While some kids would have been afraid to try eventing after watching a VHS tape called Thrills and Spills, it had the opposite effect on Katie Malensek.
“It was great! I became obsessed with cross-country. I wanted to know what this sport was and how you get into it,” says Malensek, 41, an eventer born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, who works as a small animal veterinarian in Port Orange, Florida.
Katie and one of her cold-blooded patients at the clinic in Florida. (Katie Malensek Instagram photo)
After competing in their first CCI4* in Florida earlier this year, Malensek and her nine-year-old gelding Landjaeger will join Jessica Phoenix and Wabbit, Kendal Lehari and Audacious, and Hannah Bundy and Lovely Assistant to represent Canada at the FEI Eventing Nations Cup in Arville, Belgium from August 17 to 20.
Malensek (nee Evans) grew up in a non-horsey family but developed a love for horses and “finally my mom broke down and got me riding lessons” at age eight. Her first pony was an Arabian mare, Velvet.
“I got really lucky as a teenager and got to ride horses for Bruce Mandeville, who took me under his wing,” she says. “I got to ride with him during his Olympic career and he has turned out to be a lifetime mentor and friend.”
Mandeville instilled a strong foundation in dressage and also gave Malensek the opportunity to lease Forest Glen, a former four-star mount of Bruce Davidson’s, after her own horse was injured. She and the quirky Glen competed at the North American Young Riders’ Championships twice, and the second year they won individual bronze.
When Malensek finished high school, Mandeville insisted she attend post-secondary education. “He said you can ride and do college, and my parents were of the same view, but hearing it from your parents isn’t the same as hearing it from Bruce Mandeville.”
After a series of catastrophic injuries left her without her top three horses while she was attending Lake Erie College in Ohio to earn her Bachelor of Science degree, she gave up riding altogether to concentrate on other things. She met her husband, Nate, at college and together they moved to Florida where she completed a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. Those studies sparked a desire to become a veterinarian. Because Canadian vet schools were so competitive, she studied for her veterinary degree in the Grand Cayman Islands and graduated ‒ as valedictorian ‒ in 2012. She was also determined to return to competitive riding.
“The price of event horses had gone crazy and I couldn’t afford a going one, so the option was for me to make them,” she says. “I only bought high-quality yearlings, two- and three-year-olds, and sold the ones that wouldn’t do the job. Now I have a string of young horses and am starting to see the fruits of that labour.” She and Nate, a former police officer, bought their farm in Ormond Beach in 2011. For a time, he helped run Ravenwood Veterinary Clinic where she is a partner, but now looks after the farm and their animals. Her sister Jacqui Evans also helps out and takes Landjaeger (aka Brewster) for trot sets when Malensek is too busy.
Malensek bought Landjaeger (Landkönig x Unbridled’s Image) as a yearling. The Oldenburg-Thoroughbred gelding “was always easy. He’s lazy, but perks up at horse shows. He’s very concerned about his tummy and as long as he has food, he’s happy. And if my husband wants to ride, he’s the one.”
Malensek went to look at a group of young horses and Brewster jumped a gate to get back to the barn. “When he did that, I thought ‘he is either brave or stupid, but I have to buy him.’ I brought him home as a two-year-old and he was so gangly, with a big head and big ears. I had a few people come look at him, but no takers. At four, he was spooky and hard cross-country and as an eventer, he was a hard sell. Then, he wasn’t on my radar as ‘the one.’”
Brewster after his first 4* at Terranova in Florida. (Katie Malensek Facebook photo)
But Malensek persevered with the horse and finally, something clicked with him. “One year, he got it and became way easier to ride. From there, we’ve never looked back.” Brewster has become a strong cross-country horse, “I could point him at a house and he’d jump it.” She says he’s not a mind-blowing mover in dressage, but very consistent, and he’s an efficient jumper that canters down to a fence, adjusts himself and keeps his knees out of the way. In 2019, he was the United States Eventing Association’s Modified Horse of the Year and she was Modified Event Rider.
Since then, he and Malensek have moved up the levels and completed their first four star at The Event at Terranova in Florida this spring. She was thrilled to learn they’d been named to the Canadian team heading to Belgium. As Florida is flat, she’s been preparing Brewster for Belgium’s hilly terrain by taking him to an underwater treadmill in Ocala once a week and to out-of-state events such as Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia where there is rolling countryside.
“I hadn’t gone advanced in 20 years. It was such an accomplishment being named to the team, as I work full time, I have a business, I have a lot of young horses. To have this opportunity to represent Canada at the Nations’ Cup is huge for me. I hope this isn’t once-in-a-lifetime. I will never take it for granted.”
This will be the first time Malensek has had the opportunity to compete in Europe. After Arville, she will stay with Tim and Jonelle Price and train for England’s Blenheim event. After that, it will be back to bringing along her young horses and working as a small animal vet. Although she mainly treats dogs and cats, she is also a specialist in reptiles and snakes and other exotics.
“I do primarily surgery and also treat soft tissue and orthopedic injuries,” she says. “I see snakes, chameleons, geckos. I’ve fixed a lot of broken bones in random animals. I’ve fixed a bat wing and a kangaroo’s humerus!”
(For more information about the CCI4* Arville, click here.)
