Woods takes a gamble — and wins

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This article was published 27/03/2024 (767 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Monday evening at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair was a full-circle moment for Karly Woods.

When Woods and her horse Maverick won the Gambler’s Choice event, it wasn’t just the pair’s first first-place finish at an event, but a victory at the very event that inspired the Brandon woman to get into equestrian sport in the first place.

“I’ve come to the fair my entire life — I don’t think I’ve ever missed a year,” Woods said during an interview at the fair’s horse barns.

“I didn’t come from a horse family, but I was always inspired to ride, probably partially due to the fair. I started riding lessons when I was around 10 years old. This has always been a dream to compete in the evening classes. This is my third year doing it but first time winning, so it was extremely exciting.”

Woods’ victory wouldn’t have been possible without Maverick, a chestnut-coloured Canadian warmblood with a white snout.

She bought him when he was three years old, and not yet broken, from Lorrie Jameson, an Alberta-based farmer also competing at this year’s fair.

One of her horses competing in the Grand Prix event later this week is Maverick’s half-sister.

A decade after buying Maverick, Woods considers him to be like a pet.

“We have a really good relationship and connection,” Woods said. “It’s really nice having a horse that I can fully trust and I love hanging out with him … He loves attention and treats — it’s why he loves being at horse shows. He also loves to compete and he’s really athletic, gets excited to go in the ring.”

The Gambler’s Choice event is special, said jump course designer Peter Holmes of Cowichan Bay, B.C., because while the designer sets up the obstacles, the riders get to choose a course around them that best suits their horse’s strengths.

Each completed obstacle on the course earns a team between 40 and 120 points. A horse and rider each have 60 seconds to get as many points as they can and can only attempt each jump twice.

Then there’s the wild card — the so-called “Joker” fence, which is worth 200 points. But there’s a catch. If you knock the fence down, a team loses 200 points instead, making it a gamble.

“They’ll take some gambles, some risks that you wouldn’t normally see in a normal course,” Holmes said. “They’ll turn the stride in front of a jump because they set it up and they know that a horse can do them.”

Holmes said he likes the variety the event provides, with Monday night’s event seeing riders pick a lot of different routes through the course.

While the volume of competitors at the Winter Fair isn’t the largest Holmes sees at events, he said the horses and trainers who come to Brandon are well-schooled.

For the rest of the week, Holmes said he’s looking forward to the horse and dog relay competition tonight, the feature class on Friday night and Grand Prix event on Saturday night.

Woods said her strategy on Monday night was to do all the big-point jumps first and then clean up the smaller ones as time allowed.

Thankfully, they didn’t knock any rails down, which meant they didn’t lose any points at the end of the race.

Those looking to watch Woods in action will be able to see her and Maverick at the horse and dog show today and the Playnow Challenge Cup show-jumping event on Friday.

The pair are crossing their fingers (and hooves) that they might bring home more ribbons from those events.

The rider thanked Jen Caswell, who she stables Maverick with, for taking good care of her horse, as well as her trainers Don Dorsch and Sam Harlan from Weyburn, Sask.

“I just love the fair,” Woods said. “I encourage everybody to come out from Brandon, it’s a staple event for us. I think we need to keep it big and keep it going.”

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