Mary (“Minna”) Annette Renz (née Kelly), a tireless volunteer and advocate for Canadian eventing, passed away quietly on October 22, 2025, at the age of 96, in Uxbridge, Ontario.
Born in Dublin in 1928, Minna’s early years revolved around farming and horses. She rode with the Meath Pony Club, foxhunted, and competed, winning a silver medal at the Dublin Horse Show. Her brothers, Martin and Ted, were both amateur jockeys, and she aspired to follow that family passion, but rules at the time barred women from racing.
Minna married Anthony Austin in Ireland, and the couple had three children: Caroline, Peter, and Nicholas. She earned her teaching certificate in 1967 from the British Horse Society and met Hans Renz, an outspoken Swiss rider and coach, that same year. They married and travelled to Canada in 1968, where the Canadian Equestrian Team had tasked him with training the three-day eventing team for the Mexico Olympics at their training camp at Graham Ranch outside Calgary.
After the Olympics, the couple moved to Ontario and became involved in the evolving eventing scene there. Minna competed at events in Canada and the U.S., was a founding member of the Ontario Horse Trials Association, and became a national and international coach and technical delegate.
She was especially passionate about Pony Club, which combined children’s love of horses with the skills and responsibility associated with their care. She served as an examiner for many years and was awarded Examiners Emeritus status in 2000, given by the Canadian Pony Club National Testing Committee to retired National Examiners who have displayed exemplary service.
As a technical delegate and steward, Minna could always be found assisting organizers, flagging and decorating cross-country fences, and wielding a chainsaw and a pry bar when necessary — always in the company of a Jack Russell terrier. Over the decades, she was involved in five Olympic Games in some capacity as a volunteer, steward, or wherever help was needed.
She imparted that spirit to her son Nicholas, whose services were often “volunteered” at events from a young age. “I’ve always had a ‘service gene,’ probably inherited from my mother,” he said. “If you’re hanging around and there’s stuff to be done, you’re going to get on it. I started volunteering when my mother was riding in a competition, and she came by and said, ‘Oh, they need somebody to open the dressage gate.’ And it’s said in such a way that means, ‘You go and open the %#& dressage gate.’ Because I didn’t ride, suddenly I became part of the system, and I realized that opening the gate for the rider is as important as any other job.”
Minna with one of her beloved Jack Russell terriers, Poppy.
Unfortunately, Minna suffered a brain aneurysm in 1996 and never returned to officiating or coaching, choosing instead to live a quiet life alone. In her obituary, Nicholas writes: “Regretfully, her mind and memories were robbed from us all by dementia. The biggest sadness is probably that her five grandchildren never truly knew the vibrant, passionate, skilful, powerful, funny, sarcastic, and beautiful woman that she was. But her true legacy can be found every time you stand near the cross-country start box. You will often hear the blessing from the Starter that is an instruction, an encouragement, and a reminder to the rider of their responsibility: ‘Have a good ride.’”
Nicholas recalls, “My favourite memory of her is just watching her being at competitions, making things happen. I always enjoyed watching her ride. She was very concentrated, very tidy and neat. It was also pretty special to be a volunteer at Atlanta [1996 Olympics] with her, wearing the same shirt and being accredited together as fence judges on two separate fences. That was pretty cool.”
He added, “She was very respectful of the horse. Every time I saw her give somebody a thick ear, it was for being harsh with or mistreating their horse.”
Down the road, Nicholas would like to create a scholarship, bursary, or incentive program in his mother’s honour to encourage and educate people to volunteer in eventing in some capacity. “Eventing competitions are such an interesting, complex machine,” he noted. “There are people who would love to be involved in that; you learn so much as a volunteer, depending on the role you are given.”
Minna’s cremated remains will be taken back to the family plot just outside Dublin. A celebration of life will take place at a later date — something Nicholas envisions as “being held in the middle of a cross-country course next season. That would be appropriate.”
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