July 23 was a big day for North Vancouver native Tiffany Foster.
Making her Pan Am Games debut, the Canadian Show Jumping Team member not only helped her country to a gold medal, but also earned a spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Joining her on the team at the 2015 Pan American Games, held July 10-26 in Toronto, was 10-time Olympian Ian Millar, 2008 Olympic champion Eric Lamaze and Ontario's Yann Candele. The quartet was awarded gold in the team competition, held at the OLG Caledon Pan Am Equestrian Park in Caledon, Ont. "Held over two nail-biting rounds, Canada persevered to win the team gold with seven faults over Argentina with eight faults and the United States with 12 faults for bronze," according to a press release from Starting Gate Communications Inc. for Equine Canada.
Foster, 31, who was making her 22nd Canadian Show Jumping Team appearance, experienced a stop on course in the opening round though redeemed herself, jumping clear in the second. She rode Tripple X III, a 13-year-old dark bay Anglo European stallion owned by Artisan Farms LLC.
Following the team competition the top 35 athletes moved on to the individual final, however only three riders were allowed from each country. That meant Foster, who had been ranked 18th, had to unfortunately watch from the sidelines, despite her impressive performance overall.
"For us it was a really big deal, that particular competition, because we needed to, first of all, qualify as a team to get to the Olympics in Rio.. .. And, it was really important to us because it was a home crowd and the Canadian fans have always been super supportive of the Canadian equestrian team and this really meant a lot to us to perform well in front of them," says Foster, reached by the North Shore News following the games from Dinard, France, on the eve of yet another international show.
Foster currently lives a nomadic life of sorts, travelling between Canada and Europe for a range of training opportunities and international competitions.
"We are able to go to mainly five-star, the best calibre, horse shows in the world while we're in Europe. So basically every week is a big week for us," says Foster.
She's also gearing up for the upcoming Masters at Spruce Meadows in Calgary, Alta., Sept. 9-13. "It's a really big deal because again it's on Canadian soil, that means a lot to us.. .. It's kind of the big finale event. It's a lot of money at stake and all the best riders in the world actually come all the way to Calgary for it. That is really important for us to do really well at that particular show," she says.
Foster, who started riding at age eight at the North Shore Equestrian Centre, describes her current life as a bit of a whirlwind. "The way that I get to compete now and the horses that I get to ride is really beyond my wildest dreams. I am grateful for every day actually and I realize how lucky I am and how cool of a life this is. I just feel really lucky actually to A) have owners that will provide the kind of horses I have, and B) to be able to (work with) these kind of horses, they're just so incredible. They take you to where you want to go. I feel really lucky and I'm really trying to savour it," she says. Rio will mark her second Olympics, having gone to London in 2012.
