Jumping for the gold

Times Reporter

 

Show jumping is a big sport in the equestrian world, but it hasn’t taken off quite as well in Canada as it has in Europe. While it may not be as well known here, it is still a sport many compete in. One Strathmore woman came back the winner of her jump division. 

Tamie Phillips began training when she was nine and has been a professional show jumper for approximately 20 years. Last year in November, December and again this past January she competed and trained in Germany. 

“Show jumping is something that isn’t really that well known in Canada. It’s a difficult sport, it takes a long time because it’s not just involving one athlete, you have to involve a horse, so it’s not just training one athlete, it’s training two,” said Phillips. 

Recently Phillips walked away as the top winner in the 1.40-metre jump, the highest jump there is, at the Western Canadian Show Jumping Championships with a final score of 16.03. She won the gold medal for her division as well as $25,000.

Phillips teaches future show jumpers at her equestrian centre near Lyalta. She also trains horses and has been known to breed at least a couple of horses. 

“My best horse that I’ve had so far is one that I had his mother and I bred him and raised him and trained him myself,” said Phillips. 

“That’s kind of the key, having a horse that can do it.” 

Lucas is one of the horses she bred and Phillips said she doesn’t use him as much these days because he is getting older. In the past Lucas and Phillips have been quite a team, winning the Western League – Kubota Cup Canadian Show Jumping Series and the Kubota Cup Grand Prix among many other competitions. 

Phillips was an alternate for the World Equestrian Games in 2006 and she said she has been shortlisted for the Canadian team for the last four to five years. Several of Phillips’ students competed in the Rocky Mountain Classic, including Lynne Teasell. Teasell won both the gold and silver medals in her 1.15 metre division. 

Phillips began in the lower mainland of Vancouver and later moved to Calgary before finally settling in Strathmore. She plans to continue show jumping until she just can’t anymore and she would love to make the Canadian team at some point in her competitive career.