MEET THE TEAM
SAVANNAH JENKINS
PROFESSIONAL RIDER, TRAINER
Savannah has had a passion for horses her whole life. Raised in Virginia Beach, VA, she started riding with Chris Wynne at the age of 6. Savannah quickly displayed natural talent as a rider. She became a competitive force in the ponies which progressed as she moved up the ranks as a junior rider. Her impressive abilities soon garnered the attention of well-known riders like Laura Kraut, who encouraged her to continue working hard to achieve her goals. At 15, Savannah was introduced to Karen Healey and moved to California as a working student. While riding with Karen, Savannah rode to a 7th place finish at the Maclay Finals and 2nd place in the USEF Talent Search finals. After much success as a junior, Savannah attended Baylor University, where she was a Division I Equestrian team member. At Baylor, she was named an NCEA All-American rider on the flat and over fences. She helped the team win a Big 12 Conference title and was one of the top collegiate riders in the nation. Savannah graduated from Baylor University with a BBA in Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation and immediately accepted a job as a professional rider in California.
As a young professional riding for Georgy Maskrey-Segesman, Savannah jumped her first 1.20m class and moved up to the 1.50m level that same year. In 2018, she rode Quitana 11 in her first 1.60m World Cup Qualifier in Sacramento. In 2019, she focused on accumulating points for the FEI Ranking List to qualify for team events, attending Spruce Meadows, the Washington International Horse Show, and the National Horse Show. While working for Georgy, Savannah accomplished some of her biggest goals and started working alongside head groom Johny Capito. In 2020, after success at HITS Thermal Circuit, placing 4th in the $100,000 Grand Prix, Savannah and Johny decided to start their business, Alora Sporthorses. Starting her own company has been a lifelong dream of Savannah’s, and she knew anything was possible with the perfect partner by her side.
IONUT (JOHNY)
CAPITO
TRAINER, BARN MANAGER, HEAD GROOM
Ionut ("Johny") Capito began working as a top groom at a young age. Born in Bucharest, Romania, Johny's journey as a horseman began when he moved to Italy at 10 to start working with his stepfather, a professional groom. While grooming horses, Johny got a job for Rory Marzotto, with whom he traveled around Italy, attended shows, and learned to speak English. At 18, Johny was offered a job at Stephex and moved to Belgium, where he worked as a head groom for top professional riders. While working with Stephex, he attended shows weekly and traveled much of Europe, gaining knowledge of what it took to be a groom for top professional riders. He then worked for Olympic rider Royne Zetterman at Magic Park Stables and later Tal Milstein, who introduced him to Steve and Ashlee Bond.
In 2015, Steve Bond offered Johny a job and asked him to move to California as their head groom. During his time working for Steve and Ashlee, Johny learned many valuable lessons about training horses on the ground, reading horses' behavior, lunging, and saddle-breaking young horses. The lessons Steve taught Johny have helped mold the type of horseman he is today. One of his favorite sayings he learned from Steve was, "Better a good lunge than a bad ride."
While working at the Oaks Horse Show in San Juan Capistrano, CA, Johny was introduced to Savannah. Johny has been a massive part of Savannah's success as a rider, giving her tips for riding and being her eyes on the ground. Realizing what a great team they made, both very dedicated to the horses, horse care, and reaching their goals, they decided to start their own business together and opened Alora Sporthorses in 2020.
LOCATION
HOME BASE
LAVENDAR CREEK RANCH
Alora Sporthorses is based out of Lavender Creek Ranch in Moorpark, California. This beautiful property has a large outdoor ring with all-weather footing, a lunging ring with all-weather footing, plenty of turnouts, including grass turnouts, a eurosizer, and a treadmill.
