Canadian Show Jumping Team 4th in Nations Cup

The Canadian Show Jumping Team finished fourth in the $150,000 CSIO4* Nations Cup presented by Florida Coast Equipment, held Saturday, March 1, at Wellington International in Wellington, FL, USA. The all-female American team of Natalie Dean, Carly Anthony, Charlotte Jacobs and Laura Kraut showed their class on the night, taking the win with an overall team total of five faults.

Nine countries began the first round Saturday afternoon, during Week 8 of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) with the top eight teams returning for the second round in the evening under the lights. Clean rounds produced by Amy Millar and Kyle Timm in the first round helped keep Canada in the mix, taking the team into the second round on an overall score of 10 faults.

Team Canada was comprised of Erynn Ballard (Tottenham, ON) riding Ezarka De Belheme, an 11-year-old Selle Francais mare by Unik d’Ick and owned by Ilan Ferder; Tiffany Foster (Langley, BC) riding Electrique, an 11-year old Zangersheide mare by Emerald owned by 5 Roosters and Tiffany Foster; Amy Millar (Perth, ON) riding Jagger HX, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Ustinov owned by Team Eye Candy and Millar Brooke Farm; and Kyle Timm (originally from Calgary, AB now based in France) riding Candar Mail, a 13-year-old Selle Francais gelding by Lando owned by Tara Dow-Rein and the Rein Family LLC. The team was supported by chef d’équipe Ian Millar and team manager Karen Hendry-Ouellette.

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A team of riders holding the Canadian flag.

Kyle Timm, Tiffany Foster, Ian Millar, Erynn Ballard and Amy Millar. (Starting Gate Communications photo)

The course designed by Steve Stephens and Nick Granat did a good job of spreading out the questions, with faults coming at multiple fences all night, in particular the narrow block wall and the light aqua triple combination at the end of the course. The time allowed was a particular factor in the first round, and with such close scores between the second, third and fourth teams, a couple of time faults made a big difference by the end of the night.

Lead-off rider for Canada, multiple Pan-Am and Olympic competitor Tiffany Foster and Electrique had three unlucky rails in the first round (and as such became the drop score), improving to eight faults in the second.

Fellow Paris Olympian Erynn Ballard rode a relatively new mount to her, Ezarka De Belheme. In both rounds they tipped just one block out of the skinny wall, and had a second rail and two time faults for a score of ten faults in both rounds.

Amy Millar, veteran of the Paris and Rio Olympics as well as Santiago Pan Am Games, produced two clean jumping rounds with Jagger HX, adding just one time fault to their second round.

Anchoring the team in his first ever 4* Nations Cup, Kyle Timm and Candar Mail produced one of just three double-clean rounds of the competition, expertly navigating the course with patience and precision.

“We brought Candar Mail here this winter primarily for this Nations Cup,” Timm remarked. “We jumped a CSI5* class in Ocala a few weeks ago to prepare for it, but the Rein Family has been very patient with me taking time with this horse and letting him just jump this class as the primary goal of the winter. I’m really happy I was able to support him how he needed to be supported tonight, and he got the result he deserved. The whole team did our best – it’s always hard to lead a team off and it’s always hard to anchor, and it’s a hard sport. Looking forward the future is exciting, and we will keep pushing.”

“This Wellington Nations Cup is always a hotly-contested competition,” explained chef d’équipe Ian Millar at the end of the night. “The atmosphere here is unbelievable. Every horse, every rider, every nation – they step up and want to win and Canada was no different.

“We had some wonderful results. Candar Mail, owned by the Rein Family and ridden by Kyle Timm in his first 4* Nations Cup, jumped a fantastic double-clean round. Jagger HX owned by Eye Candy and Millar Brooke and ridden by Amy Millar left all the rails in the cups and had but one time fault (in the second round.) Tiffany and Erynn absolutely gave it their best and it just wasn’t their night.”

USA won with 5 faults, Team Ireland finished in second on 12 faults, followed by Belgium 17 faults, CAN 19, MEX 21, GBR 27, BRA 52, VEN 62, ISR did not make the second round.

Complete results here.