Balancing school, chores, and a love of riding
Gaspereau equestrian takes national competitions, wins in stride
Grace Munro is living proof that horseback riding is indeed a sport, and one that requires some serious dedication and skill.
Munro is fresh off her first place finish in the pony jumpers 0.9 metre round at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in early November.
After selling Maggie, her competition horse, she’s on the lookout to find a new equine partner to continue competing in jumpers with.
“No matter what I’m doing or what else is going on, I just always enjoy riding so much. I love spending time with horses,” she said.
Making time for it all
Munro, 17, is an International Baccalaureate student at Horton High School and spends more than five hours every day doing barn chores and grooming and riding her horse.
Time management has become essential for the young athlete, who often doesn’t have a minute to spare between her heavy course load at school and riding.
But she makes it work, cause riding is her passion.
“I just love it. I do my chores in the morning before school, come home and do them again, then do school work, then ride, then take care of my horse, and then get to my homework,” she said.
Her passion for riding began at the age of three, when she went with her mother, Rhonda, to her sister Kyla’s first horseback riding.
That was the end of riding for Kyla, who didn’t enjoy it, and the beginning of it all for Munro, who fell in love.
After a move to Labrador with her family, Munro pressed pause on riding until 2011, when the family moved back to the area, settling in a house with a small barn and ring area in Gaspereau. It was here Munro got back into riding with her first horse, Jewel.
“The biggest thing for me when we were in Labrador was not being able to ride. I was obsessed with it before we left, so as soon as we moved back I started competing, and haven’t really stopped since,” said Munro.
Munro bought Maggie, an Appendix Quarter Pony — a Thoroughbred crossed with a Quarter Horse — in 2013, and entered the competitive world be- Grace Munro with her horse, Maggie, competing in the pony jumpers 0.9 metre category at the Royal Winter Agriculture fair in Toronto.
of pony jumpers.
Her new horse turned out to be a lot to handle, but also a good learning opportunity.
“I used to let her run, but then learned to support her with lots of leg and to be able to control her speed and tell her when to let loose, rather than her just running around,” she says.
Skills that took her to national ring
Honing her skills and learning to work with Maggie happened after their first summer competing at schooling shows across the province.
Munro then moved up to gold level shows in Nova Scotia, and set her sights on the big one —
the internationally renowned Royal Winter Fair in Toronto.
She and Maggie were dazzled their first year, in 2015, and nerves won out, leaving them off the charts in two rounds, and placing fifth in their final round.
They came back swinging in 2016, however, and were crowned champion in their division, placing first in two rounds
and second in one.
This year, a series of unfortunate mistakes plagued Munro and Maggie in two of their rounds — a just barely knocked rail and a run- out refusal that cost them points. But, they persevered, and came in first in their last class, tying their time with another rider, also from the Maritimes.
It was a finish that left Munro smiling, marking the end of her time in the pony jumpers division.
“I got involved with jumpers because I liked the speed, but I learned that there’s more to it than people think,” said Munro.
“The technicalities of what you have to do as a rider are really hard, and the art is making it look like it’s easy.”
Setting the next bar even higher
Despite competing at the 0.9 metre level, Munro regularly trains up to 1.10 metres.
Now, after selling Maggie and looking ahead to university, she’s looking for a new horse to grow with, either one who’s green — the horse term for young and new to jumping — to start with from scratch, or an older and more experienced horse she can jump into the 1.30 metre levels with.
“It’s going to be interesting, and it will totally depend on the horse. I’m really looking forward to this next chapter,” she said.
Munro has been accepted into the Bachelor’s of Science biology program at Acadia University and has also applied to Dalhousie University’s Bioveterinary Science program.
Whichever school she chooses, one thing is for sure — she’s not pressing pause on horseback riding ever again.
“I like growing as a rider, and it’s something I feel I’ve progressed with and moved up in. I’m not about to give it up again,” she said.
And to the people out there who question whether horseback riding is truly a sport, Munro has some choice words to say.
It’s a topic she’s passionate about, and has written several persuasive essays on in high school.
“Because good riders look like they’re doing nothing, there’s this assumption that it’s just you, sitting on a horse, while it runs around and does everything,” she said.
“Anyone who thinks that should get on a horse, try out some jumps, and see if your opinion changes. I guarantee you it will.”