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Source-checked editorial dossier

Show jumping

Hickstead

Eric Lamaze's compact bay stallion paired Olympic precision with a global Grand Prix record, then became the first horse inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame as part of a horse-and-rider team.

Dossier04reviewed sources
Eric Lamaze riding the dark bay stallion Hickstead past cheering Canadian supporters at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Documentary photographEric Lamaze and Hickstead compete in the individual jumping final at the 2008 Olympic Games in Sha Tin, Hong Kong.
Eric Lamaze and Hickstead at the 2008 Olympic Games, photograph by WiNG, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Resized and converted to WebP; no crop. (opens in a new tab)License (opens in a new tab) · Resized and converted to WebP; no crop
DisciplineShow jumping
Evidence modelSource-linked editorial
Last reviewedJuly 25, 2026

At a glance

Identity snapshot

Verified biographical fields, separated from interpretation.

Foaled
1996, Belgium
Died
November 6, 2011, Verona, Italy
Sex / color
Stallion / bay
Studbook
KWPN (Dutch Warmblood)
Height
16 hands, as recorded by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

Profile

The story

Hickstead was not an obvious prototype for a global championship horse. Canada's Sports Hall of Fame records him at sixteen hands and describes how other riders considered the Dutch Warmblood stallion undersized and difficult before Eric Lamaze took a chance on him in 2004. Lamaze built the partnership around confidence and trust, while Hickstead's Hamlet-Jomara pedigree and unusually quick way of reading a course became part of a record that stretched across championships, Nations Cups, World Cup sport, and major outdoor Grands Prix.

The defining round came in Hong Kong at the 2008 Olympic Games. Canada had already earned team silver when Lamaze and Hickstead met Rolf-Göran Bengtsson and Ninja La Silla in the individual jump-off. The FEI history records both combinations at exactly 38.39 seconds; Ninja touched the final wall, while Hickstead stayed clear for individual gold. The pair later took individual bronze at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, where Hickstead was named Best Horse, and finished second in the 2011 World Cup Final. Hickstead died after an aortic rupture at the Verona World Cup later that year. His record is commemorated through a Spruce Meadows statue, Equestrian Canada's annual Hickstead Trophy, and the pair's 2020-21 induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

Editorial analysis

Why this horse matters

Hickstead's importance lies in both the results and the shape of the partnership behind them. The 2008 jump-off is a clean example of elite show jumping's unforgiving margins: identical times, one rail, and a championship decided at the final fence. His later Grand Prix wins in Calgary, Geneva, Aachen, La Baule, and Rome show that the Olympic title was not an isolated peak. Just as important, his Hall of Fame induction treats horse and rider as a single sporting team, a rare institutional acknowledgment that the horse is an athlete and partner rather than equipment.

Selected record

Career highlights

A concise chronology of documented championship and major-event performances.

  1. 2007

    Pan American Games

    Won team silver and individual bronze with Eric Lamaze in Rio de Janeiro.

  2. 2008

    Olympic team silver

    Helped Canada earn its first Olympic team medal in jumping since 1968.

  3. 2008

    Olympic individual gold

    Stayed clear in a 38.39-second jump-off to win at Sha Tin.

  4. 2010

    World Equestrian Games

    Earned individual bronze and was named Best Horse in the Final Four format.

  5. 2011

    World Cup Final

    Finished second at Leipzig.

  6. 2020-21

    Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

    Hickstead and Lamaze entered the Hall together in the team category.

Live name watch

News mentioning Hickstead

Exact-name matches from this horse's discipline only. No fuzzy matches, recycled stories or unrelated fallback headlines.

Checked Aug 2, 2026, 10:26 PM EDT. No match means only that the current monitored feed window contains no exact reference; it is not a claim that no coverage exists elsewhere.

Open the full live news desk

Reference desk

Research record

Pedigree, people and career facts remain grouped by type for quick comparison.

Career record

Olympic record
Individual gold and team silver, Beijing 2008
World championship
Individual bronze and Best Horse, Lexington 2010
Pan American record
Team silver and individual bronze, Rio 2007
World Cup Final
Second, Leipzig 2011
FEI database window
70 starts and 18 wins from January 2010 onward

Pedigree

Sire
Hamlet
Dam
Jomara
Damsire
Ekstein

Connections

Rider
Eric Lamaze
Represented
Canada
Partnership
Lamaze began developing Hickstead in 2004
Hall recognition
Inducted together into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, class of 2020-21

Reading the record

Research context

Technical and historical notes, presented as context rather than instruction.

