Lily Capone, a local equestrian champ, demonstrates her riding skill in an earlier competition.
By Tim Kelly
If you thought Sea Isle City was an unlikely home for a national class equestrian champion, you might want to think again.
Lily Capone, a 12-year-old resident of Sea Isle, has proven herself to be a champion equestrian, and will soon take her riding skills to the national stage.
Lily’s accomplishments seem even more remarkable given that she has Marfan Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue condition which can potentially lead to aortic rupture.
Her Mom, Melissa Capone, and two siblings, 21-year old Rhys, and 4-year-old Connor, also have the condition. Melissa and her husband Kevin have two other children, Clare, 11, and Regan, 8, who are Marfan-free.
As if her battle with Marfan Syndrome weren’t tough enough, Lily has endured a major surgery from scoliosis and suffered complications from the disease. She hasn’t allowed it to slow her down.
A member of the Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA), she recently competed as a member of the Star Hollow IEA team, representing Star Hollow Stables in Cape May Court House.
The facility offers equestrian training and also has its own competitive team, coached by Abby Revoir Sykes. Sykes is also affiliated with Starfish Equine Rescue, an equine advocacy and rescue organization in Ocean View.
In a recent competition, Lily competed for the Star Hollow Middle School team and qualified for the IEA Region 8 Finals. She is home-schooled in cooperation with the Ocean City public schools.
The Finals were held recently at Dream Park, in Logan Township, N.J. There, she placed first in her class and qualified to advance to the Zone 11 Finals competition, and a shot at advancing for the national level for the competition.
In equestrian competition, the participants are assigned a horse at random that they have never seen before and put the animal through a number of commands. They must walk the horse, do two forms of trot, two forms of cantor and turn the horse around to travel in the reverse direction.
Riders must respond at once to the commands, which come in random order.
Lily placed second in the IEA Zone 11 competition to earn a place in the Nationals later this month.
