Regardless of why The Corinthian (the original name of Horse Sport) was created – concocted in Aurora, Ontario’s infamous watering hole as a means to improve the nearly non-existent coverage of equestrian sport, or in a bid to attend the Olympics as part of the press corps, or a bit of both – the magazine has endured and thrived for five decades. This is a major achievement in the often fickle and fragile world of Canadian magazines, and especially in a niche market like the horse industry.
The year was 1968 and show jumping, dressage, and eventing were really starting to take off in Canada, thanks to efforts from riders including Jim Elder and Christilot Boylen. Because the Canadian teams did not have the wherewithal to travel to Europe to compete, these enterprising individuals brought Europe to Canada: Elder reproduced international jumping courses at his farm in Aurora and Boylen staged Olympic trials and imported Europe’s top judges. “Jimmy Elder was like a whirlwind,” said Muriel Lennox, one of the founders of The Corinthian along with friends and riding buddies David Shortill and Esther Peachey. “Chris was the same; she was bringing in the big-time trainers and judges. Both of them were bent on the sport hitching its trousers up and becoming world-class.”
Initiative like this deserved a voice, and with modest seed money totalling $600 (which translates to just over $4,000 today, adjusted for inflation) Shortill, Peachey, and Lennox set up shop in the basement of Peachey’s parent’s house, unbeknownst to “my poor parents,” she said, laughing. “When we started, David was the editor because he took English in university, I was the art director because I could draw, and Muriel was the sales person because she had been doing it for another magazine. Then we hired a girl to do the layouts and I did the ads after Muriel left. We hired Linda Dalnocki and I went back to doing layouts and photography [as Peachey Pictures]. I had never taken a picture in my life. They gave me a camera and told me to start using it. I loved it; I loved going to the farms to take pictures.”