Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Locals compete in carriage event at Devon
Carriage driving is popular in the area, and Devon is a premier event that competitors look forward to each year.
EASTTOWN >> Horsemen come from all over the country and foreign nations to compete at the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair. Local riders are represented in the various divisions, but it is the carriage driving classes where local drivers shine the most.
Carriage driving is popular in Chester County and the surrounding region, and Devon is a premier event that competitors look forward to each year.
Betsy DiMarino of West Chester, who won the Single Horse FourWheeled Vehicle class, has been competing at Devon off and on for about 40 years. This was her fourth year with her current horse. “He was as close to perfect as a horse could be,” she said.
Putting together a winning combination of horse, harness, and vehicle is a challenge. Judy and Marvin Paisley of Landenberg have been driving at Devon since 2001. “This is the highlight of our year and this is such a lovely drive,” Judy Paisley said. “It takes several days to shine all the brass, clean all the leather. We make sure we’re shiny and gleaming. You look your best when you come to Devon. This is the event of the year for sure.”
Carriage driving has a special appeal in its historical connections. In the early history of the 121-year-old Devon Horse Show, not only did carriages compete for ribbons, but they were a main means of transportation to and from the horse show.
Today’s drivers pay particular attention to all the details of their antique vehicles to make sure they are accurate as well as safe.
“So many people are willing to turn their horses out in a certain standard, and I believe that is the tradition that really holds here at Devon,” Horse Show President Richard O’Donnell said.
The Carriage Pleasure Drive takes the entrants out through the roads surrounding the show grounds, where residents hold parties on their lawns to watch the carriages go by and line the sidewalks to cheer them on. “It’s a Sunday drive, it’s a fabulous drive. The people along the route, they give us water and it’s just fantastic the way the community comes together for this event,” O’Donnell said. “To get that kind of recognition is very gratifying to us. There’s a lot of work that goes into this. A lot of training, a lot of pre-event preparations.”
In spite of the hard work involved, Devon continues to draw new drivers to the show grounds.
“This is our first year. I’ve come to Devon 20 some years and always watched the carriages and thought it would be nice to do the carriage drive. So we decided to try it,” Mary Lou Williams of Cochranville said. All kinds of horses and ponies are used for carriage driving. Williams was driving Lucky Laura, a Standardbred mare. “This was a rescue horse. Eight years ago she was near starving, heading for the meat market.”
This year at Sunday’s Carriage Pleasure Drive, there were four Chester County winners in the eight classes for horses and ponies, as well as additional ribbon winners. Blue Ribbons for county drivers included: Betsy DeMarino VMD of West Chester; Mr. and Mrs. Richard O’Donnell of East Fallowfield - Pair Horse; Mrs. Collin F. McNeil of Chester Springs Single Pony Two-Wheeled Vehicle; and Roberta Odell of West Chester – Light Commercial Vehicle.