When 11-year-old Savanna Springfield and her pony Candy Crush entered the ring for their second round at the ExEL Winter Wonderland Show in Germantown, Tennessee, last December, she had more on her mind than just the order of her fences. The show was the first major outing for “Candy” in almost a year, after a hock injury had left her sidelined for months, but—uncharacteristically—the pony had refused several jumps in their first round, and they were unable to finish the course. Even more significantly, the ExEL show was the first since the death of Springfield’s younger brother, Sam, just three months earlier, a loss from which the family was still reeling. 

However, once she entered the ring, Savanna was able to put all of that aside and just concentrate on the present moment. She and her pony clocked around their 2’ jumper course—Savanna says jumping Candy “feels like flying through the air”—and the pair had a clear round. Although their speedy trip wouldn’t win the class, the pair left the ring feeling victorious nonetheless.

“The round was really good, amazing, and she was so much better,” Savanna said. “She was back to the normal Candy.”

Later that day, Savanna’s coach, Cindy Marsh of Winterpast Farm in Oakland, Tennessee, told Savanna and her parents, Ayana and Brown Springfield, that the entire family had been asked to return to the arena, with Candy in tow. No one, including Marsh, knew why show management had asked them to do so, and Savanna admits that once they were standing in front of the gathered crowd, her heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst out of her chest. When it was announced that Savanna had been selected as the recipient of the Connaway & Associates Equine Insurance Services Junior Sportsmanship Award, the family was overwhelmed with emotion.

“We knew if we didn’t get another award or ribbon for the rest of the show, this was the one that meant the most,” Ayana said. “For us, it was everything, because you teach your children to go into anything with heart, compassion, and more importantly, to always show support—to the animal and the sport. 

“Winning that award meant that what we are teaching at home was shining through, and it was part of Savanna’s footprint that she was leaving in her sport,” she continued.

For Savanna, the recognition felt like an acknowledgment that everything she, her pony and her family had gone through in the past year had only strengthened their connection and love for one another.

“It made me feel special,” Savanna said. “It was my first time winning something that was really big, in a community I am in. And it shows that all my love and bonding with Candy was shining through.”

She Decided She Wanted To Do Horses

Savanna and Candy, who is her first pony, have been together for about three years; she admits it was love from the first ride. But the 13.1-hand pinto—whom the family later learned had previously been a foxhunter—had a love for speed which meant she probably would never be successful in the hunter arena.

“She is amazing, but she can have her spicy moments,” Savanna said with a laugh. “She is a beautiful bay and white paint, with a really long white streak down her forehead. Every single time we try to wash her, even if we make sure to get her super dry, she goes out to the pasture and immediately rolls. She is super hard to keep clean.”

Although Savanna is the only horse lover in her immediate family, Brown explained that his uncles had Standardbreds, and his 94-year-old aunt was thrilled to learn her great-niece had also caught the horse bug.

“It is kind of in our blood,” Brown said. “It skipped me and my dad, but when Savanna started riding, my auntie said, ‘Dad would be so proud,’ because my grandfather, he really loved horses. That’s all he really thought about was horses, and now Savanna’s the only one keeping the horse thing going in our family.”

Savanna started doing pony rides at 7, and after her family held her eighth birthday party at a local hunter/jumper barn, she began taking lessons there. Her horsey exploits have included riding a horse down New Orleans’ iconic Bourbon Street and riding a Clydesdale during a family trip to Georgia. 

“She is our little adventurer,” Ayana said. “If there is something she wants to do, she is going to figure out a way to do it—and continue to get better at it. She decided she wanted to do horses, and before long, her first show out, she was champion.”

After Candy suffered a puncture wound to her hock in July 2023, the pony ultimately needed surgery and a stem cell transplant that took her out of action for a long rehabilitation period. 

“We wanted to save her so she and Savanna could get back to doing what they love, which is to jump, jump, jump,” said Ayana. “Candy was in the hospital for five days, and then required a lot of rest before she could get back going.”

To keep a closer eye on Candy during her convalescence, the family moved her to Sadie’s Horse Haven, a nonprofit equine rescue and boarding facility in their hometown of Oakland. Although the mare made steady progress, eventually being cleared for light work beginning in March 2024, the whole experience was difficult for Savanna. 

“I was devastated, because I couldn’t really ride my pony,” Savanna said. “But I knew I just had to wait, and I knew she would get better over time. But anytime the barn owner would call my mom about anything, I was always worried that it was about Candy’s hock.”

It wasn’t until Savanna took Candy over a jump for the first time post-injury that she truly allowed herself to believe the pony would be OK.

“I trotted her over a little jump, and she was perfectly fine,” Savanna remembered. “So I went over it one more time, and she was still perfectly fine. That gave me a little bit of hope.”

An Unimaginable Loss

Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, started out like any other Sunday for the Springfields. The family spent most of the mild, late summer day outside; Brown was working on his truck, and Ayana, Savanna, and Sam, 3, had visited Candy at the barn. Upon their return, Ayana left Sam outside playing in the yard with Brown and Savanna while she returned to the house to use the restroom. In that brief window, the toddler wandered through an open gate in their neighbor’s yard, fell into their pool, and drowned.

