Jordan Phoenix: Eventing Talent on the Rise

Another Phoenix is rising in the eventing world.

A petite young competitor at Ontario horse trials this summer may have given bystanders a sense of déjà vu. Not only is nine-year-old Jordan Phoenix her mom Jessica’s mini-me, she is riding Patras VR, a Trakehner gelding owned by Kirk Hoppner that her mother competed up to the four-star level a decade ago.

Time will tell whether Jordan will aspire to ride on Team Canada like her three-time Olympian mother. Her dad, Joel Phoenix, raises dairy and beef cows and is an international Holstein judge; her brother, Jacob, shows calves and plays rep hockey. They all live on the family farm, Phoenix Equestrian & Holsteins, in Cannington, Ontario. Jordan also figure skates and shows calves.
However, “riding is my top thing,” the Grade 4 student says. “I love riding a lot, I love jumping a lot.”

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In addition to 24-year-old Patras, Jordan has been riding 22-year-old, Pavarotti, the Westphalian gelding owned by Don Good that her mother rode in three consecutive Pan American Games and earned five consecutive Pan Am medals with. Patras has been Jordan’s most frequent horse trials partner and they finished 2024 in fifth place on the Ontario Horse Trials Association leaderboard for the EV60 division. By year’s end, Jordan had also moved up to EV75. Jordan took Pavarotti to Glen Oro Horse Trials in September, placing fourth. She also show jumped both horses at Ten Sixty Stables shows this year.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t her mother who found her first two mounts, but her father. Joel bought a pony, Cowdog, for Jordan’s older brother Jacob, and the pony got passed down to her. Jordan made her show debut on Cowdog in 2019 at the Sunderland Fall Fair.

Next came Lucky, another pony Joel purchased a few years ago, that “lived feral in a cow field,” had little training and was of an indeterminate age. Says Jessica, “He was crazy to catch, crazy to tack up.”

A mother and her daughter on horseback at a horse trials in Ontario.

Mother and daughter ready to rock at Bronte Creek Horse Trials. (Ian Woodley photo)

But on a drive home from Florida, Jordan announced she was going to start riding Lucky, and her mother was convinced that plan wasn’t going to last. “But Jordan trained him to jump, she barrel-raced him and evented him. He turned out to be a very special pony.”

Jordan made her eventing debut with Lucky three years ago when she was six and the pony was well into his third or perhaps even fourth decade. She was eliminated in dressage because her mother had to read the test for her, and fell off in show jumping, but the judges let her continue so her mom could school her around cross-country. Despite that, Jordan remained determined to ride and compete.

Jordan has also learned the ins and outs of starting a young horse. “I just sold a pony, Joy. She is beautiful, she is awesome. My grandfather bought her for me,” she revealed.

Jessica was teaching a clinic in Alberta last year when she got a call from Jordan. “She was asking ‘can I keep her?’ and I learned her grandfather (Jim Phoenix) had bought a three-year-old Appaloosa-cross mare. I said ‘absolutely not.”

But Joy came home to the family farm anyway. “It seems her grandfather (also a cattle man) has excellent taste in horses,” says Jessica. After training under saddle and over fences, Joy was recently sold to a home on the east coast.

Lucky’s death left Jordan without a ride this year, so she started riding Pavarotti at home in Cannington and then Jessica got a call that Patras, who had been the mount for three Young Riders after Jessica competed him, was ready to step down to an easier job.

Her mother had known Patras most of his life. He used to be a breeding stallion and she rode him for his stallion approval. He was gelded in 2010 and began his eventing career with Jessica. And she owns one of his sons, Patrón (out of Gin & Juice), who is among the 42 horses currently in the barn at Phoenix Equestrian.

Jordan has acres to hack around on her parents’ farm, an outdoor jump ring and cross-country course, as well as an indoor arena. While she and her mother often ride at the same time, she’s trained by eventer Jamie Kellock. This winter, she’ll join her mother for part of the time Jessica will be competing in the southern US.

“Rotti’s most favourite thing is cross-country. He loves to go fast and he loves to jump,” says Jordan. “He loves when I ride him, but he’s a lot stronger. Patras is nice and slow. They both love their job.”

Her mother says Patras will continue to be Jordan’s main event horse until she gets stronger to handle Pavarotti’s keenness on the cross-country course, which has not diminished with age.

“It’s more difficult helplessly watching (Jordan) than galloping around a course myself,” says her mom.“It does give me a sense of relaxation knowing the horses she’s on. I love seeing the joy on their faces and on her face when they finish a course.”