Colvin, 16, was named the Grand Champion Junior Hunter Rider after winning the Small Junior Hunter, 16-17, Championship and Reserve Championship awards, the Large Junior Hunter, 16-17, Reserve Championship, and she ode two of the three horses who tied for the Junior Hunter High-Score Award.
Victoria Press rode Akinda to win the Small Junior Hunter, 15 & Under, Championship at the Hampton Classic (Shawn McMillen photo)
Way Cool, also owned by Parker, won the Large Junior Hunter, 16-17, Reserve Championship, and he tied with Inclusive, owned by Parker, and Garfield, owned by Rose Hill Farm and ridden by Cloe Hymowitz, for the Junior Hunter High-Score Award and the Deanne Vallier Dominguez Memorial Trophy. All three horses achieved a class score of 88.
Hymowitz, of New York City, rode Garfield to the Large Junior Hunter, 16-17, Championship title. Her sister, Lilli, rode Enjoy to the Small Junior Hunter, 15 & Under, Reserve Championship and Tiffani to the Large Junior Hunter, 15 & Under, Reserve Championship. The Hymowitz sisters rode 15 horses at the Hampton Classic.
Colvin rode "nine or 10" horses at the Hampton Classic, in the hunter, equitation and jumper divisions. "It's easier to have a lot of horses to ride in a show than it is to have just one or two horses. If I only have a few, I stand around and do nothing all day," she said.
She said she doesn't think much about which division she's riding, about riding with a different method or style. But she does think about the horse she's riding and what kind of ride he or she needs.
Ovation, she said, "is more of a go-with-the-flow horse. I just let him flow around the ring. He's just fabulous."
Canadian Blue "is a lot greener. You have to hold his head up and sort of hold his hand."
Inclusive "is probably the easiest horse I have to ride. I love to show him."
Way Cool "is quirky, and he showed it here. He went in the first class and stopped. He had to take a look at the scenery, I guess." In 2013, Way Cool won the Large Junior, 15 & Under, Championship with Colvin aboard.
The key to riding all these horses, she said, is hearing her music playing, either in her ear or in her head.
"I really sing everywhere I go. If I'm not riding in the ring, I have my music on on my phone, and then in the ring I keep singing and I ride to the beat," she said with a smile.
Parker said that she first observed Colvin's brilliance at age 8. "I said, "I have to have that child riding my small ponies,' and it's been that way ever since," said Parker.
The other Junior Hunter Champions were:
Small Junior Hunter, 15 & Under: Akinda, ridden by Victoria Press.
Large Junior Hunter, 15 & Under: Shoemaker, ridden by Madison Goetzman.