If there were an award for understatement of the year, Scott Stewart’s reaction to his performances at the Devon Horse Show might just win.

“It’s more than enough,” said Stewart after completing a historic near-sweep of the professional hunter divisions in Devon, Pa., on May 29-June 4.

“It’s amazing. I can’t believe it all worked out so well,” Stewart continued. With the grand hunter tricolor, championships in four out of five divisions and reserve cham-pionships in two, Stewart was almost unbeatable at Devon. Obviously, he also captured the leading hunter riderhonors.

Stewart’s winning started in the first year green division, with Molly Ohrstrom’s Fellini. He and the charis-matic gray gelding earned two blues and two reds over fences for the division champion-ship. With those points, Fellini would also finish as the grand hunter champion.

Stewart bought Fellini off of a videotape in last October and imported, then gelded, the Bavarian-bred. Fellini, 6, had shown in some young jumper classes in Europe, but had been primarily a breeding stallion.

“He had a phenomenal jump,” Stewart said.

Fellini made his show ring debut during the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) in February. “He was a little green the first week in Palm Beach, but then he was champion a couple of times, so he got the hang of it pretty quick.”

And, when Ohrstrom sold one of her horses during the WEF, she decided to buy Fellini. He’ll eventually be an amateur-owner ride for her.

Fellini only showed twice more–at the two Old Salem (N.Y.) shows in April–before competing at Devon. “I didn’t really know what to expect of him here, but he didn’t care at all about the crazy environment and wasn’t worried. He walked right in and won the first class,” Stewart said.

The duo of Ohrstrom and Stewart continued their winning streak in the green conformation division, where Truly claimed the tricolor. It was the first time that Stewart had been champion on the 7-year-old, bay gelding.

Stewart bought Truly from Jimmy Torano in early 2004, and showed him in the green divisions. Ohrstrom fell in love with him and bought him in August, then promptly claimed an adult amateur championship on him at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.). Then, after Stewart broke his ankle at the Capital Challenge Horse Show (Md.) in October, partner Ken Berkley showed Truly to the green conformation tricolor at the Pennsylvania National.

Stewart bounced back from his broken ankle quickly and was showing again in early December, at the National Horse Show (Fla.). He built up his strength during the Florida circuit and is now back in winning form.

“It was a little rough in the beginning–harder than I thought it would be. But I’m great now, and my confidence is back. When I started riding again, it really wasn’t 100 percent, so when I was riding the young horses, I was a little bit nervous,” Stewart said.

Stewart, 41, said modestly of his victories, “I’m fortunate because I really get to focus on my riding. I do have some students, but I mostly bring along young horses, and just ride all day, so I don’t have too many distractions.”

Breaking The Streak

Even the only rider to break Stewart’s streak was somewhat in awe of him. “He’s just an amazing rider, and his horses are outstanding. Somehow, he can always put the rounds together. He can go in the ring and ride all kinds of different horses beautifully. He gets along with them all,” said Louise Serio, who took the regular working division on Bridget Hallman’s Gray Slipper.

As the day progressed, Stewart had claimed the first year green and green conformation titles with Ohrstrom’s horses, the second year green championship on Fashion Farm’s True, and the regular conformation championship and reserve with Krista Weis-man’s two horses, Tribute and For The Music.

He looked poised to steam-roll over the Dixon Oval, since he’d ridden the regular working hunter Beyond to a second, two thirds, and a fourth. And then he upped the ante by posting a score of 90 in the regular working hunter stake class on Beyond. To stop his relentless winning, Serio was going to have to be brilliant aboard Gray Slipper.

And brilliant she was, guiding the elegant gray gelding to a score of 92 to claim the stake, clinch the championship, and relegate Stewart and Beyond to reserve championship honors.

Serio had mixed emotions about the result. “I wanted to beat him, but [winning every division championship] would have been a really cool thing to have done at the Devon Horse Show. I wasn’t going to give it to him, though!” she said.

“I knew I had to do lay down a good trip, and I figured that I had to win to be champion. He’s just such a phenomenal horse. I think he has grand prix scope–it’s so easy for him,” Serio said of Gray Slipper.

Serio has been bringing Gray Slipper, 9, along since owner Bridget Hallman spotted him in a field in Virginia five years ago. She’s brought him up through the ranks carefully, and now “Slipper” is a competitive four-foot horse and a consistent amateur-owner ride for Hallman.

“He’s matured so much with his confidence on course. He can be a little spooky on course, but he’s gotten to the point where that’s not an issue, and he’s very confident on course. He did the handy class for the first time–I’d never done a handy class on him because of his spookiness. He was outstanding, with all the turns and galloping. I messed up the trot jump, but he handled everything beautifully,” Serio said.