“Sam was diagnosed with autism,” Brown said. “So a lot of the barriers that normal kids had, like being afraid, or being able to tell you what he wanted, Sam wasn’t able to do it. But he was like Savanna: You wasn’t going to tell him he couldn’t do anything, and you wasn’t going to stop him from doing anything. He really didn’t need you; he would figure out how to do it on his own.”

The family—which includes older siblings Akosi, 23, and Jay, 22—was devastated.

“I called them my fantastic four,” Ayana said. “We have the two older, and the two younger. The olders are in college, and though they are still at home, they are doing their life. The two youngers still needed us, to help them do things and be around.”

Savanna took her little brother’s death especially hard; in many ways, she felt like his second mother—and because of the timing of his accident, she associated being at the barn with his passing.

“It was really hard for me, since we were coming back from the barn,” Savanna said. “I saw Candy much less for a bit, because of that. Being at the barn made me think of that day, and it made me really, really sad.”

While Savanna stepped away, the barn stepped up by sending videos of Candy to keep the family connected, Ayana said.

Savanna’s friends helped keep an extra eye on the pony, sometimes handwalking or lightly longeing her for exercise. But for the most part, Candy hung out with her equine friends in a large field while Savanna tried to make sense of what had happened. About a month and a half after Sam’s death, Savanna’s desire to see her pony was finally strong enough to overcome her grief.

“I missed my pony too much to not go see her,” Savanna said. “Why spend money on a therapist when there’s a four-legged animal about eight minutes away from you?”

Although Candy is not by nature a cuddly pony, when Savanna returned to the barn, the mare turned her neck to offer a horsey hug. (“Candy is not one to do that, but she did it more often,” Savanna said. “So I wasn’t complaining.”)

Ultimately, Savanna credits having Candy in her life with being able to find some peace with Sam’s death.

“Candy is like my child, and Sam was like my child,” Savanna said. “I have her, and it’s like having Sam in an animal.”

From Tragedy To Triumph

Once Savanna returned to the barn in late October, she took her first lesson with Marsh, and she began making plans for the future.

“We hadn’t lessoned in a long time, so it was really fun for me to go back,” she Savanna. “Plus, it was my first time doing jumper stuff, and it made me feel excited, like a new beginning.”

The ExEl Show series, held at the Germantown Charity Horse Show grounds, was established to provide a bridge between schooling at home and competing at recognized shows. The December show was close enough to the Christmas holiday that Savanna decided to put an elf-ear bonnet on Candy for her jumper ring debut. But their first round did not go according to plan.

“She was literally bucking and refusing jumps,” Savanna said. “The bucking, I didn’t think too much of it, because she does that for lead changes. But then she refused a jump three times, and that’s very unusual. She never really refuses jumps, especially at that height.”

When Candy started acting so out of character, Savanna immediately worried that something was wrong.

“I didn’t get mad at her for refusing,” Savanna said. “Her hock or leg could have been hurting. So I just pet her, and did what the announcer told me to do, and went over the first jump again, then exited the ring petting her and smiling and making sure Candy was OK.”

Once out of the arena, an initial check didn’t reveal anything wrong. But then Brown pulled Candy’s elf bonnet off, and the pony was sweating heavily beneath it.

“Dad didn’t want the ear bonnet on in the first place, because I know horses are sensitive,” Brown said with a laugh. “But since it was Christmas, I went ahead and let Savanna decorate her. But after I saw the refusal, I said, ‘Let’s take the ear bonnet off, see if we can adjust the saddle a bit and get everything back to normal.’ ”

Their rocky jumper debut was just the start of a day that would prove to be an emotional rollercoaster. Normally, Sam would have been with the family at the show, and they were all acutely aware of his absence. To help manage her emotions, Ayana focused on keeping Candy sparkling clean and show-ring ready; she was proud of how her daughter had handled the challenging experience with her pony. 

“Even though it was a tough moment for her—not only was this her first big show back, but Candy was acting up…” Ayana said, then paused. “The fact that Savanna, instead of getting upset, or being mad, or even crying—she smiled, she persevered through the bad round, and she went back in to complete a perfect round, that made me feel happier than anything.”

Looking forward, Savanna would like to compete Candy in some bigger jumper classes this summer, and perhaps go to USEF Pony Finals. She knows they don’t have unlimited time to reach their goals together.

“I am 4’11” or 5’, depending on how I’m feeling that day,” Savanna said with a laugh. “It might be time to look for a bigger horse as a step up, because I am sadly growing out of Candy.”

Whatever comes, Savanna plans to make sure that Candy remains part of the Springfield family.

“Sam was supposed to be Candy’s next rider, but my sister has a friend with a baby who really likes horses, so she might be able to ride Candy,” Savanna said. “But I’m still going to own Candy. I’m not selling her to save my life.”