Everywhere you looked, riders under the age of 18, known as "juniors," were collecting ribbons today at Devon.  The morning kicked off with handy hunter classes.  Like all junior hunter classes at Devon the horses in this division were divided into different sections.  The first division is by height.  Large hunters are 16 hands and over and small hunters are under 16 hands.  The second division is by age, with competitors 15 and under in a separate section from those who are ages 16 and 17. 

Today's classes were handy hunter classes.  In a handy class, the course diverges from the more straightforward path seen in typical hunter classes.  The horses tackle a series of jumps that require tighter turns and more ingenuity.  These classes really allow the horse to shine and showcase a horse with a lot of "scope" or athletic ability. 

Lillie Keenan was hard to beat in the older small junior handy class.  She took home first on Chromeo and second on Parkland.  Picking up third was veteran competitor Lyle piloted by Taylor Sutton.  If Lillie was the queen of the olders, Tori Colvin was the queen of the juniors.  She rode to first place in the small junior handy class with Betsee Parker's Ovation and second with Parker's Canadian Blue.  The yellow ribbon went to Genuine ridden by Lili Hymowitz. 

Grand Junior Hunter Champ, Lillie Keenan and Walk The Line

In the older large junior handy class, Lillie's mount again jogged on top.  This time, the blue ribbon went to Walk the Line with Capstone, ridden by Sydney Shulman, in second.  Third place was awarded to another of Lillie's mounts, Donato.  Not to be bested, Tori was back for more winning in the younger large junior handy class.  She was first on Parker's Inclusive and second on Parker's Way Cool.  Maddie Darst finished third on Lightning Z.  When all was said and done, Tori and Lillie ruled the day with Tori taking Best Child Rider on a Horse, and Lillie's mount, Walk the Line, taking Grand Junior Hunter Champion.

Tori Colvin and Don Juan

Moving into the evening's Show Jumping Hall of Fame Classic, the Junior Jumpers did not disappoint with some truly exciting rides. At the end of the day, Tori Colvin clinched her reign as as Devon's top Junior Jumper for the second year in a row taking the Junior Jumper Championship on Don Juan, and Leading Junior Jumper Rider. Gabrielle Bausano took second on Ubico H, with Kalvin Dobbs coming in third on Winde.

By Veronica J. Finkelstein

Liza Boyd is no stranger to the Devon Horse Show.  Neither is one of her well known mounts, Casallo.  Not only has he frequently ribboned at the Devon Horse Show but Liza won the Grand Champion Professional Hunter title at the Alltech National Horse Show on him.  Now the dapple gray is turning his pursuits to another division-- the junior hunter division with Erin McGuire.  He's already earned numerous ribbons this year at Devon with Erin in the irons.

Liza Boyd on Casallo

Liza knows Casallo well enough to know exactly how to prepare him for the unique challenges of the show.  As she explains "Devon is known for its open lines," so Liza makes sure to prepare Casallo to maintain an active pace.  She works on a lot of counter canter, galloping, and rideability before the show.  Luckily, Liza and Erin like Casallo to be prepared the same way-quiet but not tired.  They love how Casallo feels when he's fresh and bright enough to jump at his best. 

Casallo also knows what kind of preparation he likes.  He prefers what Liza calls the "breakfast of champions."  Instead of eating his grain in a bucket in his stall before schooling, Casallo goes into the ring at the show and is schooled.  If Liza anticipates anything will be spooky or off-putting for Casallo, she has grooms standing nearby with grain.  When Casallo approaches the spooky obstacle or corner of the ring, he gets a handful of grain as positive reinforcement.  Casallo has learned to enjoy this routine. 

Now that Liza has turned over the reins to Erin, she can spend some time on herself at Devon.  When asked what she's planning to do, Liza admits that she's already done "plenty of shopping" for her daughter Elle.  She doesn't plan, however, to take a turn on the Ferris wheel.  Looks like Elle will have some convincing to do once she's old enough to show at Devon!