After a two-year break from the show ring, longtime Vancouver Island hunter/jumper rider Michelle returned to Thunderbird Show Park this summer with her trusty mare, Mira, and a great sense of humor. At 56 years old, she brings decades of experience, plenty of grit, and a refreshingly honest perspective to the sport she’s loved for years.
By Michelle Maggiora Irwin
I want to give you an insight into jumping horses as a “slightly” aging lady of 56 years.
Yeah… I know there are tons of you out there my age or older these days, so I’m willing to bet there are more than a few who can relate to this. The “rest of you”, still enjoying your younger, “more elastic” riding selves, just take my word for it—you will get there.
Glad to report (overall) a successful relaunch of my show jumping “career” this summer after taking two years off. I decided to go all-in on two weeks of Tbird. Felt like I’d be able to cope and focus on having fun. Go big or go home, I figured! So I threw my entire season budget into going to my favourite venue.
And well, Ok, I hadn’t been riding much this whole calendar year because life just had a way of dragging me in the opposite direction of the barn. But hey, my 14-year-old mare Quimera (Mira) was in great shape thanks to my coach and two very lovely consecutive part-time leasers.
So I thought if I just cruised around at a super low level in the Bakerview Ring, I’d be having fun. The state of my own fitness? I could bluff if the barn gals helped me.
Fast forward to the first show day.
Warmed up well. It was a low division (.75m) for my first official round. My guard was a “wee” bit down after the first few jumps went well enough—rhythm-pace-track more or less as expected. So far, so good? I felt the temptation of optimism!
I was at that mid-point in the course where some of us tend to start taking it for granted that we’ll at least “get around”. So yeah, I wasn’t exactly “riding defensively,” expecting anything really weird to happen. Usually, once Mira gets into the “flow,” I feel everything is going to work out. Less to fuss about when the first few are behind us and my nerves are more settled.
However, my dear mare spooked at a sudden motion in the in-gate corner as we angled away to a “wee” purple and white Oxer on the diagonal track.
AND suddenly there I was… gobbling the remaining distance to the jump in a zig-zag track out of a classic spook ‘n scoot.
Instincts kicked me awake! Michelle dug in! A poster child of determination. Formative training rising up out of muscle memory.
In hindsight, it must have been folly to expect I could still “cowboy” a jump (even a tiny oxer) with a stride or two to go like I did at 18 riding Thoroughbreds in the 80’s with fierce clinicians that taught us how to walk big fences and drilled it into us that circling on course was verboten.
So yeah. I focused on getting over it and threw in an audible “cluck” for good measure. Mira is on task with an audible aid. She has always been keen in the show ring.
Well, folks, I can say I’m proud we not only got over it but cleared it. Except it resulted in one of those smooth AIRBORNE moves we equestrians know as being “jumped out of the tack”.
My body braced just a little too hard in that freeze-frame moment before I returned to the saddle. There was a panicky amount of air between my legs & the sides of my horse for just long enough that my heart momentarily stopped while a shiver of panic ran down my spine.
But on the landing side, my butt reunited with my saddle quite definitively.
The balance of the rest of my course was efficient and tight, and if any had been paying close attention, they would have noticed my hip angle was rigidly locked in.
I had zero fear about jumping the rest of the way around. My mind was focused on another issue, and frankly, I was trying to get out of the ring asap with my dignity intact.
After completing the course, I was most certainly on a mission.
My trainer was chuckling at the out-gate, telling me she was proud of me, etc. But when asked what I was focused on as I completed that second half, my ironic smile gave it away… depends!
Michelle Irwin has been riding in Victoria, BC for over 40 years where she is active in the Vancouver Island Hunter Jumper Association. She devotes her adult life (and budget) to a pampered 14-year-old French Warmblood mare. By day, she manages BC’s Premises Identification Program, and by night, she’s the oldest rider at a teen-filled barn—usually running late after over-grooming her horse to perfection.
