Devon Horse Show Update: Generations of Pony Jumpers; One Champion

EASTTOWN TWP, PA —For 11-year-old Collin Sweetnam, competing in the Devon Horse Show was extra special.

“This is my first time in the show,” Collin said, as he was waiting his turn to ride his pony, Maddoc, around a medium pony jumping course Friday morning, the second day of the 11-day Devon Horse Show and Country Fair.

“It is so fun,” Collin continued. “It’s really smooth and the jump is very nice. You have a course and you jump, 1, 2, 3, left.”

Collin, clad in a navy blue horse-riding suit with a tie, also enjoys playing baseball.

He said the difference is horseback riding is an individual sport, and baseball is a team sport.

Collin, like many competing in the horse show, comes from a long line of horse champions.

He is the son of Irish show jumper Shane Sweetnam.

His mother, Alison, is a trainer, and hid sisters, Olivia, 13, and Lucy 9, are also riders. The sisters also competed in the pony jumping competition.

The family traveled from Wellington, Fla., to Devon to participate in the oldest and largest horse show and country fair in the nation.

Alison Sweetnam said the Devon Horse Show provides an opportunity for the equestrian community to socialize and reunite.

Devon: "Where Champions Meet"

The theme of the 126th anniversary is “Devon is Back.”

The event was canceled for the last two years due to the pandemic.

Wayne W. Grafton, chairman and CEO of the event, said this year’s event will be bigger than ever.

“Our trajectory for future generations has never been stronger and our base of competitors, staff, volunteers, and boxholders are committed to keeping Devon as the place ‘where champions meet’,” Grafton wrote in an official program.

Also Friday morning, Ellie Aronson,16, of Atlanta, Ga., was practicing with her pony, Ty Dutch.

“My mom rode horses and so did my grandmother,” Ellie said. “Some people find love in a horse. This is personal. I love the connection with my ponies.”

Age doesn’t matter when it comes to loving horses.

Nancy Hall, 71, of Middleburg, Va., was on the sidelines watching the ponies compete.
“We brought ponies to the show,” Hall said. “When I was young, I rode.”

One Champion

By the end of the Sunday competitions, one winner emerged in the children's jumper division - Olivia Sweetnam and her horse, Just Noble.

"She's so sweet," Olivia said, after the competition ended, according to a release from Phelps Sports, based in Wellington, Fla. "I love her so much."

Twenty horses-and-rider pairs competed in three classes.

Olivia won a tri-color ribbon for outstanding performance in all three classes. She rode 9-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare owned by Sweet Oak Farms. The pair completed lightning fast jumpoffs.

Olivia said she was a little bit nervous going into the final leg of the division.

"This is my fourth time competing," she said. "I really love it here. Honestly, it feels kinda crazy. I don't know I can believe it really happened to be honest. The whole environment makes it really special with the crowd and everything."

The horse show and country fair continues tomorrow through Sunday, June 5. The gates open at 8 a.m. and close at 10 p.m.