Fashionable late and well worth the wait: Olympic equestrian royalty visits Shelburne

August 8, 2013 · 0 Comments

Brightside Tack & Equestrian Supplies Inc. was the place to be on Friday, August 2, as Jill Henselwood, a Canadian Jumper who took home the Olympic Silver Medal 2008 with her team mates, Ian Millar, Eric Lamaze and Mac Cone at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, arrived late and well worth the wait!

Henselwood broke from her busy schedule at Palgrave Equestrian Park to take part in this specially arranged visit to Brightside where she was met by an anxious, excited, awe struck crowd of fans and admirers, young and old alike.

For those of us unfamiliar with the Equestrian world, Jill Henselwood is to Equestrian fans much the same as Tiger Woods is to Golfing fans. For young impressionable jumpers, Henselwood is a role model beyond expectation and for some of her young fans, this visit will be remembered as an inspirational turning point and game changer setting the course for the rest of their lives.

Almost unaware of her notoriety and fame, modest of her accomplishments, Henselwood focused entirely upon each fan as though they were the only one in the room when autographing photos, engaging in the most sincere conversational exchanges, fans instantly warmed to their new friend and mentor. Henselwood’s clear, humble, personable and genuine conversations will be the ‘stuff’ remembered for years to come.

And what advice did Henselwood have for aspiring jumpers?

“Practice! Many hours of practice are required. Volunteer at stables, do anything to give yourself time to practice on as many different horses as possible,” said Henselwood. And how many hours was Henselwood talking about? “ They say it takes 10,000 hours. That would be three hours, a day seven days a week, years.” Henselwood went on to say, “ Sports makes kids good time managers. Athletes are better time users, and sports help to develop life skills. Athletes have to balance life and strive for something and sports give kids that chance.”

When asked about how she feels about inspiring kids, girls especially, Henselwood modestly replied, “It’s great to have a part to develop young minds, but also encourage kids to have fun.”

Jillian Eiloart, the Canadian Distributor of Bieman Riding(BR) products, (a Dutch Company,) sponsors Henselwood, who is a huge fan of BR. Eiloart supplies Brightside with BR product and having worked with Henselwood for years , says she is one of the most genuine people she knows and also was not surprised Henselwood agreed to make the trip to Shelburne.

“I asked my supplier to invite Jill Henselwood and she accepted. I am so thankful and so excited to have Jill Henselwood here,” said owner of Brightside Shannon Zayachkowski. “She is so inspiring to little girls.”

Articulate, hard working, passionate, dedicated, humble, genuine, sincere and authentic, all traits this wonderful and gifted Olympian role model shared with some of her biggest and youngest fans. What a treat and honor it was and it all happened in Shelburne! Don’t forget to follow Henselwood to the 2015 Pan Am Games, after all there every well could be a young Shelburne person following in her footsteps!

By Alex Sher