The horse journey … so far
Mackenzie Wray’s horse journey began from a young age, riding in pony divisions on the gold circuit. Although her family was not into horses, Mackenzie immediately fell in love with the sport.
In 2014 Mackenzie was able to step up into the junior hunters and equitation/medal classes as well as derby classes. She rode her horse Delaney into 7th place in the overall Ontario standing for the junior hunter division. The following year, Mackenzie moved up into the Jump Canada Medal standings, finishing 3rd in the overall Ontario point standings. Mackenzie also won the Jump Canada Medal Final in 2016.
One of Mackenzie’s stand-out opportunities was her experience showing in FEI events. Mackenzie landed herself a spot on the 2019 Adequan®/FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC) hosted in New York (North Salem) at which Canada’s NAYC team placed first and Mackenzie herself earned a 19th place. Mackenzie describes this as the absolute best experience and something she truly loves to do.
A career with BFL
Mackenzie completed her Bachelor’s Degree in International Business at Humber College. Throughout the duration of her college experience Mackenzie got into marketing and explored different roles with co-op, but nothing really stuck. Mackenzie wanted to find ways to develop her passion for horses into a lifelong career.
After finding out about BFL through insuring her own horses, she then reached out to the company in high school, but did not get the job. Post university, Mackenzie reached out again and got a placement. She had no idea the kind of career she would build and opportunities she would have through this path in the horse industry.
Now, Mackenzie Wray has worked as a technical assistant for six months in the farm and liabilities side of BFL. She works alongside a dynamic team and provides administrative assistance in order to insure any commercial farms, coaches and clubs.
“Horse people working for horse people”
BFL makes it a priority to hire and engage people from the horse community. Mackenzie says it is truly “Horse people working for horse people” in the equine liability and farm insurance sectors. She continues to learn more about horses, western riding, pony clubs and eventing, realizing how much bigger the industry is than just horse shows. “I have actually fallen in love with more aspects than just the jumper world.”
Mackenzie describes BFL as an incredible company with top-of-the-line standards, a place where everyone is super-inviting. Her team is an amazing group of animal lovers who all have a passion for the community in common. When a group is easy to connect and collaborate with, it makes working at home and off-site both manageable and enjoyable. The opportunity to work off-site has allowed Mackenzie the ability to continue horse showing.
Advice for others hoping to break into the horse industry
If your end goal is to be in the horse industry and make money, then one of the biggest things is to explore every option network and get your name out there. Ask questions about everything and consider bills, insurance, and the business aspects of the horse world. Go further and explore opportunities away from barns, and look at more than just riding (who organizes the show, sponsors, horse show office, etc.)
Going forward, Mackenzie hopes to get back into showing while investing time into building her career. You can catch Mackenzie Wray and her horse Coconut showing with Looking Back Farms in the metre-20 jumpers at Angelstone Events this summer!
Submitted by Emma Long
