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Officials - 2012
The following officials are licensed and will serve under the directives of the American Driving Society. The officials for the Villa Louis Carriage Classic are:
Judges
Ms. Mickie Bowen
Unionville, Pennsylvania
Avon, New York
Cave Creek, Arizona
Technical Delegate
Mr. Edward Young
Geneseo, New York
Returning to serve as a judge for the 32nd Annual Villa Louis Carriage Classic, Ms. Mickie Bowen brings to bear her storied and vast experience as an equestrian. Her association with horses began in her early childhood. The daughter of a World War II cavalryman, she grew up as a “city kid” in Philadelphia. Beginning with their first family pony, Katie, Mickie found herself and her siblings teaching themselves to ride and drive Katie. Mickie’s enthusias
m for equestrianism led her to start fox hunting in 1964 with the Radnor Hounds and to start driving Welsh ponies for Guy Clardy of Clarwood Welsh Ponies. Mickie would often show the foundation stallion, Liseter Statesman. Her love for the Welsh ponies, in turn, led to a passion for breeding, training, and driving singles and pairs. Then, together with fellow pony driver, Sybil Dukehart, and expert coachman, Tom Ryder, Mickie fulfilled her dreams of driving a four-in-hand. She and Sybil exhibited the four-in-hand at President Reagan’s 1981 inaugural parade.
Mickie was a founding member of the American Driving Society (ADS) and served on the Board of Directors for the first fifteen years of the organization. Currently, she holds registered status ("R") United States Equestrian Federation and ADS judging cards in all driving disciplines along with an international judging card for disabled driving. Mickie was instrumental with her dear friend Sybil Dukehart in the development of the United States Driving for the Disabled. Having competed and judged in most of the major driving shows nationally, Ms. Bowen has also judged in Europe, serving on the Ground Jury of the 1st and 2nd World Disabled Driving Championships and in Canada at the Canadian Classic and the Royal Winter Fair. When not judging, Ms. Bowen enjoys driving her four-in-hand of Welsh/Haflinger crosses. She has driven in various coaching meets, using Harry Tucci’s road coach, The Old Times. Some of her proudest accomplishments include her children, John, Bonnie, and Anne. In addition to her equestrian accolades, Ms. Bowen is a frequent costumed participant in the annual Mummers Parade and is a classical music aficionado.
Mickie lives by the motto that “every day is an adventure”, we are fortunate that Mickie has resoluted to share her adventures with us, and we welcome her back to judge the Villa Louis Carriage Classic.
Like many in the sport, Billie has been involved with horses her entire life. Her grandmother, Mrs. J. Macy Willets, drove and raised hackney ponies, so driving runs in the family. Billie started both combined driving and pleasure driving with a single hackney pony. She has either shown or judged at most of the 
major combined driving and pleasure driving shows on the east coast. She began her judging career about 30 years ago and has been a registered (“R”) pleasure driving judge with the American Driving Society for many years.
Between 1989 and 2002 she ran a training center for driving on her farm in Geneseo, New York. She trained horses, ponies, and minis to drive and gave lessons to all that were interested in learning to drive. Western New York is a very active area for pleasure-driving with major shows including the East Aurora Carriage Drive and Competition, the Lorenzo Driving Competition and the Walnut Hill Farm Driving Competition taking up three weekends out of the year. For the past 6 years Billie has been the course designer for the Walnut Hill Farm Driving Competition.
Fox hunting is another equine pastime that Billie enjoys; she lives in the Genesee Valley Hunting Country and this season will be her 54th consecutive year of fox hunting.
Mary Anne reports that her passion for horses began at a young age when she toured a fire station. There were two draft horses on display. Her grandfather, a retired fireman, expounded on the virtues of the fire horses and detailed the history of fireman and horses. After this introduction, Mary Anne went on to take riding lessons and her interest in horses continued to grow from this young age. Years later, she 
and her husband owned a small racehorse-training stable where they trained Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. While racing their horses in the western states, she happened upon a fair in Wyoming that offered a driven draft horse competition. With this, her excitement for carriage driving was ignited. She finished graduate school and started on her career with the goal of having a carriage driving horse. She attained that goal in finding her first driving horse, a patient pony. Mary Anne and her pony learned to drive through lessons, clinics, videos, books, and many different competitions. She further grew as a driving via the Arizona Driving and Carriage Society (ADCS). After competing for a number of years, a neighbor friend suggested that she enroll in the American Driving Society (ADS) Learner Judge Program. She now holds registered (“R”) status as a pleasure driving judge and recorded (“r”) status as a combined driving judge. She currently serves on the ADS Education Committee and the Pleasure Driving Committee and intends later this month to rejoin the ADS Board of Directors as an At-Large Director. Mary Anne has said that she loves all equines: miniatures to drafts to donkeys and mules. Having served as a learner in 2010, in preparation for her advancement to “R” status, it is a pleasure to welcome Mary Anne Boyden back to the Villa Louis Carriage Classic in 2012.
From Geneseo, New York, Edward Young is serving as the Technical Delegate for the 2012 Villa Louis Carriage Classic. Whilst retired from teaching mathematics to “at risk” students, he spends most of his time involved in various aspects of equestrian sports, namely driving. He holds licenses with the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), United States Equestrian Federation (USEF), and the American Driving Society (ADS), as both a technical delegate and a course designer. He has served as a member of the USEF driving committee for many years. His experiences including officiating as technical delegate, 
scoring, organizing, competing and volunteering at driving events throughout North America and Europe. He has been the course designer for the Kentucky Gayla Pleasure Show, the Canadian Classic, and the Driving Derby at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Besides his commitment to the aforementioned organizations, he is instrumental in organizing and executing many of the functions associated with the Carriage Association of America (CAA). Ed can be found at the helm of many of the CAA’s annual conferences or learning weekends. Mr. Young has served as an organizer of many prestigious events including the CAA Carriage Festival, the Orleton Farm Pleasure Driving Show, and the Florida Carriage & Horse Festival. Ed is currently the show manager of the Walnut Hill Farm Driving Competition, held annually in August, in Pittsord, New York. In 2012, his abilities to manage this event were tested when he was selected as the chef d'équipe (French translated as ‘foreman/overseer’) of the United States team at the World Four-in-Hand Championship in Riesenbeck, Germany. Having not mastered the art of “being in two places at once”, Mr. Young orchestrated the final day of the 2012 Walnut Hill event remotely via superb surrogates. Walnut Hill is tantamount with excellence in carriage-driving much to the credit of its manager, Ed Young. The technical delegate ensures that all competitors enjoy a safe and fair competition. He is available for consultation throughout the show and is always very diplomatic. The Villa Louis Carriage Classic is fortunate to have a world-renowned driving expert as the 2012 technical delegate!
