Welcome to the Lima Lowdown! To introduce myself, I’m Jessie Christie, the Media Attaché for the Canadian Equestrian Team in Lima. I’m proud and honoured to be part of the ‘team behind the team’ – and each day of the Games, I’ll be bringing you exclusive stories and photos from our Canadian athletes, grooms, owners, and team personnel here in Lima.
Can you believe it? It’s been 43 years since the Canadian Equestrian Team has competed at a major games without Ian Millar and/or Eric Lamaze named to the roster.
And actually, with the exception of the 1975 Pan Am Games in Mexico City, it’s been since 1972 when Ian made his Olympic debut!
Look what we found in the archives! Ian Millar on the podium for Canada’s team silver medal at the 1979 Pan Am Games in San Juan, PUR.
Photo Credit: Canadian Press Images
While these legends are irrefutable and incomparable, it’s exciting to see how much up-and-coming and returning talent the Canadian Show Jumping Team has, as evidenced by the team in Lima, made up of Mario Deslauriers, Lisa Carlsen, Erynn Ballard and Nicole Walker.
While the Lima 2019 team gets set to head out on course on Aug. 6, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some facts and stats about the Canadian Show Jumping Team and its athletes – from back in the day and right now.
CET Pan Am Record
The Canadian Show Jumping Team is hoping to repeat their success from the last edition of the Pan Am Games in Toronto, with team gold!
Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley
The Canadian Show Jumping Team’s tally for Pan Am medals is:
Team
- 3 Gold
- 4 Silver
- 3 Bronze
Individual
- 5 Gold
- 1 Silver
- 3 Bronze
- One of those team gold medals came with help from Lisa and Kahlua at the 1987 Pan Am Games in Indianapolis.
Team Ties
Mario and his daughter Lucy are both competing at Lima 2019… but not on the same team. Let the friendly family rivalry begin!
Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley
- Lisa and Mario were teammates at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
- Erynn and Mario were teammates at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games in North Carolina.
- Mario will be competing against his daughter, Lucy in Lima! She is riding for the United States Equestrian Team with Hester.
Success Stories
More archive gold: Lisa Carlsen and her iconic partner, Kahlua at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Photo Credit: Canadian Press Images
- Mario still holds the record for the youngest to ever win the FEI World Cup Final at 19 years old.
- Lisa had an iconic career with Kahlua, who was inducted into the Jump Canada Hall of Fame in 2011 (watch the video on their legendary partnership and many accomplishments here.)
- Erynn had a pretty incredible Canadian Show Jumping Team debut. The first time she donned a red jacket was for the 2006 BMO Nations Cup at the Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ when Canada won for the first time since the event was created in 1977.
- Nicole won the Under 25 National Championship in 2017, then stepped up to become the Canadian National Show Jumping Champion in 2018.
Fun Facts
Erynn made her major games debut at WEG 2018 aboard Darko’s Promise.
Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley
- Mario has represented Canada at the Olympics and WEG, but Lima marks his career-first Pan Ams.
- Lisa comes from a show jumping family. Her husband, Dayton Gorsline, is the EC Jumping Youth Development Program Advisor and her daughter, Cassie, is following in her footsteps – having represented Canada at the FEI North American Youth Championships.
- Nicole’s family runs one of the world’s leading Thoroughbred breeding operations, and she actively assists with the management of the Adena Springs Thoroughbred Retirement program, helping to retrain and rehome Thoroughbred horses once they have retired from racing.
- Erynn credits her current career success on the world stage to a bad fall in 2013 where she suffered a broken collarbone and sustained nerve damage. She says during recovery she had time to rethink why she was doing this and what she wanted from it and has never looked back, moving on to’ bigger and better.’
Nicole Walker is the reigning Canadian Show Jumping National Champion with Falco van Spieveld.
Photo Credit: Cealy Tetley