EQUESTRIENNE PURSUITS.
Caelan Mitchel and her horse Ashbury have their sights set high after winning a $5,000 prize at the Hunter classic in September. (Submitted photo)
A young Port Carling equestrienne and her trusty steed are headed to the big city for a competition against some of Canada’s best riders next month.
Together with her horse Ashbury, Caelan Mitchell, a Grade 12 student at Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School, will be competing in an equestrian competition at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November. Both horse and rider are going into the competition with little prior experience, having earned a place for the Toronto competition after taking on 46 other competitors between May and October for a qualifying spot.
Mitchell took home a $5,000 prize after winning the OHJA Hunter Classic at Angelstone Farms at the end of the season in late September.
“She showed for the first time with her nine-year-old Canadian Sport Horse in the Ontario Hunter Jumper Association horse shows in Ontario,” said Mitchell’s mother Carol. “This is only Ashbury’s second show season in her life.”
Carol said her daughter has been training hard for the Toronto competition, travelling nearly every day of the week to practise at Top of the Hill Farm in Orillia.
But regardless of what results her daughter achieves at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Carol said horses appear to be a solid part of Caelan’s future.
“She has worked very hard to take her horse to the Royal Winter Fair and plans on working hard to go back next year in the junior division,” she said. “She is writing her SAT’s in December and will be applying to universities in the United States who give riding scholarships.”