In 2008, Tik Maynard was pondering his future. He grew up on his family’s Vancouver horse farm with parents who are both accomplished equestrians: his mother, Jennifer, is a dressage rider and FEI judge, and his father, Rick, is a show jumping rider and respected coach. Tik had spent six years on the Canadian National Team competing in the Modern Pentathlon, including at the Pan American Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007, and had earned a history degree from the University of British Columbia. He thought about pursuing law studies, but opted to instead spend a year as a working student for some of the world’s top riders. This road took him to small-town Germany, the orange groves of Florida, and the plains of Texas.
Tik worked for dressage master Johann Hinnemann, dressage/event rider Ingrid Klimke, eventers Karen and David O’Connor, and Texas cowboy/natural horsemanship trainer Bruce Logan. “I went to Texas expecting to improve my riding, but I don’t think I improved my riding at all,” recalls Tik. “But in those few months, I learned more about horses than I’ve learned in my entire life. I learned about reading horses and how they interact with each other and how they interact with people and how sensitive they are. I had no idea.”
He became passionate about natural horsemanship and now uses it to train his own horses and at clinics to teach other riders how to incorporate it. “People talk to horses a lot, but it’s much harder for them to learn verbal communication,” says Tik. “It’s much easier for them to pick up physical and visual cues.”
He tried eventing for the first time in 2008 and loved it from the start. “The first time I went galloping on a cross-country course, I just fell in love with it,” he says. Another appeal, given his penchant for natural horsemanship: “It’s more important to bring the horse along yourself in eventing than in most other disciplines.”
After his year as a round-the-world working student, Tik went to work for American Olympic show jumper Anne Kursinski and became an assistant trainer. “She’s an icon of the sport and I planned on being there for one to five years, then coming back to my parents’ horse business,” he says. But he started dating US eventer Sinead Halpin and when they got engaged, he decided to stay in New Jersey with her. They are now married and their lives revolve around eventing and their bases in New Jersey and Florida.
Tik, 33, currently campaigns two mounts: Dutch Times, a seven-year-old gelding owned by Christina Aharoni of New Jersey that finished fifth at the CIC** in Lexington, Virginia, in 2014; and Sapphire, a Dutch warmblood former show jumper owned by his father that did her first three-star last year. Tik rode Dutch Times at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair’s indoor eventing competition in November; they claimed the championship, although it was the first time either had tried it.
Tik and Sapphire are long-listed on the Canadian National Eventing Team and he’d like a second opportunity to compete in the Pan Ams – this time as a rider instead of a pentathlete. “Going to the Pan Ams the first time was pretty overwhelming,” he says. “The second time it would be easier, I’d hope. Canada’s got a pretty competitive eventing team and for me to have a chance I’m really going to have to work on my dressage.” He is getting help in that department from his wife, parents, and Jacquie Brooks.
Should a trip to the Pan Ams not be in the cards for Tik in 2015, with Dutch Times showing a lot of promise and a two-year-old eventing-bred buckskin filly, Goldenrose, waiting in the wings, a team berth could quite likely be in his future
