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\u201cToronto 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,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. (\u201cI looked up his show record and thought, \u2018Uh oh. This isn\u2019t so hot,\u2019 \u201d Davis recalled.) But their immediate connection in the saddle was too great to deny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, there were some growing pains to overcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was a little spooky when I first got him,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe 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,\u201d she added. \u201cNow, he is really blossoming and coming out because he knows his team around him, and he feels really secure in that.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n
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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\u2014Ocala. Over the course of Meagan\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s always been my eyes on the ground. He has watched a lot of lessons, and he understands the biomechanics of the horse,\u201d Meagan said. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe tried to be the one to buy me my first pony,\u201d she said. \u201cHe took me around when I was in first grade, and we drove all over the county looking at horses going to basically random people\u2019s backyards. And he’d be like, \u2018Is your pony for sale?\u2019 They\u2019d say, \u2018No. What are you even doing here?\u2019 Afterwards, he told me, \u2018Don\u2019t tell your parents.\u2019 And of course, being 6 or 7 in first grade, I get home, and I’m like, \u2018Grandpa’s buying me a pony!\u2019 They were surprised but supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She hasn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe 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,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I got my work ethic from my dad and my grandfather in the nearby barn growing up.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While riding at that barn as a young rider, Meagan\u2019s skill and work ethic caught the attention of Durkin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty small town, so there were just a couple of farms,\u201d said Meagan. \u201cScott 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,\u201d she explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s horses have been no strangers to the spotlight<\/a>, but Toronto and his scores at WEC\u2014Ocala took their success to a whole new level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the upcoming winter circuit, Meagan intends to build on their success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI 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,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll see where everything takes us. He\u2019s 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.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n