Susan Sisco has won the Ladies Hunter Side Saddle championship tricolor many times at the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair. This year, she introduced a new mount to the Dixon Oval, riding Wilona WF to victory in the division. Sisco and the 9-year-old American Warmblood mare, owned by Judith Gartland and bred by Anne Rawle of Watermark Farm, prevailed in a hack-off to win the True Blue Challenge Trophy.
Side saddle competitors showed off their skills in a hack and an over fences class during the day on Tuesday and then returned under the lights Tuesday evening for an under saddle class to complete the division. After taking second in the hack and fourth over fences, Sisco and Wilona WF moved up the ranks by taking top honors in the final under saddle class. Then, they squared off against Debra Taylor, a student of Sisco’s, and Hypnotic in the hack-off to break the tie for the championship.
“She’s a beautiful mover,” Sisco said of Wilona WF. “It’s her first Devon, and I was happy with the way she went. She handled the atmosphere well. We brought her here on Sunday to practice, and we stabled overnight, so she had time to get acclimated to the grounds here.”
Sisco, a former Pennsylvania resident, now lives in Aiken, South Carolina, but travels back to compete at Devon every year. She still has a core group of clients in the area and appreciates the chance to participate in the side saddle division alongside many of her friends and students.
“We have a group of ladies who continue to do the side saddle and prolong that tradition,” she said. “Daisy Wanamaker, who presented the trophy for the under saddle class, is a dear friend of mine, and I stay with them when I come up to this area. I hacked off for champion for the second year in a row with Debra, who rides with me. It’s nice to have that.”
Sisco has many memories of attending the Devon Horse Show as a child. “When I was a horse crazy teenager, I would come and stand at the gate at Devon all day long watching everybody,” she said. “It still is a great horse show to come watch because the very best horses from all over the country are here.”
Source: Press release
