It's Almost Devon Time

By Maggie Junkin

May has always been one of my favorite times of year.  Spring in Philadelphia.  The weather gets warm, the spring flowers bloom, and the Mainline prepares for my favorite horse show of all: THE DEVON HORSE SHOW!

Growing up in the suburbs of Philly as a young equestrian I have been fortunate to visit the show almost each year.  I competed in the Lead Line division as a 4 year-old and have been lucky enough to compete in the pony divisions.  I hope, in the future, to compete in the junior hunters there as well.

What makes Devon so Special?  There are so many reasons. Where do I start?

1. The Devon Blue

This is one of the few horse shows I can think of that has a color theme.  “Devon Blue” is seen throughout the show grounds, from the stands, to the stabling areas, to the fair grounds.  It’s Devon Blue everywhere!

2010--decked out in my Devon Blue. 

2. It’s Where Champions Meet

There is always someone to admire or be inspired by.  Sit in the stands and soak in the talent.  Learn from the best and appreciate the dedication it took to get there.

3. Devon Lead Line

Don’t miss the Devon Lead Line class that takes place on Saturday afternoon of Junior Weekend in the Dixon Oval.  This is cuteness overload.  Young lead liners with their adorable ponies and finely attired handlers strut their stuff for a coveted Devon ribbon.  But don’t worry because everyone goes home with a prize.  A Devon baby blue ribbon and a lollipop to thrill these tiny equestrians. 

4. Pony Hunt Teams

Pony Hunt Teams are so much fun, not only as a spectator, but also as a competitor.  Pony Hunt Teams are made up of three pony riders in the same division. Teams choose a theme and dress in costumes while jumping a course to music.

Maggie Junkin as Olaf in the Fabulously Frozen Pony Hunt Team.

5. Shopping

From clothing to art, needlepoint belts to jewelry, and equestrian gear to engraving, there is plenty to browse.  I love the Devon Booth, where you will find all things Devon.  This is a great place to pick up a keepsake or that new Devon sweatshirt you wanted.

6. Good Eats

They do not cook your usual horse show food here.  Devon provides guests with a variety of options.  From healthy choices, to pizza, burgers, their famous tea sandwiches, and oh, can’t forget those Devon Fries!  For the adventurous, the carnival side offers batter-dipped treats from funnel cake to fried Oreos, cotton candy, and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

7. The Carnival

Being a horse show exhibitor occasionally leaves you with some downtime.  Devon offers some carnival entertainment.  A Ferris wheel provides the backdrop to the Dixon Oval and offers a sky view of the horse show.

8. The Grandstand

I think it is a dream for many young equestrians to compete in a beautiful ring surrounded by the Devon Blue Grandstands. 

9. The Candy booth

Where you will find sweat treats... from Devon fudge to a variety of candy choices, and Lemon sticks.  The candy booth is a favorite for all Devon guests.

10. Grand Prix Under the Lights

The highlight of Devon Week.  Gather together with your equestrian friends to watch top athletes compete in the Devon Grand Prix.

That memorable night in 2013 when McLain Ward shared his blue ribbon with me. 

Maggie Junkin is a 13 year-old who competes in the Large Pony Hunter Division with Shaded and the Children’s Hunter Horse Division with Tommy Bahama.  She is committed to animal rescue.  Her favorite rescue to support is Danny and Ron’s Rescue.

Maggie trains with John Mastriano of Tustin Farm in NJ.  She lives with her family, five dogs, and three cats in Jenkintown, Penn. Maggie is thrilled to have qualified Shaded in the Large Pony Division for The Devon Horse Show 2016.

You Know You Showed Ponies Back in the Day if...

By Kim Ablon Whitney

1. You wore a nameplate bracelet with your pony’s show name.

2. The Pony Finals changed location every year.

3. Every show had a pony model class, including the one-days, and sometimes even in an under saddle.

4. Ponies did not come from Europe.  They came from Virginia.

5. When a top pony came up for sale there was a huge ad in the Chronicle of the Horse with Sadly Outgrown in bold print.

6. You didn’t wear high boots or your hair up in your helmet till you were 13 and on a large pony.

7. You went straight from the large ponies to showing in the 3'6".

8. You read A Very Young Rider and The Pony Book countless times.

9. You were present for one of the very first “horseless horse shows.”

10. Fairfield was THE pony barn and Emerson Burr was THE pony trainer.

11. There was no such thing as the children’s ponies.

12. Your pony likely had the prefix Farnley, Woodland’s, or Glenmore.

13. You had to make your own accessories for your Breyer horses.

Kim Ablon Whitney showed in the ponies back in the day. One of her proudest moments was when Emerson Burr told her she rode well.

