SM I LOVE YOU
The author, doing something that is not allowed.
Ahh, Spruce Meadows. Let me count the ways I love you.
Spruce Meadows is an international oasis in the middle of the prairies. It’s magical, a place where big dreams come true. A few times a year, but especially in September, the very best horses and riders from around the globe converge upon this fabled venue. Whenever I first see these horses, I always get a little catch in my throat. The horses who compete here are magnificent; the most beautiful in the world.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an accountant, a dentist or the flag guy - you don’t have to be a horse person - when you see this caliber of competition in the flesh, you appreciate it.
The first time I came to the Spruce Meadows Masters was in 1994. We drove from Kimberley, we got to miss some school, and we saw Big Ben’s retirement tour. We came to see Ian Millar, as well as Beth Underhill (I was obsessed with her black horse Monopoly), Jill Henselwood, and Eric Lamaze, then riding his breakout mount Cagney.
Ian Millar and Big Ben cutout from Big Ben’s retirement tour, Spruce Meadows, 1994
I came back almost every year after that. One time my friend Dana’s dad caught a horse whose rider had fallen off in the six-bar. Back then you could sit on the wall of the international ring with your legs dangling down into it, perfect for grabbing the reins of horses thundering by, if you needed to.
Years later, a month after I got my driver’s license, my friend Lori and I drove to Calgary for the Masters. I got my first ever speeding ticket outside Longview. We were supposed to be camping in a tent outside Okotoks, but we stayed so late at the “Mercedes Evening of the Horse” on Friday night that we couldn’t find our campground in the dark. All the hotels were full because of the show, so we had to sleep in our car in the parking lot of an Okotoks hotel. We had fun though - it didn’t matter.
I went away to University and didn’t go as often after that. One time, I took the Greyhound bus to Calgary from Edmonton, and Dana and Lori picked me up from the bus station downtown and we got lost on the drive out to Spruce - just go straight down McLeod Trail someone finally told us - but we got to see Hickstead compete and win - the first time I had seen him in person. Since Big Ben had retired, Canadian show jumping hadn’t had a star horse. Until Eric came up with Hickstead, winning everything along the way. It was a thrill.
After living in BC, my husband and I moved to Calgary. It wasn’t my very first choice of city to live in, but the fact that Spruce Meadows was here helped to convince me. Shortly after we moved, I fell ill with pneumonia, but showed up at that year’s Masters anyway. Nothing could have kept me away.
We came every year after that. My husband got into it too. We were there to see Eric and Hickstead win the CN International in 2011, and Ian Millar, aged 67, win it Dixson in 2014. I got pregnant, had a baby, did it again. I always came to Spruce Meadows, even though I wasn’t able to consistently participate in so many of my hobbies.
Spruce was like an anchor tying me back to who I truly was, in all those moments, so common in early motherhood, when you feel perpetually lost from yourself.
Meeting Eric Lamaze
Ron Southern always said he would keep the admission to Spruce Meadows capped at $5 dollars a day, and he did, amazingly.
"It costs five bucks for as many people as you can cram into your station wagon," he said, in this interview. "And if you don't have five bucks, I'll look the other way and you can jump the fence."
Ron embodied the very best of Southern Albertan values - the chutzpah and extreme boldness that enabled him to found a billion dollar company, coupled with generosity, friendliness and hospitality. His legacy is what makes, and continues to make, Spruce Meadows special. Thank you to the Southern family.
It’s been terrific to be back at Spruce Meadows for the 2021 Masters! I’ll be back next weekend to cover the North American tournament. After that, I’m going to enjoy fall, go snowboarding as much as I can this winter, and feature some incredibly interesting horse people I know personally. I’ll set my sights on next year’s National.
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