Ottawa, ON – September 30, 2025 – Equestrian Canada’s Eventing High Performance Advisory Group is pleased to announce the Country Yucca Eventing Travel Grants for U25 athletes, designed to assist young Canadian eventing riders in furthering their competition experience either across North America or overseas.
These grants have been established and named in honour of Country Yucca, a pony with a huge heart and personality ridden by Nick Holmes-Smith, who later represented the Canadian Eventing Team at the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 Olympics.
“In the 1970’s to early 1990’s as an eventing competitior I struggled to afford the costs of traveling and competing. I am now very happy to be able to help today’s riders with their financial challenges” says Holmes-Smith.
Emily Gilbert, chair of the Eventing High Performance Committee remarked: “We are deeply grateful to Nick Holmes-Smith for his generous support of the Eventing HPAG’s vision and strategy. His commitment helps us expand programming and opportunities for U25 athletes and exemplifies the spirit of giving back to the sport of Eventing.”
| Awarded once per calendar year, grants will be distributed to up to four recipients at the discretion of the selection committee. $20,000 CAD total will be awarded once per year with grants of $5,000 for travel within North America or $10,000 for overseas travel.
The grant must be used toward:
Eligibility: To be considered for the grant, applicants must:
The selection committee will take into account the competition performance record of the athlete/horse combination, giving specific consideration to Athlete/horse combinations who have achieved a Target Performance Result as outlined in the full criteria. Preference will be given to Athlete/Horse combinations having completed a CCI2*-L or higher. For the 2026 competition season the application timeline is as follows:
How to ApplyApplicants must submit the following information to the Eventing HPAG at eventinghpag@gmail.com 1. A personal statement (max. 750 words) including:
2. An outline of travel plans |
The Inspiration: Country Yucca represents the resilience of a true cross-country athlete. Yucca loved cross country and was well-known with his signature bald face and four white socks – he was hard to miss. At first, some might have thought Yucca was too small to jump the more advanced fences, but he quickly proved otherwise. Nick and Yucca were kindred spirits, small and carefree, enjoying galloping over the countryside in the southern Okanagan, British Columbia and all-over North America. Nick has influenced many Canadian eventers over the years, including several riders who have gone on to wear the maple leaf. Bruce Mandeville, Rebecca Howard and Michael Winter have all been fortunate to have worked with Nick on their road to representing Team Canada.