Don't Ever Trash Talk My School Horse

By Elizabeth Tarter

Dear Person Who Disparaged My School Horse,

I suggest that you spend several years of your life saving money by singing in dive bars, giving beginner lessons, leading trail rides (don't forget to get bucked off onto the hood of a yellow cab while crossing Central Park West. That is an experience not to be missed!), waiting tables, and eating SpaghettiOs out of the can to buy a fleet of horses to begin a program with. 

Over the following twelve years, you should spend several hundred thousand more dollars adding to that fleet--choosing each creature with as much care as you would choose a pony for your own daughter. 

You will spend those years patiently schooling them to do the work with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of happy kids.  You will worry over them when they are sick and sleep in the barn to watch the IV drip.  You will cry over them when they pass away.  

You will spend money on them that you could have used to send your kids to private school, or to buy a bigger house so that your girls don't have to share a room and we don't all queue up for the bathroom in the morning like a third-rate boarding house but you know that these horses are in your care and deserve the best that you can give them. 

You will ignore the pain in your own mouth and chug an Advil because you can't afford a dentist for yourself (and you would never have the time to go, anyway) but you will find the best equine dentist out there (because he is well worth it) and make sure that every last one of the school horses (even the oldest school pony... especially the oldest school pony) see him twice a year. 

You will watch them with pride when they patiently tip an unbalanced rider back into the tack and you will get after them when they lose that patience and misbehave (even though you secretly don't blame them one bit).

You will watch them endure poor riding and getting whacked in the teeth over and over again, and you will have to remind yourself for the billionth time that this is their job and the reason why you work so hard to care for them. 

You will stand in rainy in-gates next to them, with water dripping down your pants, and ask them to please, bring the kid back to the gate safely at the end of the eight jumps, no matter how she leans or gives conflicting aids. 

You will drive them all over creation to birthday parties, horse shows, bat mitzvahs, clinics, and beyond and you will constantly marvel at how they trustingly follow you and know that you will bring them home safely. 

You will comfort your daughter while you hold her favorite pony for the vet to euthanize for the infirmities of old age and explain to her that you can't turn back the clock and that this is the way of things--while you wish to God that someone would comfort and explain it to you. 

You will listen to careless and bone-headed comments from morons like yourself, and you will try your best to let it roll off because you know your school horses are saints.

Elizabeth Tarter runs Twin Lakes Farm in Bronxville, NY and Riverdale Stables in the Bronx with her husband, Scott.

Goodbye Pixie Dust... Moving from Ponies to Horses

by Maggie Junkin

2016 was a big year for me.  I got my first horse.  Getting your first horse is an exciting moment for many young equestrians and one I will never take for granted, however I have to admit I wasn’t overly excited to go from the ponies to the horses. 

Why?

It seemed like a step closer to growing up.  Like Peter Pan, I enjoyed being forever young.  I had just turned 13, what was the rush to leave the pony world behind?  

Maggie & Shaded (Scooby) competing in the 2015 Pony Medal Finals.

Here are all the things I missed most about the ponies: 

1. The Bows.  What goes hand in hand with ponies?  Bows, bows, and more bows!  I loved wearing hair bows and I could express myself through my choices.   I love dogs and promote animal rescue so my favorite bows were my Danny and Ron’s Rescue bows from Belle and Bow Equestrian and my Chihuahua cross bone pair. 

Maggie's Danny & Ron's Rescue Bows

The bows were the first to go once I started in the Large Pony Hunters.  I missed them. Bows were easy.  Throw two braids in, gel my hair, tie the bows in place, and off I went. 

Now I had to put my hair up.  Okay, so now that we are discussing my hair, let’s just say I have a lot of it!  It’s like wrestling a wild lion.  Once I finally get it lassoed under the hair net, I finally have to squeeze into a helmet two sizes bigger than my last to fit it over my hair. 

2. Paddock Boots.  I was finally getting adjusted to the new hair situation and should have been prepared for what would come next… my trainer's suggestion it was time for tall boots.  Ugh!  Most kids can’t wait for their tall boots.  Much like getting your learner’s permit at 16, it’s a monumental event! 

Well, not for me.  Okay, so maybe I don’t like change, but I also have a serious issue with comfort.  I loved my paddock boots.  They fit like a glove, maybe a little too snug because I refused to get a new pair, but they were just fine.  

Now I had to go boot shopping. That actually wasn’t as painful as I had feared; however the break-in period was.  Band-Aids were my new best friends and only after several weeks was I finally able to walk in them. 

Cleaning them is a whole other story.  Five minutes and my paddock boots were polished.  My tall boots require at least a half hour, lots of patience, and even more polish.

