I have a scene etched in my mind from the old days -- going back some 18 years ago. It's a photograph I captured in my mind of the late Mary Gray and her best friend, Alice Stewart, driving their carriages through the main foundation.

The foundation was in full spring bloom, providing a bucolic background for the two friends following each other through the woods sporting spring hats.

I saw Mary and Alice that day when I was a passenger on maybe my third carriage drive with my friend Candy Moore who introduced me to driving.

I vividly remember my very first carriage drive with Candy.

My gregarious father, who was Candy's neighbor, told Candy his horsy daughter was coming to visit and he noticed she had horses on her mailbox. One thing led to another. Candy graciously told my Dad to have me meet her at her barn one day and she would take me for a carriage drive.

Now you have to understand, I had never been in a carriage before other than through Central Park in New York. So, I thought my father had a death wish for me.

I was a hunt-seat rider and I really had no desire to be sitting behind a horse's back legs in a Meadowbrook Cart. But I didn't want to be rude either so I gritted my teeth and met Candy and her mare Missile at Bud Evans' barn off Youngs Road where Candy boarded her horse.

I was not keen on looking at the rear of a horse but I got in the carriage, trying not to take a death grip on the carriage sides. All went well until we were headed home and the skies opened up. We were driving along the side of Youngs Road as cars threw up water from the flooding street.

I remember calmly asking Candy how long her horse had been broke to drive as Candy aptly negotiated an increasingly nervous horse down the street toward the barn. When she answered three months, I wasn't exactly put at ease. I didn't even want to know how the mare got the name Missile.

When we pulled up to the barn, I asked Candy how one gets out of a Meadowbrook should one have to exit quickly. We were soaked and laughing by that time.

I never would have imagined then that I would someday move to Southern Pines and have my own horse to drive.

Back in the days when I first moved here, the driving club consisted of just a few people driving single ponies or horses. I remember what a big deal it was when the first pair of ponies hit town. Moore County Driving Club activities pretty much consisted of pleasure driving. There were Sunday picnic drives and Wednesday activity drives.

Now, driving has become a serious sport. Fast forward to the Southern Pines Combined Driving Event where three local Four-in-Hand drivers competed, having qualified their teams for the World Equestrian Games to be held in 2010.

Wow, driving has come a long way, baby.

Pat Smith can be reached by e-mail at fotobytocco@vbbi.us.