Difference Makers: Wesley Newlands

Few Canadians can claim to have brought home a championship cooler from the Devon Horse Show. Fewer still have also brought home first-place ribbons from the National Horse Show, Washington International, and Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Wesley Newlands has accomplished these feats, and all before her 24th year. Partnered with her 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Pure Abundance, Wesley has found herself leading the jog in the amateur-owner hunter classes at the most competitive shows in North America. Looking back on her incredible success south of the border, she reminisces with a smile, “Devon (2011) is definitely my greatest accomplishment to date. I never expected or even imagined being champion there.”

Wesley began riding with her siblings at the age of eight, when her horsey mother decided it would be a fun family activity. She got her first pony for her tenth birthday, and as her riding progressed, so did her aspirations to compete at higher levels. She began competing on the “A” circuit in the hunter, jumper, and equitation rings towards the end of her junior years. In 2010 she made the decision to move her horses to the US permanently to campaign on the American circuit.

Now based at the famed Old Salem Farm in North Salem, NY, with trainer Steve Weiss, Wesley shifts south to Wellington, FL, during the Winter Equestrian Festival. Still a Canadian citizen, she has perfected the art of cross-border travelling. “I have to carry a binder full of documents and receipts proving that I am a Canadian citizen, that I pay Canadian taxes, have a Canadian bank account, and that I’m not working in the United States when I cross the border. Before I put the binder together with the help of a lawyer, I was being stopped and interrogated all the time, and had missed so many planes.”

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Over the years, Wesley has ridden with some of the best. She credits former trainer Wayne McLellan for finding Pure Abundance for her, “the horse of a lifetime,” and Morgan Thomas, who coached her to many of her US victories. It is with Steve, however, that she has really found her stride in the ring. The two met at the Spruce Meadows Skyliner Tournament in 2009. “I liked his approach immediately, as I had seen what an amazing job he’d done with Katie Dinan, (Wesley’s teammate in the 1.30m Jr/Am class at the tournament), in training and sourcing her amazing horses. It’s a great quality of his; he really enjoys what he is doing and it’s evident in his students. He always puts out 100 per cent in order to make sure that you achieve your best.”

Steve spent the majority of his junior years training with George Morris, and now shares training responsibilities at Old Salem Farm with Frank Madden. “Steve continually emphasizes that I have an incredible team, amazing horses, a dedicated coach, a fantastic crew that take care of my horses and remarkable parents that support me,” says Wesley. “He has taught me that my part in this equation is not just to perform to the best of my abilities, but to always strive for more day in and day out.”

Wesley is also cultivating a new-found love of polo, and working towards a business degree in fashion marketing. In 2012, she will campaign Pure Abundance and her three high amateur-owner jumpers with the hopes of once again competing in the fall indoor shows. She believes to have found the right fit for her horses with Steve as her trainer, and has the results to show for it. “Steve is an incredible person and an amazing trainer. I am very lucky to have him as a coach. Thanks to him I’ve had the most successful year to date with my riding and my horses. He really believes in me and has given me the confidence to believe in myself. He has taught me to appreciate and respect the opportunity that I have been given, and that hard work will always pay off.”