Notable Non Pro: Lia Savas

NOTABLE NON PRO

Lia Savas overcame an allergy to horses to learn to ride, and she has never looked back.

By Allison Armstrong Rehnborg

When Lia Savas of Central Islip, New York, was a little girl, there was nothing she wanted more than to spend the day tagging along with her horse-crazy older sister at a local barn. There was just one problem. Back then, if Savas so much as touched a horse, it usually meant paying a visit to the hospital later that day.

“I wanted to be exactly like my sister, Maura, so I did everything she did,” Savas said. “But I was allergic to horses. When my sister would go to her riding lessons, my mother practically had to tie my hands behind my back so I couldn’t pet any of the horses. As soon as I would touch my face [after touching a horse], my eyes would swell up, I would have an asthma attack, and then we’d be off to the hospital for a nebulizer treatment. It was a nightmare.”

To cope with her unrequited love for horses, Savas collected Breyer models and taught herself to lope on four legs. She’d jump the couches in her parents’ living room, perform lead changes, practice her pirouettes and more. Far from outgrowing her love of horses, as her parents might have hoped, Savas nurtured her obsession instead, waiting patiently for the day that she’d be able to ride.

“Once I turned 18, I decided I was going to do whatever I wanted, so I than its Western riders, Savas is as Western as they come with experience competing in American Quarter Horse Association ranch versatility events, trail riding, team penning, cow sorting and, of course, reined cow horse.

FLETCH PHOTOGRAPHY

Aboard Metallic Nickel, Lia Savas rode to the Northeastern 2021 Region Award in the Non Pro Bridle.

started going to the barn,” Savas said with a laugh. “I’d cut classes at college, go to the barn and hang out. At first, I could only survive about 20 minutes around the horses, then 30. I’d wipe myself down with wet wipes and take antihistamines. Eventually, I outgrew it. I guess when you want to do something bad enough, you just do it.”

These days, Savas still spends all her free time with horses, but she doesn’t have to worry about breaking out in hives anymore. Although she grew up in Malverne, New York, an area better known for its Grand Prix jumpers

GOING WESTERN

Once her allergies were behind her, Savas spent all her spare time learning to ride. Soon, she was fearless, to the point that when she was presented with a mount that had a penchant for rearing, she felt confident she’d be able to stay in the saddle.

COURTESY OF LIA SAVAS

Competing alongside partner Wayne Dougal, Savas initially went Western through team penning, as shown above in 1998.

COURTESY OF LIA SAVAS

“I began taking lessons with my friend, Liz, at another barn, and the instructor, Billy, put me on this horse who was beautiful and black, but naughty. It reared, and I thought that was the greatest thing back then,” Savas said. “I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I can ride that.’ Then I ended up meeting the person who owned that horse, and it changed my life completely. His name was Wayne Dougal. Pretty soon, Liz and I ended up hanging out with Wayne, his brother, his son and his niece. We formed our own little posse of people that rode. I’ve been with Wayne for 26 years now, and my friend, Liz, ended up marrying his son, Wayne Jr.”

It was Wayne Dougal, also of Central Islip, who introduced Savas to team penning.

“We started traveling to chase cows for that, because there are no cows on Long Island,” Savas reminisced. “They had to haul the cows in for us to do the cow chasing, so we ended up doing a lot of travel to pursue team penning and cow sorting. Then a friend of mine introduced me to AQHA ranch versatility, and I enjoyed that. I ended up traveling all the way to Denver [Colorado,] for the AQHA Versatility Ranch World Championships, because that was just so much fun.”

Ultimately, it was Savas’ love of team penning, ranch versatility and all things stock horse that led her to meet Dom Conicelli of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, one of the East Coast’s most passionate advocates for National Reined Cow Horse Association events.

“There wasn’t too much around for us in Pennsylvania at the time, so if you did team penning and you showed in stock horse and ranch horse versatility, you ended up riding with all the same people all the time,” Savas said. “And Dom was a dear friend of ours who defected from team penning and helped start the Atlantic Reined Cow Horse Association, along with Dick Rosell and Tom Iannotti. Dom Conicelli was the real reason I started riding the reined cow horses.”

Savas remembers going to reined cow horse clinics at Conicelli’s Kinda Silly Farm in Collegeville to learn about her new discipline.

