Eric Taught us Dreams Come True

Eric Lamaze, pictured with the author at Time Faults Pub, Spruce Meadows, Calgary

On March 31st, 2022, Eric Lamaze declared his official retirement from show jumping competition, fully stepping into his new role as Chef d’ Equipe of the Canadian Show Jumping Team.

I’ve been following Eric Lamaze’s career since Cagney, his top mount in the nineties (proof). Cagney was an Irish-bred horse who was donated to the Canadian Equestrian Team by Eddie Creed, Eric Lamaze’s mentor. (Fun fact: Cagney lived to be 34 years old!)

I remember the heartbreak of the 2000s, when he was banned from two Olympic Games due to cocaine use. You will recall that Eric grew up in a troubled home in Montreal, overcoming all odds to become a show jumper. Horses were perhaps his savior, but childhood trauma can be difficult to overcome, often leading to substance abuse and mental health disorders.

I remember the subsequent judgment thrown at him - at one point he was even banned from Spruce Meadows, Ron Southern, I had overheard, being vehemently anti-drug - thank goodness that decision was eventually overturned.

In this interview he reflects on his ban from the 1996 Olympics due to a failed drug test: “It’s hard to get up in the morning. You realize you’ve made a big mistake. Boy, it’s tough. The world hates you. It’s very difficult and lonely. You think your career is over, but you do have three or four people that will stand by you and push you to keep going.”

He did keep going, and with Hickstead had a meteoric rise to the top of the world rankings, winning everything along the way. Who could forget the emotional moment in Hong Kong after the pair succeeded in winning the individual gold medal? Eric could only point to Hickstead, tears in his eyes, overcome with emotion and gratitude for the small stallion with the big jump.

Then Hickstead collapsed, dying horribly and suddenly, in the midst of an Italian show jumping competition, drawing the attention of the New York Times.

A desolate Lamaze stepped away from show jumping to grieve the loss, before returning with a solid string of new horses. With Fine Lady 5, he won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, proving his prior successes were not solely due to his partnership with Hickstead.

Sadly, in early 2019 we discovered that Eric Lamaze was undergoing treatment for brain cancer. He returned to the International Ring for the Spruce Meadows National in June 2019, and, despite being weak and dizzy from chemotherapy treatments, proceeded to heroically win the RBC Grand prix in a seven-way jump-off. Spruce Meadows broadcaster, Ian Allison, asked Eric Lamaze incredulously, “who is writing this stuff for you?” It was certainly a storybook moment, like so much of Eric Lamaze’s remarkable life.

I was watching that day from the sponsor’s box, as a guest of RBC, great seats overlooking the ring. To witness someone sick with terminal cancer win a huge Grand Prix has been personally transformative. Maybe I can achieve some of my wildest dreams, too, if I care enough about them and stick with them long enough, believing in myself wholeheartedly. Eric Lamaze defines resilience in the face of adversity, proving that big dreams come true. How lucky we have been, to see him do that.

RBC Grand Prix, June 8 2019