CANADIAN SPORT HORSES IN PAN AM SPOTLIGHT

With the Pan Games in full swing, several ‘made in Canada’ equine athletes are competing on the international stage.

In the Team Dressage competition, two products of Charlot Farms breeding program did Canada proud.

 Top scoring rider for Canada’s silver medal winning team was Tom Dvorak, riding Viva’s Salieri, a 10-year-old Hanoverian stallion by Viva Voltaire, bred by Charlot Farm. Dvorak and the stallion had the Canadian contingent’s top score of 71.711. Other team members included Roberta Byng-Morris of Godmanchester, QC, Tom Tina Irwin of Stouffville, ON, and Crystal Kroetch of Calgary, AB. ( photo)

Competing for Guatemala (which finished eighth in team standings) was Canadian Sport Horse Viva’s Veroveraar, an F1 10-year-old chestnut gelding also by Viva Voltaire, owned and bred by Hilary Chambers. Veroveraar and Mortimer had the top score among the Guatemalans, with 64.09. Mortimer was born in Ontario and holds a Guatemalan and Canadian citizenship. Her father, Ralph Mortimer, a dressage teacher, moved the family to Guatemala when Esther was 11 to teach dressage. She, along with her father and partner Harper Mackenzie, own M2, a full service dressage facility in Milgrove, Ontario

In the eventing competition at the Pan Ams, watch for Foxwood High and Canada’s Selena O’Hanlon to make a run for the medals. Foxwood High (High Society 3E), an F1 eight-year-old gelding owned by John Rumble is a product of King Ridge Stables’ breeding program, by Rio Bronco out of Evita II.