No pain, no gain. This four-word axiom is as overused as any in the landscape of sport and athletics, though it seems unlikely that the first image that would spring to mind for most is that of a horse and rider in an equestrian ring.

But after smashing her face off the neck of her horse, bouncing some two feet out of saddle and crashing directly through a jump (though not all at the same time), 13-year-old Holly Heikkila had the bumps and bruises to prove there was a price to be paid as she introduced CET (Canadian Equestrian Team) Medal shows into her competitive regimen.

CET is a style of horse jumping competition. While the hunter class (horses judged on style and movement throughout a course) and jumper class (horse/rider judged on speed of completion of a course with as few faults as possible) are the most common equestrian events, sub-categories that include equitation (the judging of the form of the rider) and the medal class (equitation with a few additional tests of the rider/horse built in) are also available as options for fans of equestrianism.

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The payoff, however, when she came out the other side a few months later was a trip to the prestigious Royal Horse Show in Toronto, during the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair  earlier this month (Ella Palladino – Pursuit feature for July 22, 2022 – also represented Foothills Farm at the event, albeit in a different class).

“It was not pretty,” said Heikkila with a smile, recalling the first few shows that came on the heels of a very good spring session highlighted by a month-long stint in Florida. 

Though her first ever appearance at the Royal in 2022 would go exceptionally well for Heikkila, the 2023 season represented a year of change, a balancing act between the two horses that she would feature in competition: Eye Candy and Vera.

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“They are very different horses – almost opposites,” said the Grade 8 student at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School. “I could put my grandmother on Vera. She had a couple of small issues, but she is great from any distance. She’s very adjustable and very uphill, which means as a rider, everything is just in front of you. She will bring herself up instead of you having to hold her up.”

“Candy is more of a downhill horse, which can be more difficult,” Heikkila continued. “She is definitely a lot spicier and smaller.”

The local rider, who trains under the guidance of Sudbury Hall of Fame coach Cathy Inch, was going to have some options at her disposal as she steered clear of the pony class in which she and her horse Leroy Brown excelled at the Royal in 2022.

“It was a step for me to go from pony hunters to riding a horse throughout the winter and then straight to the jumpers,” said Heikkila. 

Still, if that transition is to happen smoothly, there is but one person that she would like in the ring with her during the hours and hours of practice sessions.

“Cathy (Inch) is next level; she really just fixes everything,” said Heikkila. “I was initially just riding Candy and getting to know her as a horse. When I went to Florida under Cathy’s training, everything got a lot better.”
Which was fine as she then tackled the metre and metre-twenty circuits in the jumper rings. Once the equitation component was merged into her schedule, along with the rigours of CET training, things were not quite so fine.

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“It’s a very technical course,” said Heikkila of her first impressions with the CET jumper medal. “That was definitely the most technical course I had ever ridden to that point in my career. And you want everything to look really smooth, kind of like a hunter trip, while keeping the rhythm of the jumper trip.

“It was all very new and difficult for me.”
And it showed.

While there was improvement to be seen as Heikkila worked her way through the four-show requirement to qualify for Regional Finals (she was ranked 18th in a field of 20 entering the event), the fact so much rested upon those final competitions provided a source of hope.

“That has to be your show,” said Heikkila. 
Thankfully, she was trending in the right direction. 
“Everything kind of changed for me at Trillium Championships.” 

While the Ottawa-based provincial showdown does not host a pure CET class, the metre-jumper medal was close enough for the local rider to springboard, taking top spot at regionals a few weeks later in the gymnastics phase and earning her ride at the Royal.

“I didn’t place or anything this Royal, but I was still so happy with how everything went,” said Heikkila. “I think just being able to do the CET, in general, was worthwhile. It is such a great experience, learning to ride a really hard course.”

When your life goal is to continue riding competitively for as long as possible, the foundational benefits of the pathway that Heikkila and company travelled this year are countless. 

“Doing the CET and equitation will never draw you back; it’s more of a build,” noted the well-spoken teen. “You can do lower heights in jumpers and it’s not as technical, but as the jumps get higher, you have to ride technically sound. The CET taught me so much about how to ride the bigger courses and handle difficult situations.”

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