44 SIDELINES MARCH 2012
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Brock coaches one of his students at the Winter Equestrian
Festival
All photos by Victoria Clermont
rider that you have helped join together through a purchase or
lease is certainly one of the most rewarding aspects of coaching
and having clients.
Sidelines:
What are some of your career highlights?
BC:
Any good grand prix result is always great as is winning
a good class against good horses and professionals; but the
highlights seem to be the emotional ones such as getting second
in my frst Modifed Grand Prix in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada.
That’s right up there with winning the OHJA Medal Final and the
CEF Medal Final at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Another
highlight is training a horse from the ground up and having some
big successes such as what we were able to do with Pironella this
year, a six year old that I trained and broke as a three year old.
She won the $15,000 Adequan Six-Year-Old Final in Wellington
and then went on to win the Six-Year-Old Young Jumper
Championship Finals in The Hampton’s. Those two wins were
defnitely a highlight.
Sidelines:
What do you look forward to about showing at the
Winter Equestrian Festival?
BC:
There is a long list of things I love about WEF, some of them
include the stabling, footing, depth of competition and quality of
horses, prize money offered, weather, on-site amenities, sales
contacts, along with friends and international acquaintances and
professionals that I know which attend. The entertainment and
dining infrastructure, Grand Prix Village and the farms adjacent
or close to the show grounds which allow for off-site training and
trails are also great. The folks at PBIEC have put so much money
towards the WEF show grounds and that has made the show what
it has become. I don’t believe anyone can argue that WEF is not
the best winter circuit in the world. Its tremendous sponsors, prize
money, volume of horses and exhibitors, as well as international
attendance, prove this.
Sidelines:
What are your riding goals?
BC:
My riding goals have been the same since I realized I was
going to make this my career and they include competing at the
highest international level such as Nations Cups, World Cup, Pan
Am Games, WEG and the Olympics. I believe most riders aspire
to reach that elite level of the sport but getting there is a whole
other story, but thankfully, there is longevity in this sport. If I don’t
reach such high and prestigious goals there is no harm in trying,
after all any success is good success. I am still young and the
road is long so I plan on continuing to work on developing my
riding, show experience and results, clients and string of horses.
Sidelines:
What are your hobbies besides horses?
BC:
Cleaning! I don’t think I enjoy cleaning as much as I like
things simply to be clean, although it is gratifying. I love music, all
kinds of it and I listen to it all day and would dance to it all night
if I could! I love to read and I’m crazy about my dog as well as
all animals. I have become obsessed with the NFL, primarily the
Dallas Cowboys, and I’m also a big movie buff.
Sidelines:
If you hadn’t become a horse person, what do you
think you would have done?
BC:
Growing up I played hockey competitively, did acting in
television and flm and was very keen on choosing one of those
careers. I also debated going to school to become a lawyer. After
I grew out of my teenage years I realized that if my riding goals did
not pan out I would join the Army. I am drawn to the military and
have an extremely high respect for what they have done and do
for all of us. I love the United States and what it stands for and I
want to give my future children the same wonderful opportunities
I have had like being able to pursue a great sport as a means for
making a living. That is something I believe is worth fghting for
and thank goodness we have those out there doing just that.
Brock and niece Alexandra