PORT WILLIAMS, N.S. — Susan Fraser of Port Williams was the recipient of the competitive coach of the year award by Equestrian Canada.
Fraser is an Equestrian Canada certified High Performance 1 dressage coach and senior medium dressage judge. She earned her award by travelling the Maritime provinces mentoring coaches, working with students, and training a slew of riders at her establishment, Fraser Equestrian Centre.
Fraser is a lifelong learner who grew up participating in many disciplines and worked with top coaches in Britain and Canada, including Canadian Olympians Jim Day and Cindy Neale Ishoy.
Her athletic career included winning the Preliminary division at the 1975 North American Three-Day Event Championship and becoming the first Maritime dressage rider to compete at the Grand Prix level.
In the mid-1980s, Fraser returned to live and work full-time in Nova Scotia from Ontario, and became the catalyst for dressage development in the Atlantic provinces.
She transferred her expertise to countless competitive students over the course of her coaching career.
Fraser was the first Maritime coach to develop a horse-and-rider combination, Alexandra Hosein and Lucky Star, to the Grand Prix level, and has developed eight Maritime combinations to Intermediate I. Her nominators noted, “It’s empowering to discover that our geography simply means we have to drive a lot further to test our abilities at bigger competitions, but thanks to Susan, geography isn’t a measure of our capabilities.”
