For my first interview I would like to present Sterling Graburn. He is my primary trainer and has done incredible things helping me train and teaching me the fine points of driving. Both Sterling and Wendy Ying do all they can to help young drivers in our sport. They constantly work behind the scenes to not only draw out the talent of the young drivers actively participating in our sport but also to help recruit new juniors to join us.

Sterling D. B. Graburn is the owner of Kingsforth Hall Training Center in Bonifay, Florida. He was the highest ranking North American at the 2006 Singles World Driving Championships in Pratoni, Italy, and is the 2004 FEI Top Driver North American Challenge Single Horse Champion. He drives single, pair, tandem, unicorn, and four-in-hand, and is one of the few whips in North America who competes in combined driving with a tandem turnout.

Sterling has been involved in the horse industry for over 30 years. In that time he has navigated in two World Championships, once with a pair and once with a four-in-hand. In 2000 he was long listed for the World Singles Championships with two horses. Sterling’s driving talents include singles, pairs, unicorns, and fours, but he has a passion for Tandems. He competes in shows across the Eastern Half of the United States, showing from the Live Oak Combined Driving Event in Florida North to Gladstone in New Jersey and West out to the Ironhorse CDE in Illinois. He also competes regularly in Montreal, Canada at the Bromont International CDE.

In addition to Sterling's driving experience he shows horses in-hand at Warmblood shows in Florida and along the East Coast. He has twice received the Sunshine Sporthorse Association Handler of the Year Award. In 2000, he showed the United States Dressage Federation Horse of the Year Winner, Wolkenrose, to numerous championships and reserves including Dressage at Devon………

Sterling, where are you from?
Born in Phoenixville, Pa, but have lived in VA, PA, IL, NH and Florida

How long have you been driving?
Since 1978.

Where did you start driving and how did you get started driving (work or pleasure)?
Pennsylvania, helping my mother break a clients Arabian to drive, then started breaking various ponies to drive. The first pony I competed was purchased as a lesson pony but was too ornery for kids to ride, and had been driven, so I started driving him.

What is your favorite type of driving (Pleasure, CDE, Trail, etc)?
CDE, coaching and then pleasure driving shows

Personally, which do you enjoy driving more... single, pair, or team?
Tandem

How long have you been teaching driving?
Privately, since 1993.

Do you have a favorite breed of horse or pony? If so, why?
Not really, but I do prefer Warmbloods.

In training horses for other people to drive, what behavioral problem do you find most often?
With the owners, allowing the horse to behave badly.

When training people to drive what is the one most difficult problem most people have to overcome in their training?
Correct contact with the reins/mouth.

When dealing with the driving world at large through driving organizations, clinics, the ADS, or volunteering do you have special projects that are near and dear to your heart?
As a selector for World Championship teams, I have the responsibility to help choose the members to represent the US. I am also involved with the Jr Driver program for both the FL Whips and the ADS . I am also always eager to help people learn to drive tandem.

Given the incredible new engineering and manufacturing technologies, as well as the space age building materials being discovered almost every day and being made available to carriage builders, what do you think we will see in the "War Wagon" of 2020?
Perhaps improved materials used in construction, some design changes, but mostly the same.

Will Traditional Driving as we know it today survive the onslaught of new materials and technology or do you think we will come to a point where the only truly traditional carriages will exist in museums and private collections?
I think there will always be an interest in preserving and driving antiques or antique reproductions.

With the incredible growth of driving as an equine sport supporting a larger demand for good competitive driving horses and ponies do you see selective and specific breeding producing a specialized or "Super" Driving breed of horse in the not so distant future?
No, there are already plenty of good horses being bred. Sport horses are the Super Breed for driving, although there are some disciplines that would like other breeds too.

Do you see this super horse being an American product or something that will have to be imported?
The best breeding, with culling and approvals etc, is still being done in Europe. In the states, people are still inbreeding, and breeding indiscriminately, so we have lots of bad breeding. In Europe, they have such a better system, and sometimes clever Americans can buy good stock, or import semen and breed up. There are breeders in the US who are producing nice sport types, but not nearly as much as in Europe.

In the United States Driving is a recreational sport of generally middle aged to senior folks. In Europe, Driving is not only a way of life in many places but a recognized National Sport with a huge following. Given this immense discrepancy between the two do you see the United States as a serious competitor in World Class Competition in the future?
Can't say I agree with that. We have won individual and team medals, and most of the people driving at the top levels have been driving since they were in their teens. Chester Weber, Tucker Johnson (early twenties) Suzy Stafford, Randy Cadwell, Keady Cadwell, Kelly Valdes, Katie Whaley, myself, just off the top of my head.