When 17-year-old Hazel McLean of Vancouver, BC canters through the Coca-Cola Coliseum, she looks every bit the polished Junior Hunter champion: poised, confident, utterly at home. But just three years ago, doctors warned that without urgent spinal surgery, she could lose her ability to ride at all.
“They told us her condition would only get worse,” her mother, Melanie, recalls. “And even with surgery, we didn’t know what her future in the saddle would look like.”
Hazel first learned about The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair at eight years old and dreamed of competing there one day. That dream came true in spectacular fashion this week when she and her Dutch Warmblood mare Rosalita captured the 2025 Junior/Amateur Hunter Canadian Championship in their Royal Horse Show debut. The moment was spellbinding and almost unimaginable considering what came before it.
A Life-Changing Diagnosis
In early 2022, Hazel was at the height of her pony career. She had qualified for Pony Finals and The Royal with her beloved pony Amber and a long-held dream was finally within reach.
Then came a devastating diagnosis: scoliosis, an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine. with a 40-degree curve that was expected to worsen as she grew.
Images of Hazel’s spine before (left) and after the surgery.
“We had to decide very quickly,” said Melanie. “Her spine was rotating. They said it could progress to 55 or even 60 degrees, but even the surgery could result in paralysis.”
Hazel faced a choice: wait and likely require full spinal fusion, which would severely restrict her range of motion, or undergo an innovative, still-rare procedure called Vertebral Body Tethering (VBT), which had only been performed roughly 300 times in Canada at that point.
It was a risk, but they took it.
In August 2022, just before Grade 9, Hazel underwent surgery. Screws and a tether were placed from L1 to L6 to gradually straighten her spine as she finished growing.
Suddenly, her life was in limbo. For six months, Hazel wasn’t allowed to do anything but walk; riding was strictly out of the question.
“She couldn’t carry her backpack, she couldn’t carry books to school. There was no activity, purely walking until her bones healed,” said Melanie.
“It was rough,” Hazel shared. “I didn’t know what my future looked like.”
Finding Her Way Back
When doctors finally cleared her to resume activity, Hazel didn’t hesitate. “I’m going back to riding, and I want to try downhill skiing, too,” she announced.
But bold words didn’t erase the uncertainty. “I was very nervous and had lost a lot of confidence,” she said. “After the surgery, I was not really sure what riding was going to be like, but it’s my passion so I wanted to keep going. I might not be the top competitor or have the goals that I had once set, but I still wanted to keep riding.”
Hazel and Rosie.
Enter Rosalita (“Rosie”), a mare known for her good brain and forgiving nature. Originally leased as a confidence-builder, Rosie reignited Hazel’s spark.
“We leased her for a year and absolutely fell in love,” Hazel says. “I started doing the Children’s Hunters and had so much fun. She made me realize I didn’t have to limit my dreams, but at that point I was just happy to be back in the saddle.”
She didn’t just return, she excelled. Hazel and Rosie closed the season with the Children’s Hunter title in British Columbia. Then in 2025, they stepped into the Junior Hunters and, just two weeks after qualifying, stunned the field at the Junior Hunter Finals in Del Mar, California, winning the 3’3″ Grand Championship.
“It felt like a movie,” Hazel says. “Even saying it out loud doesn’t feel real.”
A Royal Comeback
With her confidence back, Hazel dared to imagine The Royal again. Point by point, round by round, she and Rosie qualified as the top-ranked pair in B.C.
Stepping into the Coliseum – the ring she once feared she’d never see from the saddle – they delivered brilliance: second and third on day one, then a stunning 91 in the stake class to clinch the Junior/Amateur Hunter Canadian Championship.
“When they announced it, I cried,” Hazel said. “I just couldn’t believe everything that had happened to get here.”
Hazel still lives with scoliosis. She still works harder than most to stay straight in the saddle. She still builds strength daily.
“I have to pay attention to my twistedness and my bending a little bit more than other riders do, just because I’m built that way,” she explained. “I give Rosie more support on the side I’m twisted, otherwise she bends differently. We do lots of flatwork, and I do physical therapy and workouts to help my straightness. It’s never going to be perfect.”
Through heartbreak, surgery, fear, and rebuilding, Hazel McLean never let go of her love for horses or the dream of riding at The Royal. With Rosie, and the team behind her, she turned a once-impossible vision into a championship moment.
“This sport is unpredictable,” Hazel says. “But that’s also what makes it magical. You just never know when your dreams might come true.”
And at The Royal, hers did, in the most extraordinary way.
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