Sitting here this morning, in the bright blue Devon Horse Show press room looking out over the Dixon Oval, I teared up again at the memories of a Thursday June evening in 2012. 

Four years ago in this ring, I got to witness one of the most amazing nights of show jumping I think we’ll ever see. From McLain Ward’s heartfelt tribute to his retiring great mare, Sapphire, to his amazing win in the grand prix just a few months after breaking his knee, it was the kind of night that defined the description “fairy tale.”

Sapphire, the great mare who jumped to team gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games and team silver at the 2006 World Equestrian Games with McLain Ward, is living out her retirement in Walkill, N.Y., at part-owner Tom Grossman’s Blue Chip Farm. She’s reveling in getting hairy and dirty, finally.