July 26, 2026
Hickstead, England – Team Canada delivered a stellar performance Friday, July 24, 2026, capturing a hard-fought third-place podium finish in the historic CSIO5* Agria Nations Cup of Great Britain, held at the All England Jumping Course. The last time Canada competed in this Nations Cup Ian Millar rode on the team, 44 years ago.
Under the guidance of now Chef d’Équipe Ian Millar and with the support of Team Manager Karen Hendry-Ouellette, the four-rider contingent of Chris Pratt (Uxbridge, ON), Kyle King (Langley, BC), Nicole Walker (Aurora, ON), and Amy Millar (Perth, ON) demonstrated precision and resilience across two grueling rounds of 1.60m show jumping (where out of the entire class there were just 12 clean rounds all day, and only two were clean in both the first and second rounds.) Facing top international teams on one of the world’s most challenging turf arenas, our Canadian squad held their ground, ultimately finishing third behind runners-up Ireland, while host nation Great Britain claimed victory on home soil.
First in the ring for Canada, Chris Pratt and Take the High Road LLC’s Ideaal ES had two rails down to finish on eight faults.
Making his Canadian Team debut, as well as his Nations Cup debut, Kyle King and his own Kayenne Z had an admittedly “awkward” approach to the first fence, causing it to topple, as well as having the massive white gate down near the end of the course. They too finished on a total of eight faults.
One of the more experienced partnerships on the team, Nicole Walker and her own Panter JVH, delivered a masterful clean first round, and anchor rider Amy Millar with L. Pathy Equestrian’s Gaiete D’Elle had three unfortunate rails. Millar’s 12-faults would become our drop score for round one.
Walker has partnered with Panter on multiple Nations Cup teams, with Hickstead being their third Nations Cup outing together this year. Each Nations Cup they have finished on the podium.
“Spruce Meadows was the perfect venue to prepare for Hickstead,” she remarked. “Both have iconic grass fields with great terrain. It was a big advantage to be able to compete at Spruce before coming to Hickstead. Here, the line to Hickstead’s notoriously difficult water jump was quite technical, and it caused issues for a lot of riders. It was extremely valuable to get that feedback from my teammates before our turn in the ring.”
Six teams would return for the second round: Great Britain on 4 faults, Brazil on 8, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates (tied on 12 each) Canada with 16 faults and Germany, just one fault behind with 17 faults.
Our Canadians dug deep for the second round. First to return, Chris and Ideaal ES posted an incredible clean round. Kyle and Kayenne (affectionately known in the barn as “Big Mama”) made it the whole way around the course to catch the very last jump for four faults. Nikki and Panter had the pesky white gate down for four faults and Amy also had the final fence down plus one time fault to finish on 5 faults. Our final score at the end of the day would be 24 faults, identical to the team from Brazil. The podium would come down to combined overall time: Canada’s 448.82 seconds bested Brazil’s 458.75 seconds, and therefore Team Canada finished on the podium.
“It’s such an honour to be able to represent Canada having lived and competed here for so long,” remarked Kyle King after the class. “I’ve known most of these riders for a long time and to have my first team experience with these senior riders, was a huge benefit to me. Chris (Pratt) and I are both naturally fast riders, which ended up making a big difference at the end of the day. Nikki (Walker) put down two beautiful rounds and Amy Millar is such a solid anchor always when it counts. Having Ian Millar as our Chef d’Équipe is incredible, And having Kyle Timm in the warm-up ring this time, supporting us all was such a bonus, he’s a true gentleman and a real horseman.
The international ring itself is actually quite deceptive, full of rolling hills which you can’t really see on the broadcast. You’re climbing up a hill to the first fence and rolling downhill to the last. My mare got stronger, building in confidence as we went along, which tends to be her way. She’s a real fighter and gets ‘dialled in’, thriving in these multi-round championship format classes.”
King also commented on his first experience working with ten-time Olympian, Ian Millar, as the Chef d’Équipe of the team. “I just want to say how cool it is being around Ian Millar during this whole process. His experience and the genius of his horsemanship – it’s very exciting having this opportunity. Having access to a mentor and someone with his depth of experience is tremendous for Team Canada.”
All of our Canadian athletes have qualified to compete in Sunday’s Al Shira’aa King George V Gold Cup CSIO5* Grand Prix. Kyle Timm will go third in the order with the Rein Family’s Glamour du Chanu, Nicole Walker will go 15th with Panter JVH, Chris Pratt and Take the High Road’s Lollypop will go 28th, Kyle King and Kayenne 33rd and Amy Millar and Team Eye Candy/Millar Brooke Farm’s Jagger HX will go in 47th. Watch live on Clip My Horse TV.
Action Photos: Eleanor Birch / Bootsandhooves.co.uk
Below: Helen Cruden
