Jumping for joy: P.E.I. riders get new events in 2017

A P.E.I woman who wants the sport of horse jumping to grow on the Island has created a new series of competitions to give Island riders more opportunities to compete at home.

"I grew up here, I feel that P.E.I. really needs something," said Becka Henderson, president of the P.E.I. Hunter & Jumper Association.

"I was the competitor a couple of years ago that couldn't afford to go off Island, I went maybe once and I loved it but I couldn't go any more."

There have been large hunter-jumper events in the past on P.E.I., but not in recent years.

"We used to have amazing competitions up until 2011 at the Gingerwood Charity Classic," said Henderson. "Now we only have our Old Home Week which is in August."

Competitive Island riders want to accumulate points over the season, so the more events on P.E.I. the better for them.

"Because everyone's working towards the final show in November in Ontario, it's called the Royal Winter Fair, so you have to go to shows to accumulate points and that's how you get accepted to it," explained Katlyn Driscoll, who's been competing for eight years.

Travel costs high

"We spend our summer travelling to Nova Scotia, non-stop, every weekend so then you're paying your hotel room, the bridge, everything else to get over there."

Henderson has been working at equestrian facilities in Ontario and Quebec and has seen what the sport can offer.

"Literally within Ontario and Quebec you can drive within an hour and find at least one rated competition, where here you'd have to go off Island to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick," she said. 

Henderson's first step to rebuilding the sport was to work with the Island Horse Council to revive the P.E.I. Hunter & Jumper Association, which had been dormant since 2015.

"I think it came a lot from volunteers or workers," said Henderson. "People got tired of actually doing the work, because it's a ton of work to do this, there's no one to run it, there's no one to get it going."

Staff hired 

The association is also taking a new approach to the events this year, in light of the volunteer burnout in past years.

"At this point, we decided in January that it's going to be staff this year because we've noticed over the last few years people have tried with volunteers and it never works," she said.

"We've hired at least eight to ten staff members as well as our officials, our judges, all of them are paid."

The new Confederation Classic series will take place over three weekends in 2017 at the Crapaud Exhibition Grounds.

Henderson hopes the equestrian community in the Maritimes will support what she's doing.

"It's very challenging," she said.

Support needed

"No one really knows if it's going to work because it's been gone for so long so at this point, we're just hoping that eventually P.E.I. will come together and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and support us."

Rider Katlyn Driscoll thinks the support will be there.

"Just getting the word out because we do actually have a lot of riders on P.E.I., there's tons that are up and coming riders and ready to start showing," she said.

"But most people just don't want to travel over to Nova Scotia." 

The association needs to attract at least 40 competitors, along with help from sponsors, to break even at the events in 2017. The goal is to someday draw close to 100 riders, similar to the sport in its heyday.

"Having them on P.E.I. is much more relaxing, and time saving and money saving," said Driscoll.

"So if we can have some on P.E.I. where we can start accumulating more points instead of always having to go over to Nova Scotia, it would help a lot for P.E.I. riders."

The first Confederation Classic event is this weekend in Crapaud.

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