McLeod, Dicontendro in their element at Fair

As Abbey McLeod walks Dicontendro through the twists and turns of a show jumping course, she’s displaying the tiniest fraction of the preparation it takes to get here.

A minute of jumps at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair is years in the making, and while the course is the same for all competitors, the approach is unique to each horse.

“The horses can’t talk to us; we really need to listen to them,” McLeod said after the opening night of competition on Monday. “That’s spending time with them in the barn, getting to know them over a few years. Every horse has their own personality, too.

“Some horses have a more natural carefulness, so they’re not as forgiving of mistakes. But I’m lucky with my horse, he allows me to make some of those mistakes and move on from them.”

McLeod, who is from Brookdale, finished 10th out of 16 in the Wawanesa Accumulator competition on Monday, just a few spots out of the money, as the top eight receive a share of the purse.

Serenity Enders of Rockyview County, Alta., took the top spot, riding Delilah V to a $1,950 payday.

McLeod was 13 seconds off the pace with a mark of 60.5 seconds and lost a few points for knocking down a rail. That time, McLeod explains, can be made up by tighter, more aggressive turns to navigate to the next jump faster, but she wanted to ease Dicontendro into the week.

“He’s a little bit sensitive and can get a bit confused if I’m not super accurate,” McLeod said.

“I’m excited for the week ahead. My horse felt really good, really confident, so I think that’ll set us up really well to compete in the rest of the night classes this week.”

On Tuesday, she finished sixth in the Manitoba Cup event, earning $1,050 as Femke Courchaine and Lemonade BF took the top spot and $3,750.

McLeod, who grew up on a farm northeast of Brandon and moved to Calgary four years ago for university, always circles the RMWF on her calendar.

The fair is special to her, and for her, the sport is everything.

“My whole life revolves around it,” McLeod said.

She got into it at age six, being born into a family where her father’s parents bred quarter horses, while her mother’s family bred warmbloods.

Quarter horses are better suited to Western riding — think barrel racing — and other speed-based disciplines, warmbloods are the jumpers.

That’s what drew McLeod in as she grew up in the backyard, setting up jumps and taking horses through her own course.

She rode with Lillian Curry — who placed third on Monday — and her parents, Kate and Andrew, who have since moved to Stonewall.

McLeod has competed with a few different horses before spending the past five years with Dicontendro. Her grandfather bought him as a weanling — around four to six months old — based on his pedigree, and the 15-year-old Holsteiner stallion has developed as they expected him to.

He came to Calgary with her and has competed ever since, as McLeod completed a business degree with a double major in management and finance.

They’ve performed well, including a first-place finish in the open jumper division at the 2025 Spruce Meadows May Classic and the Spruce Meadows Oktoberfest.

In the meantime, McLeod has spent her summers in Calgary riding young horses on a farm to train them as jumpers for others.

“They can go on and be somebody’s horse and hopefully do something like this one day,” McLeod said.

“I’ve had a few, and it’s really fun to watch the horse go on and be super special for someone else.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com