3. Easy Mounting.  I had my tall boots for one month when my trainer asked me to ride a new horse he had in the barn.  I had only ridden a horse once before. 

Why did Tommy look so big?  Why did he raise his head like a giraffe when I was tacking him up?  Forget these new tall boots, I needed high heels!

I could barely slide Tommy's bridle over his ears.  Speaking of ears, where did those cute little pony ears go?  I was now struggling to get a bridle over mammoth size Warmblood ears.  

Once I finally got the tack on I was beginning to feel accomplished, until I walked out to the mounting block and immediately realized my next challenge.  I needed a stepladder.  To make matters worse, Tommy wouldn't stand still and squirmed side-to-side to challenge me even more.   I finally made my way into the saddle and off we went for our lesson.  

Maggie's first lesson on Tommy

I felt really small on him and wasn’t sure of what to expect after all the effort it took to get to this point.   I guess Tommy felt like he had tested me enough and he behaved like a perfect gentleman that first lesson.  I spent the month getting to know him and we seemed like a good match.  My parents surprised me by purchasing him right when we were ready to leave for winter circuit in Gulfport. 

I was thrilled.  I was taking Scooby and Tommy was now coming too.  I had really begun to love Tommy.  I was finally getting used to my tall boots and my tall horse.  Things seemed to be coming together... or so I thought.

4. Pony Striding.  I had never really jumped a three-foot course on Tommy.  But how hard could it be?  I jumped three-foot on Scooby all the time.  But on a horse, things are different.  First, I had real trouble with pace.  I was used to ponies that have some motor; now I had this big barreled Warmblood.  

My trainer insisted I had to learn to use my leg. I have been riding and playing soccer since I was four years old.  My legs should be pretty strong, but apparently they weren't strong enough. 

Without pace, I could no longer find a distance.  It was there and then it wasn’t.  It took time for me to learn how to keep the pace and find the distances with Tommy.

Maggie & Tommy ended up Champion and Reserve Champion weeks 5 and 6 in Gulfport. 

For me moving from ponies to horses wasn’t an easy transition.  I had to give up things that I loved, move out of my comfort zone, and challenge myself.  

Now, I don’t miss the bows as much.  Tall boots are finally comfortable, and I have found love in a great horse--big ears and all.

So in the end, maybe I'm not like Peter Pan.  Maybe I am ready to grow up, and maybe, just maybe, I am finally ready to say goodbye to ponies and pixie dust.  

Maggie Junkin is a 13 year-old who competes in the Large Pony Hunter Division with Shaded and the Children’s Hunter Horse Division with Tommy Bahama.  She is committed to animal rescue. Her favorite rescue to support is Danny and Ron’s Rescue. 

Maggie trains with John Mastriano  of Tustin Farm in NJ.  She lives with her family, five dogs, and three cats in Jenkintown, Penn. Maggie is thrilled to have qualified Shaded in the Large Pony Division for The Devon Horse Show 2016. 

The Anatomy of a California Split

What exactly is a California split?

A California split is used either when a class is very large (usually over 25 horses) or in a combined division like the junior hunters.

A judge typically keeps a "stagger" or a ranking of the top 8 ribbon winners as a class goes on.

In a California Split, the judge needs to rank 16 ribbon winners and at the end of the class (typically after seeing 50-plus rounds), the judge pins the class as follows:

#1 & #2 on stagger each win Division A and Division B of the same class
#3 & #4 on stagger are second in Division A and Division B of the same class
#5 & #6 on stagger are third in Division A and Divisions B of the same class
...And so on

How else is a big class split?
Another way to split a class of 50 low hunters is when the 25th horse goes in the first class of two back-to-back classes, the judge pins both the classes.  (The second class will usually only have 15-20 that have gone since some riders choose to only do one class.)  This is often called a Casual Split.

Where did the name come from?
Apparently not from California!  The California split is an East Coast thing.  And after asking many people who have been around the industry as judges and horse show managers for years, it's unclear where the name comes from.

These is some sense that it originated at WEF with large classes in the juniors.  One judge remembered when a junior hunter class was judged by one judge as the first class of the division and the same class judged by a second judge as the Maclay, and that this situation was for some reason called a California split.

How do judges feel about it?
Some judges don't like California splits because it means keeping track of 16 ribbon winners, which can be unwieldy and exhausting.  Usually in a large class after you have your top 8 ribbon winners ranked, you only need to work in the rounds that are good enough to fall into that top group.  With a California split, you have to work in any round that would place in the top 16 in the class.

However, other judges prefer the California split to a Casual Split because it can mean the best rounds get rewarded.  In a casual split, the strength of each division is more or less random.  Division A might have better rounds than Division B for whatever reason.  In that case, a horse that wins Division B might not be nearly as good as the horse that wins Division A.  With a California Split, the best horses and rounds in the class are rewarded accordingly.

