The elder McIntosh, one of Canada’s top Standardbred trainers and breeders, was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2010. Horses he’s produced have won more than 3,500 races and over $78 million in earnings. His 18-year-old son puts up with the ribbing, as Bob inspired his son’s love of horses in the first place. The younger McIntosh grew up at the family business, Robert McIntosh Stables, near Windsor, ON, where close to 100 Standardbreds are in for training at any time. “I wouldn’t actually touch a horse until I was three,” says Sean. “Once I did, I was crazy about them. When I was four, I’d ride double in the saddle with my dad when he went to watch the Standardbreds train, and I started taking lessons when I was five.”
Two years later, he got his first pony and started training with Rosemary and Julie O’Connell, who evented. He did hunter shows for several years before Airborn, an experienced event pony, taught him the ropes up to training level. His mom Patty was (and remains) a huge supporter, travelling to all of Sean’s horse trials, even though most were many hours away.
Sean started training and jogging standardbreds when he was 12, but “I was always a lot more focussed on riding. I loved getting to gallop and go fast. I find it amazing what horses can do and what we can ask of them.”
Tyler, a Thoroughbred gelding, took Sean to preliminary level. With aspirations to move up to the higher levels, two years ago he became a student of Diana Burnett, living and working at her Donogue Farm in Port Perry, ON during the summers. “She gets the point across in a way I understand,” he says of her teaching technique. “She uses good analogies and always challenges you, but not to the point it’s going to scare you.”
When it became evident that Sean would need a new horse to reach his goals, Diana had the ideal candidate in her barn: Wild T’Mater, a 17-hand Thoroughbred gelding she bought as a five-year-old off the track and evented up to the CCI*** level. “I’d ridden him once or twice before in lessons and I’ve always loved him,” says Sean, whose dad purchased Mater for him a year and a half ago. “He is the most honest horse in the world.” Mater’s confident personality has taught Sean to “learn to let go. I’m a bit of a control freak.”
Sean and Mater finished third in the open prelim at the MidSouth Horse Trials and also earned a spot on the Quebec/Ontario Junior one-star team at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships last July, finishing 14th individually. “Going to Young Riders had been a really big goal for me for some time,” he says. “Another big thing was upgrading to intermediate at Richland Park last summer and finishing fourth. I found a big jump between preliminary and intermediate. The technicality starts to ramp up and you can’t be tentative. Mater just took over and showed me how to do things.”
Another thrill was lending Mater to new Canadian eventing team technical advisor Clayton Fredericks for the indoor eventing competition at the Royal Horse Show in November. Sean took great satisfaction in pointing out to his dad that Mater’s fourth-place finish earned some prize money.
Sean is currently balancing first-year animal biology studies at the University of Guelph with riding. On weekends, he makes the 90-minute trek to Donogue Farm, where he’ll return in April to get Mater prepped for the CCI** at Woodwind in May, Bromont in June, and Fair Hill in the fall.
“I plan to go to vet school, hopefully riding all the way through,” he says. “Making the Canadian team is definitely a long-term goal. If it happens, that will be awesome.”
