In Memoriam: Marie-Helen Lessard

The couple were killed in a traffic accident on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014, on Dufferin County Road 10 near their home, Equus 3D Farm, in Amaranth Township. They were just minutes from home, returning after dropping off their sons, Sébastien and Derek, at university. Sébastien is enrolled in the culinary school in Niagara, while Derek is taking kinesiology at the University of Toronto.

Known to all as “MH”, Lessard operated Equus 3D Equestrian Centre and was involved in many aspects of equestrian sport. As a rider, she spent many years eventing and continued to compete in dressage, most recently aboard Lorraine Stubbs’ gelding Mozambiek. A popular Equine Canada Level II coach and NCCP Level III Theory Coach, Lessard received an EC ProChaps National Coaching Award in 2013. She was an Equine Canada “B” dressage and para-dressage judge steward. She also recently obtained her FEI eventing Level 1 steward accreditation in Argentina.

A tireless show organizer, Lessard ran several eventing and dressage shows at Equus 3D each year. Beyond that, she often volunteered and gave back to the community by opening up her facility to Community Living Dufferin’s horsemanship program, hosting programs for special needs students and providing the opportunity to groom and ride.

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Lessard was a member of the Equine Canada Competitions Committee and the Dressage Canada Board, was the chair of Dressage Canada’s Competitions Committee, and sat on the Sport Council’s Competitions Committee. As EC mentor, learning facilitator, and master evaluator, Lessard was a respected leader and was deeply involved in the national coaching program. Off the farm, she taught French at Centennial Hylands Elementary School in Shelburne.

Friend and fellow competition organizer, Barbara Mitchell, was very close to MH, who acted as bilingual announcer and translator for their CDIs at Cornerstone Farm. “She’s going to be hugely missed in the community, because she had her finger in so many pies,” said Mitchell. “She was involved in everything. She did so much with the coaching. She just never stopped.” Lessard was actually in the process of slowly easing back on the boarding and schooling barn, and was even looking ahead to retirement from her teaching job in February.

Mitchell added, “They were a very, very close family. Steve was involved in taekwondo, and so was Derek. They were such hands-on parents. That will be the biggest loss.” The boys often helped out at Mitchell’s shows as jump crew. “They are very good kids. They brought them up well.”

When asked what she would miss the most about MH, Mitchell replied, “Talking to her every day! I still think, ‘I have to call her.’”

Since the accident, the boys have gone back to school and the arduous and painful task of caring for and finding homes for the farm’s school horses and Lessard’s rescue dogs (three Great Danes) has been underway. Penny Rowland, a veterinarian and eventer, said that the community has rallied. “A whole group of people have pitched in and are doing chores.” Most of the schooling string have been relocated to new homes, and the dogs “are doing very well” at Rowland’s farm. For the time being, attempts to rent the facility are being made. “We definitely don’t want to leave it empty over the winter,” commented Rowland. Mitchell added, “The boys don’t want to give up the farm right now.”

A celebration of the couple’s lives was held at Orangeville District Secondary School on Oct. 4th. A tree will be planted in their memory at Dods & McNair Memorial Forest in Orangeville in a dedication service on Sept. 13, 2015.

MH Lessard will be missed on so many levels, by so many people. Quoting from her book of condolences, one mourner summed it up by writing, “She rescued people, horses, dogs, and any other creature in need.”

The “Ratz Lessard Fund” has been set up at RBC Royal Bank in support of Sébastien and Derek. Donations can be made at any RBC branch or by calling 1-800-769-2511 and citing the fund’s name.