It may be the week of the Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship, but that doesn’t alter 18-year-old Savannah Embly’s morning routine. When her alarm goes off, she heads down to her family’s Lexington, Kentucky, barn to muck out the stalls, bring in the horses, pick their feet and feed them, then she heads over to the Kentucky Horse Park to take care of her mount for the competition, Fine Line. After her show day is over, and Fine Line is tucked into his stall, she returns home to do evening chores at the farm.

She takes care of the family’s 10 horses herself with help from her mother, Dr. Ashley Embly, DVM, who is a veterinarian at Rood & Riddle.

“She ships her own horses, grooms her own horses, braids her own horses, gets them ready, and she’s a really positive person,” said trainer Bill Schaub. “It’s been like that since she was a little kid.”

But Savannah wouldn’t have it any other way. She considers the extra time she spends caring for her mounts, especially derby horse “Woods,” a boon to their relationships.

“It’s rewarding,” she said. “I feel like he and I have a better partnership—well, I have a better partnership and bond with all my horses—because of it, because I know them, and I feed them. That helps, especially with one like him, because he’s so food-motivated.

“I actually really enjoy being back in the barn and doing everything,” she added. “One of my favorite parts of showing is bringing them back and unbraiding and doing them up at night. At home we just poultice them, and they go outside.”

Savannah mostly shows in Lexington and at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida), and she especially likes showing at Lexington because she can bring her horses home for their nightly group turnout after schooling days. That’s what she did with Woods on Monday after his school; then he went back to the horse park the next morning to prepare for the 3’6” performance hunter classes he was doing as a warm-up for derby finals.

She paired up with Woods, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood of unrecorded breeding, just under a year ago. Her equitation partner got a bone bruise over the summer, and while he recovered, she didn’t have a mount for equitation finals. She found Fine Line through Ken and Emily Smith.

“I met him two weeks before [ASPCA Maclay regionals] here,” she said “The week before Maclay regionals I did him in a 3’ derby. I said, ‘Oh, I need a horse for Maclay finals and [Dover/USEF Medal] Finals, but gosh I’d love to make him a hunter because he jumps so well.’ It was almost a crime to keep him as an equitation horse. We got through finals, and we said, ‘OK, we’re starting in Wellington now; let’s try it.’ He loves it.”

The pair showed in all the USHJA International Hunter Derby classes offered during WEF and had so much fun they stayed on the derby beat, most recently finishing ninth in the $10,000 class at Split Rock Hunter Jumper Classic I (Kentucky).

She said while he’s a lovely jumper he really shines in the handy phase, which is her favorite part of the derby classes, too, as she calls herself a jumper rider at heart. Donald and Cara Cheska help her in the jumper ring, and she’s made two trips to the Gotham North FEI North American Youth Championships (Michigan), though she had to miss this year as her mount for the division is out of commission.

While Savannah has come to the Kentucky Horse Park to watch the derby finals every year for the past several years, this will be her first time competing in the class.

“I love the atmosphere in the big ring, and it’s always a really cool thing to watch,” she said. “I’m excited to do it.”

Savannah said she’s gotten used to showing against the best hunter pros in the country, and it’s made less intimidating because of her partnership with Woods.

“He’s one of those horses that just inspires a lot of confidence because he’s so confident,” she said. “He loves his job, and he goes in, and he thinks he’s all that. He goes in, and he knows what he’s there to do. He shows up, and he really rises to the occasion of a big class.”

When Woods first came to her family farm, he had the barn name “Harry,” but she already had a Harry in the barn. She renamed him Woods in reference to the Taylor Swift song “Out Of The Woods.” She thought it was fitting as Swift and Harry Styles had a romance, and the equine Woods and Harry are best friends who are always together in their six-horse herd every night.

Savannah, who’s always had a soft spot for chestnuts with a lot of chrome, fell in love with Woods at first sight.

“He’s the hunter of my dreams,” she said. “He’s perfect. He really gets into it, and he loves the big open rings and to get on a big canter. In the handies he loves to turn, and he locks on to the next jump.

“I get to do my first derby finals with my dream hunter,” she added.

It’s not just his looks and way of going that have captured Savannah’s heart. Woods is a ham who loves people and has a penchant for stealing human food.

“I found that out at Pennsylvania for the Dover,” she recalled. “We were walking in the tunnels, and there was a guy walking with a box of Dunkin’ [Donuts]. I was casually strolling along in the halls, and he took me over to the guy, and I couldn’t stop him. He opened the box and pulled a donut out. I don’t know how. He’s so food-motivated, and ever since then, when he does well he gets a donut.”

Schaub said regardless of what happens in the ring with Savannah and Woods, he’s proud of the hard work that’s gotten her to this point.

“We’re hoping to have a good experience and have a good time,” he said. “She’d like to do this forever. She’s talking about going to vet school, and she works hard enough she can do it. She gets along with everyone from every walk of life, and she does everything with a smile.”

The classic round of the Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby begins at 12:10 p.m. Eastern Time today.