HORSES

ALL THREE VINCE SISTERS —Ainsley ’96, Courtney ’98 and Sydney ’01—agree that it was Ainsley who first fell in love with horses. But as with many origin stories, some of the details have grown hazy with time.

Courtney says she heard something about Ainsley being enchanted by horses on their grandfather’s farm. Sydney recalls a tale about ponies at a fall fair. Or perhaps it was a unicorn her eldest sister dreamt about.

“I really don’t remember,” is all Ainsley says about what led to her early equine infatuation.

What is clear is that all three are talented equestrians making their mark in the world of show jumping, both as highly regarded competitors and in the business of training the next generation of two- and four-legged hopefuls.

As youngsters, they attended an all-girls independent school in Oakville where the family lived at the time. But when Ainsley became a teenager, she wanted to go to a co-ed school and entered HSC for Grade 9 in 1991. Courtney and Sydney joined her two years later, when they were in Grade 8 and 5 respectively.

It was a fortuitous move. They had always enjoyed the support of their parents, Donald and Marsie, even though the couple weren’t riders themselves. And now the sisters were at a school far more willing than many to accommodate the schedules of students whose aspirations entail heavy demands on their time.

The sisters were travelling and competing regularly as their training and skills progressed in the equestrian disciplines of show jumping, hunter and equitation. Ainsley draws a broad comparison with different types of competitive skating.

“Show jumping is like speed skating where, as long as you follow the rules of the sport, the fastest time wins,” she says. “Hunter and equitation also involve jumping but, like ice skating, are scored by judges, so deciding the winner is more subjective.”

They were now training with Eric Lamaze, a rising international star in the sport who would go on to become the first equestrian athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal for Canada when he competed at the Beijing Games in 2008. Lamaze was then based in the Schomberg area, so twice a week Marsie would pick up her daughters at HSC, drive nearly 100 km north to the stables, wait there until the lessons were over and then drive them home to the 32-acre property in Burlington where they’d lived since 1988.

“It was 90 minutes both directions,” Sydney says.

“Sometimes we’d carpool with the parents of friends who were also training there. And when Ainsley and Courtney turned 16 and got their driver’s licences, they did some of the driving. Our parents really did a lot for us.”

Even in winter, when the Canadian show jumping scene is largely dormant, the Vinces were often absent from HSC. From January to April, the family spent considerable time in the Wellington area north of Miami, an equestrian hot spot where the sisters could continue training and competing.

“Everybody at HSC was so supportive,” Courtney says.

“They would draw up a plan before we left for Florida so we wouldn’t get behind in our studies. The teachers really made it work for us.”

HSC’s philosophy of fostering each student’s personal growth meant the faculty helped with more than logistics.

“The teachers were very supportive academically, but they also understood what it means to pursue a passion and they helped us with that balance,” Sydney says.

As each sister graduated from HSC, their paths began to diverge. Ainsley forged ahead as a professional, making a name for herself as she climbed up the show jumping ranks in Canadian and international competitions.

In 2006, she also launched her own training and sales business, Linden Ridge Limited, at her parents’ farm. One of her first steps was to build a modern 12-stall barn.

Courtney and Sydney attended the University of Toronto, each in turn earning a degree in economics. After graduating in 2002, Courtney worked full-time for Lamaze before co-founding a training and sales business in Belgium with a former partner.

Sourcing, developing and selling top-tier horses, from promising newcomers to proven winners, led her to work with some of the biggest names in the European show jumping industry. The process can include riding the horses in competitions so they’re competition-ready for their new owners.

“Each horse has its own unique personality so it’s easy to become emotionally attached.” Courtney says. “It helps when you’re buying and selling horses to think of yourself as part of that horse’s journey, so it can go on and do well.”

Taking a different path, Sydney followed her father into the insurance brokerage his father had founded. After a series of amalgamations and acquisitions, it became part of Jones DesLauries Insurance Management Inc. where she’s an account executive.

In 2019, Sydney married Ryan Glotfelty, whom she met when she was just 10. Although he’s originally from California, his mother and step-father had a time-share in the Cayman Islands the same week each year as the Vince family. Today the couple live in Oakville with their toddler, Wesley. Thanks in part to some time management skills she learned at HSC, Sydney remains a competitive amateur show jumper.

“Ainsley and I sometimes joke that Syd’s the smart one,” Courtney quips about their sister’s decision to work in another industry.

Enjoying success as a trainer as well as in the ring, Ainsley was on track for another very good year in 2015 when she suffered a serious injury. She was training a client’s horse when it fell down on the approach to a water jump, taking her down too.

“I went into the ground like a lawn dart,” says Ainsley, who was flown by helicopter to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto where she spent four days in a coma. She then spent months convalescing in various rehab hospitals, a long and frustrating process, especially in the early days when doctors couldn’t offer her a prognosis.

Courtney, who was dividing her time between North America and Europe after going into business on her own, was back in Canada around the same time for surgery to repair wear and tear on her shoulder. She kicked into action, moving her horses from Europe so she could manage Linden Ridge and Ainsley’s clients.

Ainsley, who’d been advised to quit riding, did eventually get back in the saddle. Both she and Courtney want to return at some point to high-level competition, but that will depend on a number of factors, including finding suitable new horses. Still, it’s a reasonable goal given that Ian Millar, a 10-time Olympian and the most decorated equestrian in Canadian history, remained highly competitive until he retired in his seventies.

For now, their focus is on Linden Ridge, where they work six days a week. Hidden behind the house where their parents still live, the facility is within sight of the beautiful Niagara Escarpment. It’s grown in stages over the years and today its state-of-the-art amenities and features include indoor and outdoor practice and training rings.

The bright and airy barn was expanded to 22 stalls, where