“He’s one of the best I’ve had, and the hardest-trying horse. He just gives you an amazing feeling when he jumps–he’s so scopey.”

Hallman gives Serio all credit for developing Slipper into the winner he is. “She’s really taken her time and let him mature and never rushed him. I can’t say enough about what a great job she’s done with him,” said Hallman.

Ironically, Stewart’s second year green champion, True, was a former Serio ride. Serio and True claimed the grand and first year green hunter championships at last October’s Washington (D.C.) International. But owner Glenn Senk sent true to Stewart in November.

“He’s just super-quiet and he jumps great. Nothing fazes him,” Stewart said of the 6-year-old Belgian-bred. True was one of the first horses Stewart rode after breaking his ankle–he showed him for the first time at the National (N.Y.) in December.

Meanwhile, his old faithful, Tribute, returned to the Dixon Oval for the regular conformation title. Tribute, Devon’s green conformation champion last year, has tran-sitioned to being primarily an amateur ride for Weisman, but he showed he could still strut his stuff in the professional divisions.

Tribute had looked to be on the way to the grand hunter championship as well, with two wins over fences. A good placing in the stake class would have clinched the grand honors. But Tribute and Stewart made an uncharacteristic mistake in a two-stride oxer-oxer combination, knocking them out of the ribbons.

The combination was typical of the courses at Devon, which weren’t the usual simple hunter fare of outside line to diagonal line, and caused much conversation. “They were challenging, for sure, but I liked them,” Stewart said of the courses Allen Rheinheimer built. “Every course had bending lines marked over 100 feet on the course diagram, so they were basically off the eye. They ended up being set numbers–like eight, nine or 10 strides–but you had to feel your way. It was hard for some of the first year horses, I think, and it was hard to be the first rider out there to figure it out. It kept us on our toes.”

They’ve Got A Lock On It

The trophy engravers for the amateur-owner hunter divisions shouldn’t have too much trouble spelling this year’s champions’ names–they’re virtually identical to last year’s winners. Leah Schwendeman and her mare La Cara repeated their grand amateur-owner and amateur-owner, 18-35, tricolors.

And Caroline Moran, who won the 18-35 division in 2002 and ’03 with St. Nick, then graduated to the 36 and over championship last year with In Return, claimed the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over title with Pave. Just like last year, the two tied for the grand and leading amateur rider titles, but La Cara prevailed for the grand championship since all her 20 points were earned over fences.

Last year’s Devon win was a phenomenal coup for Schwendeman, who came out of the unknown ranks to have a spectacular year with La Cara, capping USEF Horse of the Year honors and claiming championships almost everywhere they showed.

But this year started differently. “Indio wasn’t quite as much fun as last year. Last year was my first year, and she did so well, and when something like that goes so well, you can’t really expect to repeat it. She was good, but they had a lot of rain, so we didn’t show some weeks. I really only showed four weeks, and this year, I want to take it a little bit easier and save her for the big shows,” Schwendeman said.

The strategy worked at Devon, where La Cara jumped out of her skin. “She felt great. In the first round, she jumped so high. We told her to try hard, and she did for sure,” said Schwendeman. “I still know when I go in the ring that I can count on her. Usually, if we don’t do well, it’s my fault.”

Schwendeman can also count on her sister, Lisa, who acts as groom and moral support. “I couldn’t have come here and gotten anything done if it wasn’t for her. She’s on top of everything,” said Schwendeman.

This year, Schwendeman’s support staff also includes new trainers. She’s been working with Wendy Hofmeister, from whom she bought a younger horse to show, and at Devon she trained with Tommy Serio.

Moran’s winning Devon formula still includes long-time trainer Scott Williamson, but she had a new face looking through her bridle this time. With the venerable St. Nick retired and In Return on the injured list, Moran turned to Pave for a Devon win. It was a bit of a surprise, though.

“I didn’t come here feeling like I was loaded for bear. I haven’t shown him all that much,” Moran said. In fact, Pave didn’t even get into Devon until a few days before he was scheduled to show.

Moran bought him as a first-year horse in 2003, but ran into problems. “He had all of last year off with some mysterious unsoundness. We started him back in Florida, and I showed him once in the adults, and once in the amateurs.”

Moran liked Pave, but she didn’t think that he would be the ideal replacement for her former winners. “He was never really my ride. He’s really downhill, and In Return and St. Nick are very uphill and easier for me to ride. I didn’t start off with a bang on him, and I was thinking to sell him. But then he got hurt, and had a year off.

“This year, when we brought him back, we tried him in a pelham, and he’s a totally different horse,” she said. “I didn’t come here expecting much. I knew he’d try his hardest, because he always does, but I didn’t expect to do this well.”