several years, but they were moving up to a pony, so the daughter could ride more. He's an excellent driving horse, though he doesn't like to stand still much. Aubrey has done a great job getting him to stand still when needed and pivot during the pinwheel and swinging door.

Rissa and Brooke

Rissa was on the team for the first 3 years, but had to give it up when her family moved north of Milwaukee. She comes back to help the team during several events and at Midwest she was able to drive in the coliseum performance.

Brooke was on the team the year before, driven by her owner, Cara. She was brought to Midwest as an extra and because she is for sale.

Linda is the founder and coach of the team and fills in when needed to make an even number, so no one has to be left out.

Rowdy came to Double L in late summer 2006. He had been driven and shown by another family for several years, but they were moving up to a pony, so the daughter could ride more. He's an excellent driving horse, though he doesn't like to stand still much. He is a spare right now as he doesn't have an assigned driver.