As she explained, Manitoba Horse Trials is an eventing group. Eventing is a competition where a single horse and rider contend against others in three disciplines – dressage (performing movements from memory, like a figure skating test), show jumping (fast but clean without errors) and cross country (natural looking obstacles, terrain and weather changes). It comes from the history of cavalry horses, and Dyck said she likes competing in the three phases and how Manitoba Horse Trials run their events.
“This club runs one day derbies, so you do all three phases each day, which is really nice so you can enter just one day of an event, or both. However this requires both rider and horse to be fit enough for all three phases. Generally you aren’t allowed to progress to the next phase if you don’t complete the previous one. However there are lots of rules that allow a rider to move horse down a level if they get nervous or lose confidence.”
She said she and Mia competed in derbies in July, but also went to Winnipeg for a clinic in June. Much of the desire to get involved came from wanting to challenge her mare.
“I actually was doing the derbies to help build Mia’s confidence and to do something new with her, she’s an experienced mare in the show jumping so we try different things so she doesn’t get bored.”
Although this was the first year for the horse and rider with the organization, it is not Dyck’s first exposure to eventing. She said she was introduced to it through the Canadian Pony Club from ages eight through 18. She had a thoroughbred gelding named Sharp Dude at the time, who quite liked eventing. After a time away from it, she returned to cross-country at the Willville Horse Trials in Carroll in 2022.
Dyck has been involved with horses and riding most of her life, but said she really got into competition in her late teens. She worked with her trainer Lorraine Wilson full time once she moved to Brandon. Dyck had been hurt and Wilson helped her change her riding, erasing bad habits and replacing them with correct skills. She took Dude to the Brandon Winter Fair for the first time, and had a blast, getting used to riding around the ring with people who represented Canada. She loves the events and their unpredictability.
“I love the challenge of a competition,” Dyck explained. “One never knows what the course will be until maybe an hour before the class starts. You prepare the best you can, and maybe it’s a course that suits your horse, maybe it isn’t. I love the people you meet, riders from all over that you may only see a few times a year. Competing is very humbling too. Mia didn’t care that it was a big Mini Prix class that day we crashed. She decided she didn’t like the way that jump looked and said no, ‘I’m not jumping that thing’. You can win because a judge didn’t see an error and you can lose because a judge did see an error. And riders learn that the win, while it’s fun and exciting, is not the thing that matters. The quality of your ride, working towards a more athletic horse and rider partnership, learning to negotiate a complicated jump or element, that is the thing you work towards.”
Dyck said most of her competitions are in Manitoba, although they did go to Moose Jaw last year. She stated there are a lot of great venues in our province, including the Keystone Centre in Brandon, one in Bird’s Hill Park east of Winnipeg, and a cross-country course run by her former Pony Club instructor Dianna Fraser in Carroll.
Mia is 15 years old. She and Wilson had partnered together to breed an appendix mare to Wilf McKay’s Dutch Warmblood Stallion Nickelson B.
“We got this pretty, sassy filly, who had quite the attitude that made up for her small stature. We decided when she was two that instead of selling her that she would be my next partner. Many horses are started at two years old but we opted to wait, giving her time to grow more.”
She was presented at five years old and went into training, and did her first major show two years later. There were good years in the jumpers, with a couple of year-end championships in 2016 and some down times. Mia then took some dressage clinics, which reintroduced Dyck to that phase and how it can improve a horse. There were clinics with former Olympian Bonny Bonello, work with professionals to address body issues and returning to jump training, Mia regained her desire to go over obstacles.
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff
“Once she got there, it’s been amazing. It’s one thing to ask and tell a horse to jump whatever is in front of them. It’s a totally different game when the horse themself wants to see what’s on the other side and ‘takes you to the jump.’”
As well as Mia, Dyck is working with an off-the-track-thoroughbred named Beach Fever.
She would like to continue competition as long as she can, while realizing Mia will not be able to partner with her forever. They will be in the show ring as long as they can however, as it took time to meld, but it is a special relationship.
Dyck would like to build a facility to train year-round, see how well they work out for others. She is involved in Pony Club again, and doing some coaching, which she enjoys. It is always satisfying to help riders use their bodies in a way that is biomechanically sound and effective.
Overall, she has the equine life in her blood.
“One doesn’t need to compete to ride well, but its fun to meet people and challenge yourself,” Dyck explained. “Horses have always played a large role in my life, though I’ve taken breaks while going to school I’ve never stepped away completely. Not sure I could.”