snippet sport
horse M
By Sydney Masters From Western to Winning at Devon
aggie Hill of Jackson, Wyoming had never even been on a ferris wheel before she traveled to Pennsylvania to compete at the famed Devon
Horse Show & County Fair. But there were going to be many “firsts” for the talented 15-year old over the venue’s Junior Weekend, which kicked off the competitions the last weekend in May. Riders have to qualify and be invited to compete
at Devon and the Junior Weekend is always an action- packed few days consisting of the top young riders and their horses and ponies battling it out for prestigious awards. “I didn’t have high expectations before arriving at Dev-
on,” Maggie says. “I was a little nervous, like ‘oh jeez, this is Devon!’ But then I talked with my trainers Jack Towell and Liza Boyd and they told me to just focus on putting in solid, quality rounds and to do my best. Once I arrived I saw many of the same riders that I’d been competing against at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida and thought, ‘maybe, if I put it all together, I might have a shot.’” Maggie had more than a shot--she hit the bull’s eye!
After all the points were tallied, the talented teen walked out of the famed Dixon Oval as the Large Junior Hunter Champion, 15 and under. She had piloted the 12-year old-Holsteiner gelding Cassanto (by Canto), whom she is leasing from Stella Styslinger, to seven blue ribbons and one red over the two days of competition.
How it Began It wasn’t so long ago that Maggie was not even riding in an English saddle. Wyoming is the land of cowboys, where western riding and reining rules the local eques- trian world. At the age of four she began taking riding lessons, competing in everything from in-hand classes and barrel racing to western pleasure. She was a member of 4-H, then joined the local Pony Club and was suddenly exposed to the English disciplines - adding to her roster both dressage and eventing. Maggie’s first horse was a gentle Tobiano Paint geld- ing named Sooners Playboy. It wasn’t long before her “herd” grew to include a pony and an enormous draft to accommodate her growing education in the different dis- ciplines. The family stabled the horses at home with Mag- gie caring for them herself. Wyoming winters are brutal and Maggie and her non-horsey parents would together pack up the truck and trailer and drive countless hours so that she could ride and compete. After competing up to the Novice level in eventing, Maggie decided to focus on dressage, training with
58 July/August 2018
Margie Boyd and compet- ing up to First Level. “This was such an important phase of learning for me,” she recalls. “I loved it and dressage really taught me about flatwork.”
Love of Jumping But deep down Maggie wanted to get back into jumping and so at the age of 12, she started training with Jack Towell and Liza Boyd from Finally Farm in North Carolina. “When I started at Finally Farm I really had to start over, which meant a lot of work and time for me to catch up,” Maggie admits. It paid off, though, and she quickly moved up divisions, from showing in the 2’6” hunters to winning at the 3’3” to her big wins in the 3’6” classes. (The family began traveling back and forth between Wellington and Wyoming in or- der to support Maggie and her passion.) A week before competing at Devon, Maggie had taken a bad spill that had shaken her confidence. “I just wasn’t riding like myself, but Jack and Liza told me to let it go and try to focus on the moment,” she says. When she entered the show ring at Devon for the
first time, it was for the WIHS Equitation Classic aboard Charmeur (by Veron), an 11-year old Dutch Warmblood
Maggie Hill with horses Cassanto (top) and O’Ryan (bottom) at Devon where she placed first and second in many classes, earning the Jef- frey Wilson Memorial Challenge Trophy.
Photos by Brenda Carpenter
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
