Ainsley Vince

Ainsley Vince began her competitive career at the age of 10 under the guidance of Susan Pritchard. She was one of Canada’s top equitation and hunter riders for many years, capping off her junior career with the CEF Medal and Hunt Seat Equitation Championship at the 1994 Royal Horse Show as well as a second place finish in the prestigious AHSA Maclay Medal Final at the 1994 National Horse Show.

In 1992, Ainsley began training with Eric Lamaze and competed in the junior jumper divisions as well as the hunter ring. As a rookie, Ainsley had outstanding success with Hocus Pocus, placing consistently in World Cup Qualifiers in the summer of 1995. As a result, she was named to the Canadian Show Jumping Team Short List and was awarded the Firestone Development Scholarship.

Video : Ainsley Vince - Utopie des Hautes - 7 Year Old Final (Round 3) - 7th place

Ainsley’s top mount for the past decade has been Catch 22, a gelding purchased in 1996 from American competitor McLain Ward. In 1999, they topped the 1999 Pan American Games Selection Trials and traveled to Winnipeg as the Canadian Team alternate. Ainsley made her international debut riding for Canada at the 1999 Washington International Horse Show and received a homecoming at Toronto’s Royal Horse Show by helping Canada to win its second consecutive Bank of Montreal Nations’ Cup.

In 2000, Ainsley and Catch 22 made their first of three World Cup Final appearances competing at the Budweiser World Cup Final in Las Vegas before representing Canada at the 2003 and 2004 World Cup Finals. Remarkably, Ainsley and Catch 22 are also two-time Canadian Show Jumping Champions, having claimed back-to-back victories in 2001 and 2002.

Opened in the spring of 2006, Ainsley operates a training and sales business from her parents’ farm in Milton, Ontario. Her two younger sisters, Courtney and Sydney, are also successful show jumping competitors. Her parents, Don and Marsie, operate a family-owned insurance brokerage in Oakville and have been extremely supportive of their daughters’ interest in equestrian competition.