Kim Ablon Whitney is an 'R' judge and the author of the Show Circuit Series.

Top things to Love About the Gulfport Winter Classic!

by Maggie Junkin

I am 13 years old and riding has been part of my life since I was 4.  I have been lucky enough to compete all over the country.  I love traveling to new places and riding in different venues.

This winter I had the opportunity to show at the Gulf Coast Winter Classic, in Gulfport, Mississippi.  Here are several standout things that make me look forward to returning to Gulfport next year.

14. Friendliness is in the air.  From the show office to the exhibitors everyone was friendly.  Gulfport is a relaxed setting.  Strangers smile and say hello.

13. The Gulf Shores.  From the City of New Orleans to Mobile, each offers easy day trips.  Discover tasty Beignets and Chicory coffee at Café Du Monde in New Orleans.  Enjoy the many miles of beaches and national parks, and the exploration of the quaint beach towns with galleries and boutiques.  

12. Grass Grand Prix Ring.  Cheer on your favorite grand prix riders as they navigate their way around the large grass grand prix field.

11. Groom’s Class.  A chance to reward our hard working grooms.  The winning groom walks away with the coveted distinction of top groom and a cash prize.

Tustin Farm’s Wilmer Diaz winning the 2016 Groom’s Class

10. Lady Luck.  Catch a show or try your luck at gambling at the Biloxi and Gulfport Casinos.

9. Lodging.  There are many great housing choices, all within a half hour of the show grounds. There are plenty of hotels. You can rent large beach houses to share with your barn families, or stay in condos on the beach.  There are also plenty of RV sites on the horse show grounds.

View from our beachfront condo

8. Well-planned layout.  The horse show facility is laid out in an exhibitor friendly way. The jumpers are in the front of the show grounds. The show office, exhibitor lounge, farrier, retail and café are in the center. The hunter rings are in the back. The stabling areas are close to the schooling rings and show rings. There is plenty of parking and there is uncongested space between barns to hang out and unwind in between showing. 

Getting in some soccer time in between divisions

7. Institute For Marine Mammal Studies.  Spend a few hours here and learn about marine life rescue.  Learn the story of the 8 Katrina Dolphins who lived in the Marine Life Oceanarium on the beach in Gulfport, Mississippi. On August 29^th, 2005 during Hurricane Katrina this center was crushed by a tidal wave sweeping the dolphins from their tank into the Gulf of Mexico. Learn of their survival and where they are today.

6. Restaurants.  Numerous choices make Mississippi’s Gulf Coast a fabulous place to dine. From beach shacks to seafood, oyster and steak houses you will find something for everyone. In addition there are several diner and dive establishments to make the adventurous happy as well. 

Lunch by the marina at Shaggy’s in Pass Christian

5. VIP tent.  Enjoy snacks, beverages and catered lunches while watching world class jumping right before your eyes. Mingle, make new friends and maybe even get the opportunity to meet an Olympic course designer, Leopoldo Palacios, like I did.

4. Check out college campuses.  My mom and I use our horse show travels to check out regional schools. On our drive from Pennsylvania to Mississippi we passed Duke, Elon, Clemson, and Georgia Tech, to name a few.  We made a stop at Auburn University.

3. Shopping.  Browse the boutique shops, hunt for antiques, shop the outlets, check out the souvenir stores, whatever your style, shopping is the perfect rainy day activity. Leave space in your suitcase!

2. Infinity Science Center and the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center.  Riding at this level often causes younger riders to miss school.  Use downtime to explore the learning opportunities Mississippi has to offer outside of the classroom. Don’t miss a stop at the Infinity Science Center, located on the border of Mississippi and Louisiana, adjacent to the Pearl River. Learn about space travel, planets, weather, and storm patterns.   Explore by bus NASA’s largest rocket engine test facility.

1. The proud people of Mississippi.  Gulfport, Mississippi is often overlooked with the mention of Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans area was devastated. However, Gulfport was hit equally hard. It’s humbling to talk to the locals and hear their stories. Eleven years later and they are still rebuilding with hard work and great pride. The shopkeepers and restaurant owners welcome the six-week influx of people from the horse show crowd.  It is southern hospitality at its finest.

Maggie Junkin is a 13 year-old who competes in the Large Pony Division with Shaded and the Children’s Hunter Horse division with Tommy Bahama.  She is committed to animal rescue. Her favorite rescue to support is Danny and Ron’s Rescue. Maggie trains with John Mastriano of Tustin Farm in NJ. She lives with her family, 6 dogs, and 3 cats in Jenkintown, Pa.