MONTREAL – She’s number one in the country.
Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu, who grew up in Thorburn and is now living in Montreal, reached the top of the heap in terms of Canadian women’s dressage competitors, after the national rankings (and world rankings) were unveiled recently.
“It’s a great achievement, I’ve been working for many years at this sport,” said Fraser-Beaulieu, who married her husband Marc-André about a year ago, before they set up a home base in Montreal.
Fraser-Beaulieu and her horse All In are now ranked 64th in the world.
While Fraser-Beaulieu still has a long-term goal of reaching the 2020 Olympics, which are to be held in Tokyo, the next big event on the horizon is the World Equestrian Games (held every three years) taking place next September in North Carolina.
“It’s the biggest equestrian event and that’s what I’m going for,” says Fraser-Beaulieu, who admits that the Olympics are “still a goal for me and it’s definitely on my radar, but I’m going to put all my focus on (the World Equestrian Games) first.”
- 29-year-old won a silver medal at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, competing in the Team Dressage event.
She makes a living at the sport she loves, teaching and training horse and riders, travelling across Canada conducting dressage clinics.
“Every day, going to the barn and seeing the horses, working with animals – most of the time, it is such a joy.”
Fraser-Beaulieu and her 12-year-old gelding posted recent dressage victories – with personal best scores – in Devon, Penn., and in Saugerties, N.Y.
The shows were their first since competing in Europe; at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen, Germany, and in Fritzens, Austria.
In Germany, she was up against the top Europeans riders and placed 12th out of 24 competitors.
“I was pretty happy with that result,” she said.
