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Scott Stewart and First Light Shine in Devon’s Dixon Oval

Scott Stewart and First Light.

Come Memorial Day each year, Scott Stewart can generally be found at the Devon Horse Show, and he can often be found doing one thing: winning. This year Stewart kicked off the professional hunter divisions with four blue ribbon wins across the Green Conformation Hunter and Second Year Green Hunter divisions.

Stewart started the day on Monday with the win in the Green Conformation Hunter Model with Stephanie Danhakl’s First Light. The pair followed that win with back-to-back victories in both of the Green Conformation Hunter over fences classes.

“When I got [First Light], it took me until week four or five [of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF)] to show him. Every time I brought him up for warm-up day on Tuesday he would be a little wild and stallion-y so I never got to show,” Stewart said of the 6-year-old. “As soon as I got to show he was just so easy.”

Since then, First Light has been extremely consistent, finishing as the Green Conformation Hunter Circuit Champion at WEF and claiming championship honors at the Kentucky Spring Horse Show right before coming to Devon. First Light showed that consistency again in Devon’s Dixon Oval where he earned scores of 88 in both rounds.

“I wasn’t really sure how he’d be out here, but he was just perfect,” Stewart said. “Every time you get on him, even when he’s quiet, he pumps up, and you feel like he’s going to do something. So not knowing him early on in Florida, I didn’t know what that was going to be so I got off a couple times. He does that even when he’s quiet. I think he’s just in the groove now. He’s very brave about the jumps, so it’s never an issue about that. He’s so fun, and he’s so comfortable to ride.”

As eye catching as First Light’s impressive jump is, his coat, conditioning and turn out are just as striking.

“He’s a stallion so he has a stallion coat,” Stewart explained. “He looked good in Kentucky, but he was a little bit hairy. The last time we clipped him he didn’t clip out that great, so we were a little bit hesitant to do it, but we did it [in Kentucky] the day he was done showing. He clipped out so pretty, and now he looks great.”

Following Stewart’s success in the Green Conformation Hunters with First Light, he returned for the Second Year Green Hunters with Gina Day’s Ashcroft.

Scott Stewart and Ashcroft
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Scott Stewart and Ashcroft

Just last year the 6-year-old stallion was competing in the jumpers with Canadian show jumper Ben Asselin, but he has made the transition to the hunter ring quickly and successfully, as he displayed on Monday with Stewart. The pair earned the win in the first Second Year Green Hunter over fences class with a score of 90, and they finished second in the second class with a score of 89.

“He’s really fun to ride. He’s a little bit not used to what the hunter thing is, but he was actually super here the first time. The big ring suited him,” Stewart said. “He sometimes looks around a little bit like a stallion. He’s not spooky; he’s just noticing the surroundings like a stallion might.”

The first place in the second over fences class and the second behind Ashcroft in the first class went to Certainty, ridden by Peter Wylde and owned by Nicole Lyvere.

In the First Year Green Hunters the blue ribbons over fences went to Boss, ridden by John French and owned by Laura Wasserman, and Mirror Image, ridden by Amanda Steege and owned by Ellen Toon.

Victories in the day’s under saddle classes went to Steege and Mirror Image in the First Year Green Hunters, Havens Schatt and Custom Made in the Green Conformation Hunters and Schatt and Set to Music in the Second Year Green Hunters.

Hunter competition continues Tuesday at the Devon Horse Show with the First Year Green Hunters beginning in the Dixon Oval at 8 a.m.

Emily Riden for Phelps Media Group, Inc. International

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