Owners speak after horse breaks free at Devon show

DEVON, Pa. (WPVI) -- A video recorded at the Devon Horse Show Tuesday night show captured a horse mid-competition breaking out of the ring, tearing apart from a surrey, and jumping into the crowd.

The horse's owners, Rachel Shoemaker and her husband Erich Barchi, were inside the carriage. They spoke to Action News on Wednesday.

"Some of my friends who didn't see the video, they texted me, 'Oh gosh, I hope that wasn't you.' Then they texted me 20 minutes later, 'Oh, it was you! I hope you're OK,'" said Shoemaker.

Shoemaker and Barchi compete together with their horse 'Our New Dawn.'

"We actually met at Devon; I always said it was a match made at Devon," said Barchi.

Shoemaker bred Dawn and says they have been inseparable since the mare was born at Willisbrook Farm. Together they've won numerous events.

Dawn is an 8-year-old American Saddlebred horse. While she wasn't bred to jump, her owners say American Saddlebreds can do anything and Tuesday night, luckily, she did jump, otherwise the horse could've been seriously injured.

"As we came out of the turn, the hub on my carriage, on the wheel, caught the rail," said Shoemaker. "What scared her was the carriage breaking."

Dr. Elysia Schaeffer of the Unionville Equine Hospital took the emergency call to treat Dawn Tuesday night. She says her prognosis is a good one.

"She had very superficial injuries," said Schaeffer. "She was very lucky in that regard."

Both riders say they expect to be back in the ring with 'Our New Dawn' as early as next month.

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