Born in Palmerston, ON, Wayne McLellan caught the horse bug during a visit to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair as a youngster. He began his professional riding career at the age of 19, teaming up with Robert Meilsoe for more than 20 years to form the prominent Gimcrack Stables in King, ON. Their operation turned out scores of talented hunter riders including Darcy Hayes, Stephen Dixon, Natasha Skupsky, Carly Campbell-Cooper, Kristan Baran, Jeff Rundle, Erynn Ballard and many others who would go on to have their own professional careers. In a career spanning four decades, Wayne has won just about every award imaginable in the hunter world both north and south of the border for either riding, owning or training exceptional horses such as Mr. Mort, Summer Solstice, Fielding, The Right Stuff, Forever Scarlet, Wise Guy and By Design, and more recently Pure Abundance, Hazelton, Davenport, Starwood, Lytton Park, Catch Phrase, Yorkville, and South Hill.
Wayne opened WGM Stables in 2001 in Nobleton, ON (now located in Schomberg) and continues to be extremely active in the sport, sourcing and training horses and guiding top-level students to championships and year-end awards both in Ontario and at the fiercely competitive Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL. He is also an Equine Canada hunter and equitation judge (RS) and was inducted into the Jump Canada Hall of Fame in the category of Rider on Nov. 3, 2019.
Memorable Moment
“My recent 2019 Induction into the Jump Canada Hall of Fame.”
Foreseeable Future
“I will continue to find and develop new horses for current and new clients and develop my own prospects also. I am also just starting to breed a few horses.”
