After their final halt in the Grand Prix Special at last weekend’s WEC December Dressage CDI3*, Meagan Davis was happy with Toronto Lightfoot and ready to give him a much-deserved break. Having posted a personal best (70.23%) two days prior in the Grand Prix, she and Scott Durkin’s gelding had risen to every challenge that the World Equestrian Center—Ocala (Florida) would throw at them. Now, they could rest easy. Or so she thought. 

“Just as I was on my way out of the arena, it went very, very dark,” Davis, of Loxahatchee, Florida, said. When a brief power outage hit, the pair navigated the relative darkness like their Grand Prix tests: with ease. “ ‘Toronto’ was cool as a cucumber, and I could see where I was going as it was not pitch-black.”

As they exited the arena, one fixture remained on thanks to back-up power: the overhead Jumbotron and scoring system, which soon revealed that Davis and the 12-year-old Oldenburg (Totilas—Okima Lightfoot, Onassis) had posted yet another personal best, with a 69.95%. The final standings were the same in both classes, with Davis’ scores placing her ahead of recent U.S. Equestrian Open of Dressage series winners Anna Marek and Fayvel, who were second both days, and Chase Shipka and Gladstone Zee T, who twice finished third.

“Toronto felt really secure in all of the work we were doing in the Grand Prix and the Special. It was the first weekend when I felt like we owned everything in the test,” she said. 

Davis and Toronto became a team in 2022, after Durkin purchased the gelding to be her next up-and-coming competition horse. On paper, the bay was a rather unremarkable small tour horse at the time. (“I looked up his show record and thought, ‘Uh oh. This isn’t so hot,’ ” Davis recalled.) But their immediate connection in the saddle was too great to deny. 

Still, there were some growing pains to overcome. 

“He was a little spooky when I first got him,” she said. “So, building trust with him on the ground was major. I cleaned his stall every morning. He truly needed me to be his person and to trust me. I think because he had been through a couple of people, he just never felt like he belonged anywhere.

“He is such a love. He’s super sweet, with a very big personality. He wants his people around him, and he always wants attention and bananas,” she added. “Now, he is really blossoming and coming out because he knows his team around him, and he feels really secure in that.” 

Though their team includes Olympian Ali Brock, with whom they train in the winter, Davis is quick to credit her father, Bill Davis, as her coach and as an instrumental part of their success at shows, including WEC—Ocala. Over the course of Meagan’s life and equestrian career, Bill has only missed one competition. Without any prior horse experience before becoming a father, Bill leveraged his blue-collar background for the benefit of his daughter and her equestrian aspirations. 

“He’s always been my eyes on the ground. He has watched a lot of lessons, and he understands the biomechanics of the horse,” Meagan said. “He was a custom home builder for years, so he understands if you put the hind leg in a certain position underneath the horse, it can carry the weight better and then allow for more freedom up front.”

Growing up in Stone Ridge, New York, Meagan’s equestrian endeavors have been a family affair from the very beginning, with the support of her grandfather, Oliver Davis. 

“He tried to be the one to buy me my first pony,” she said. “He took me around when I was in first grade, and we drove all over the county looking at horses going to basically random people’s backyards. And he’d be like, ‘Is your pony for sale?’ They’d say, ‘No. What are you even doing here?’ Afterwards, he told me, ‘Don’t tell your parents.’ And of course, being 6 or 7 in first grade, I get home, and I’m like, ‘Grandpa’s buying me a pony!’ They were surprised but supportive.”

She hasn’t been on any clandestine pony-finding operations since, but Meagan attributes much of her success to lessons she learned from her grandfather, who, as a young man, worked in the logging industry with his pair of Percherons. 

“He and I spent a lot of time together, and he actually helped me in the barn for years, helping me clean stalls and take c34are of the horses,” she said. “So I got my work ethic from my dad and my grandfather in the nearby barn growing up.” 

While riding at that barn as a young rider, Meagan’s skill and work ethic caught the attention of Durkin. 

“It’s a pretty small town, so there were just a couple of farms,” said Meagan. “Scott boarded his horse at the time, a Friesian, at an indoor that I was allowed to go over and ride in when my outdoor wasn’t rideable because of the weather,” she explained. 

Meagan started riding professionally when she aged out of the FEI youth divisions in 2011, and has been training horses for Durkin ever since in Florida and at his Skyfall Stables in Saugerties, New York. Piloted by Meagan, Durkin’s horses have been no strangers to the spotlight, but Toronto and his scores at WEC—Ocala took their success to a whole new level. 

In the upcoming winter circuit, Meagan intends to build on their success. 

“I think we can continue the upward trend in our scores. We’re going to do a couple more Grand Prix specials and then go out and have some fun in the freestyles. I’m hoping to go to Europe with Toronto at some point, and get to compete on a Nations Cup team,” she said. “But we’ll see where everything takes us. He’s been gaining the muscle to show off his beautiful gaits and his talent. I think he’s a super talented horse for the future, and we showed that this weekend.” 

See complete show results here.