Devon, Pa.—May 25

As Boyd Martin walks into the press conference after winning the $50,000 Devon Arena Eventing, he’s flanked by sons Nox and Leo Martin, as well as an entourage of their friends, all giddy from the excitement of Boyd’s win and the sugar high that comes from the lemon sticks they’re toting. There aren’t enough chairs to accommodate all the kids, so they’re goofing off and giggling throughout the meeting, with Boyd occasionally gently—and unsuccessfully—admonishing them to be serious just for a few minutes.

But who can blame them for catching the excitement of the packed crowd at Devon, which includes lots of horsemen, but also Main Line locals who have made the show a staple on their calendar year after year.

“I love coming here, just because a lot of our personal friends would never, ever come watch an event, you know, and we have a huge circle of friends in our community that are outside horses,” Boyd said. “I kind of like being a bit anonymous amongst them. There are lots of kids, parents and their friends, and this is sort of one event that they can come see what we do, so it’s kind of nice. It’s a great event. There are not many events where we sort of ride at night in front of a crowd. So it’s a real privilege and honor to be here at Devon. It’s got so much history and such an aura about it.”

This marks Boyd’s third time winning here, his second year running that he’s piloted Miss Lulu Herself to the top of the class. This year he also took third on Shanroe Cooley, with Shannon Lilley and Ideal HX sandwiched between in second.

Boyd went first on Shanroe Cooley, who was previously partnered with Liz Halliday, and they made the course look easy, breezing home in the first round with no faults easily under the time allowed. But Boyd admitted that he got a little relaxed about the time with “Lulu,” just eking in under the time allowed in the first round. Twelve of the 14 horses were invited back for the shortened second round over Capt. Mark Phillips’ track, which Boyd described as a challenging accuracy track. In that round with Lulu, Boyd didn’t hold back, slicing a few turns and keeping her at a good gallop till he set up for the fences.

So what makes Lulu so successful in this competition, where eventers traverse both rings and compete over a combination of intermediate-height show jumps and portable cross-country fences? According to Boyd, Lulu, a 12-year-old Hanoverian (Stolzenfels—Noisette) who’s owned by one of Boyd’s longest supporters in the sport, Bonnie Stedt, is “cat-like” (a high compliment coming from the famously enthusiastic feline fancier) and good at turning.

“She’s careful jumper,” said Boyd, who lives in nearby Cochranville, Pennsylvania. “The last fence is always a careful jump, and she’s a sharp chestnut mare. She’s a pro at this.” While Boyd has had the mare since she was 4, he has a much shorter tenure with Shanroe Cooley. The horse spent the winter competing in the hunter and jumper rings with Peter Wylde and junior Eleanor Pieters at HITS Ocala (Florida), but he was a bit too energetic to find his fit there, so he came to Boyd two weeks ago. Since then Boyd took him to a training-level horse trials last weekend and schooled him over some bigger jumps before coming to Devon. Boyd selected these two mounts as his charges who headed to the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L and the Tryon CCI4*-L (North Carolina) are on a rest period, and he said these two seemed ready to go.

This is the third time this month Boyd’s name has topped headlines, having been minted the FEI World No. 1 at the start of May, then winning in Tryon two weeks later.

“World No. 1 is obviously a big accomplishment,” said the 45-year-old. “But you know, my life hasn’t changed at all. I still wake up early and work hard and chase kids around and try to get these kids to hockey this morning. To be honest, it’s a wonderful accomplishment, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. We’ve got so many great horses at the moment with awesome owners, and sort of everything’s just falling into place at once.”

The Chronicle has a pair of reporters at Devon bringing you photos, stories from the competition and more at coth.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to make sure you don’t miss a thing. You can see a full report from the entire competition in the June 20 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.

Important Links: Devon Horse Show website / Detailed schedule / Results and orders of go / All the Chronicle’s coverage