Ainsley MacLean

My name is Ainsley MacLean, I’m 15 years old and I have been very lucky to be given the opportunity to ride my whole life. When I was younger I competed in hunter jumpers but as I got older and braver I wanted to push myself to widen my riding skills. I started my eventing career in 2021 with my mare Jackie. She is a 2012 Canadian Sport Horse that we purchased as an unbroke 7yr that we saw great potential in. She has proved keen and versatile and loves eventing as much as I do. When we started in 2021 Jackie had never done an event before and neither had I. We both worked very hard to prepare for our first run together at the EV85 level. After we finished our first event we were both hooked. We quickly started to get the hang of it and we were able to move up to EV90 last season with confidence. Now we are looking for the move to EV100 early in this eventing season.

I wanted to join the high performance U18 team to help fill in some of the gaps in my training so I can achieve my goals this season. After seeing the riders they were producing when I was competing I wanted to join the team so I could gain skills and learn from different instructors to find out more of what works for me and my horse. Eventing has given me more confidence in my riding skills than what I could have dreamed of and I want to continue to develop with an amazing team for the 2024 season.