“Dom recognized that none of us really knew anything about reined cow horse back then, so he’d invite clinicians out to hold clinics and we’d learn what we were supposed to do,” Savas said. “[NRCHA Hall of Fame member] Sandy Collier would come out in the spring and fall, and Dom would invite all of us cow horse people over. He wouldn’t charge us. I’d write the check every time, and he’d say, ‘No, I can’t take your money.’ He just wanted everybody to get better.”

A NEW PASSION

For Savas, reined cow horse was thrilling. In addition to allowing her to combine all the skills she had honed through team penning, sorting and riding in ranch versatility, reined cow horse presented a continuous challenge.

“I like that it is so hard,” Savas said. “It gives you something to work toward. You never, ever quit working toward it. There are so many layers and it’s so difficult to do well, and it makes you get better.”

Encouraged to show by her friends, Savas competed at her first NRCHA World Championship Show in 2012 and took home the Novice Non Pro Bridle Reserve World Championship

Celebration of Champion

Sponsor Acknowledgement

PRESENTING AND TITLE SPONSORS:

Kalpowar Quarter Horses Tres Osos Performance Horses Hashtags Western Bloodstock, LTD MARS EQUESTRIAN™

SADDLE SPONSOR:

Amy & Paul Bailey Carol Rose Quarter Horses Garth & Amanda Gardiner Hartwood Farms Hat 6 Ranch / Walter & Jocelyn Greeman Mary F. Atkinson Charitable Lead Trust c/o Don & Joetta Bell McSpyder Ranch (Linda McMahon) Shannon Goldwater The Animal Toby Crow Todd Bergen Performance Horses Trey & Sandra Neal Triple D Ranches Two Bit Performance Horses

GOLD SPONSOR:

3G Performance Horses Avanti Model and Talent Management Balance Ranch Doug & Carol Williamson Garth & Amanda Gardiner Haley & Boyd Rice Jonathan & Laura Yarbrough Mike and Kelly Warner - Final Cut Ranch Rafter P Construction Inc. Rent A Stall Mat Stevie Rey Von / Fults Ranch Stock Horse of Texas The Creators Apprentice Rios of Mercedes

SILVER SPONSOR:

Brazos Valley Stallion Station Bill Lacey Andi Weekley Jim Medsker Judge Boon

BRONZE SPONSOR:

Bet He Sparks Cannon Quarter Horses / Shiney Outlaw CINCH MC Cowhammer XIT Ranch

PRIMO MORALES

Savas earned the 2020 Derby Non Pro Two Rein Spectacular title riding Metallic Nickel, her first premier event title.

aboard Sanjos Top Gun (San Jo Lena x Colonel Little Pistol x Colonel Freckles). The pair earned a 211.5 in the rein work and a 221.5 in the cow work, for a total score of 433.

“My very favorite win is still the reserve world championship on Sanjos Top Gun,” Savas said. “It was so unexpected that I’d even make the finals, let alone come in second. That’s definitely my favorite cow horse win.”

Savas’ current mount is Metallic Nickel (Metallic Cat x Nickel N Dime Smart x Smart Little Lena). She purchased the 2014 chestnut roan gelding as a long 2-year-old, and promptly sent him to reined cow horse trainer Mark Sigler for training. Later, to prepare for their first bid at a title, she sent “Nickel” to NRCHA Two Million Dollar Rider Todd Crawford in Blanchard, Oklahoma, for additional training.

While Nickel was there, Savas also enjoyed riding with Crawford’s assistant trainer, Alex Ciavardelli. The extra time spent at Crawford’s paid off. At the 2020 Jack and Phoebe Cook Memorial NRCHA Derby, Savas and Nickel won the Non Pro Two Rein Spectacular with a 430 (H:142/R:143.5/ C144.5) and earned $1,880.

“I’ve had a lot of really good horses, but he’s one of them, and I feel very fortunate,” Savas said. “I’d like to take him to the Art of the Cowgirl [World’s Greatest Horsewoman competition] someday, because I like to rope, and I’ve been working on roping off him.”

In addition to her success in the show pen, Savas has worked tirelessly to promote reined cow horse by participating in the Atlantic Reined Cow Horse Association. In 2021, she became vice president of the association.

“It’s an honor to serve on a board with so many talented and devoted individuals,” Savas said. “We all have one common goal, which is the continued success and growth of Atlantic Reined Cow Horse Association.”