In 15 years, Susan Horn has worked her way from the short stirrup classes to the grand prix ring. Last year, she won both the $10,000 Modified Grand Prix at Angelstone and the eastern division Talent Squad regionals, which shot her and the little mare Zahara S to the top of the 2012 Talent Squad standings. The pair also finished second at the Canadian Championships at the Royal Winter Fair, were second in their first grand prix, and finished top-12 in the $50,000 Angelstone Grand Prix, their first FEI class.
Susan, 29, began riding at the age of seven when her mother signed her up for two weeks of summer riding camp at the YMCA. “My mum had ridden as a child in Scotland and thought I might enjoy the experience,” she remembers. “They now laugh that it turned out to be the most expensive camp ever! By the end of the fortnight I had fallen off, been stepped on, been kicked and bitten … but I was hooked.” She moved to weekly lessons and the Trillium circuit before the “A” circuit large pony hunters in 1999. Aboard her children’s hunter Mistral V she was 2001 Royal champion, and was OHJA Jr/Am champion in 2007 and 2008 (Playboy du Trichot, 1.40m) and 2011 (Phenix de Coquerie, 1.20m).
With the help of her current coach, Mac Cone, she has stepped up to jump some of the biggest tracks of her career. She attributes his guidance to much of her recent success. “His lengthy and successful career aside, I’ve always found Mac to have a genuine desire to share and pass on his knowledge,” she says. “You can tell he really enjoys watching his students progress. I find he never lets me get too carried away with either successes or failures, and I’m a chronic over-analyzer. He finds a way to make every ride, competition, or experience into a lesson.”
“I think the biggest challenge I’ve faced is learning the difference between the prep required for a 1.20m or 1.30m class versus a 1.40m or 1.50m class. Your entire program has to be stepped up. Your flatting has to be comprehensive, you have to train for fitness and your execution of exercises has to be correct and calculated. There’s no room for error, nor can there be any holes in your education.”
Her current string of promising horses includes the 10-year-old Holsteiner mare Lillyfee; 11-year-old KWPN gelding Vodka; 12-year-old Swedish Warmbood gelding Her Courchevel, and 11-year-old Swedish Warmblood mare Zahara S. “For the majority of my career I had been partnered with horses who, although talented, were relatively inexperienced, which has always been a rewarding but slow process. I am extremely happy with the horses I have at this moment and am very excited to advance with them.”
Susan is also the technical director of the Canadian University Riding Clubs Association, which sends teams of Canadian riders around the world to compete in Nations Cup-style competitions on borrowed horses. She credits the support of her family to be able to focus the majority of her energy on competing and the development of her horses at her home base, Kingsfield Farm, in Bolton, ON. “I’m very fortunate in that I can focus entirely on becoming the best rider I can be, and I know a lot of people don’t get that chance,” she stresses. “At some point in the future I would like to take on students, but at the moment my central focus is on becoming a regular in the grand prix ring. Horses teach you so much every single day, and some days I feel like I know nothing at all!”
“I want to go as far as my abilities will take me. It would be a dream to represent Canada on an international stage, but for now my primary aim is to have a barn full of healthy, happy, and successful horses; the rest will come from there.”