  1. FEI's displayed totals of 70 starts and 18 wins cover only results from January 1, 2010; they are not whole-career totals.

  2. FEI displays the birth date as 01/03/1996, while Canada's Sports Hall of Fame records March 2, 1996. The profile therefore publishes the uncontested year and birthplace rather than silently choosing a day.

  3. The 2008 gold-medal jump-off was tied on time at 38.39 seconds. The result turned on the final wall: Hickstead was clear and Ninja La Silla incurred a fault.

  4. Grand Prix claims are reported as named victories, not converted into a proprietary rating or cross-era ranking.

Provenance

Detailed source trail

Open the institutional record behind the dossier and see exactly what each source supports.

  1. Fédération Equestre Internationale

    Hickstead (NED06921) (opens in a new tab)

    Identity, KWPN pedigree, limited-window FEI statistics, 2008 Olympic medals, 2010 World Championship bronze, and 2011 World Cup Final result.

    Accessed July 25, 2026

  4. Canadian Olympic Committee

    Eric Lamaze (opens in a new tab)

    Olympic record, major Grand Prix venues, World Championship Best Horse recognition, and Hall of Fame context.

    Accessed July 25, 2026

Continue researching

Build a reading path from the record

Every connection below is generated from fields already present in the source-linked archive. It is a research lead, not a claim that two horses had equivalent careers.

Trace shared connections

These records repeat the same named owner, breeder, trainer, rider, event, or honor in the supplied data.

  • McLain Ward riding the bay mare HH Azur over a fence at the 2017 FEI World Cup Jumping Final in Omaha.

    Show jumping

    HH Azur

    HH Azur combined Olympic and World Cup consistency with a remarkable late-career run in the Rolex Grand Slam majors.

    Shared event
    World Cup Final
    Shared discipline
    Show jumping
    Foaled within twelve years
    2006
    Shared recorded place
    Belgium
    Continue to profile

Compare documented peers

These horses share multiple recorded identity fields, such as discipline, breed, country, sex, or foaling period.

Stay within the discipline

These source-linked records share the same discipline classification; open each profile to establish any closer comparison.

Field notebook

Questions the available evidence can support

  1. Pedigree ledger

    List each sire, dam, and damsire recorded for Hickstead; open the linked source before carrying a relationship into another generation.

    Based on: Recorded pedigree fields

  2. Era comparison

    Start with Hickstead's recorded foaling year (1996). Date every comparison and keep later commentary separate from contemporaneous results.

    Based on: Recorded foaling year

  3. Connection map

    Trace the recorded rider, connection, event entries one source at a time. Preserve the role and date attached to each source rather than assuming a permanent relationship.

    Based on: Named connections, events, or honors

  4. Identity language

    Copy breed, studbook, sex, and place terms exactly as the source presents them; note conflicts instead of silently standardizing them.

    Based on: Recorded identity fields

  5. Source check

    Open the 4 linked sources, record the publisher and retrieval or revision date, and mark which displayed fields each source actually supports.

    Based on: Linked source trail

From profile to reading room

Continue from Hickstead's record

4 original briefs · 31 reading minutes · 16 direct references. These are research-method companions, not additional claims about the horse.

01Advanced rider education

Profile-linked brief

Advanced riding knowledge is a framework, not a remote lesson

A research site can sharpen observation of rhythm, balance, line, recovery, and horse response. It cannot safely prescribe a correction for a partnership it cannot see.

Why read this next: The editorial index explicitly connects this brief to Hickstead. Use its advanced rider education framework and 3 direct references as a method companion; the link does not add a new fact to the horse profile.

7 min read3 sources
Read the original brief
02Results literacy

Profile-linked brief

How to read a jumper result without misreading the horse

A placing is the output of a particular class format. Identify the scoring table, round structure, faults, time, and field before comparing horses.

Why read this next: The editorial index explicitly connects this brief to Hickstead. Use its results literacy framework and 4 direct references as a method companion; the link does not add a new fact to the horse profile.

8 min read4 sources
Read the original brief
03Course research

Discipline research

The course changes the meaning of the round

The result says what was recorded. The course explains the question: lines, turns, combinations, footing, atmosphere, and the choices available to one horse-rider partnership.

Why read this next: This course research brief shares the profile's Show jumping classification. Its 4 direct references help test context and source boundaries; the brief is not evidence about this individual horse.

7 min read4 sources
Read the original brief
04Leasing and due diligence

Cross-discipline method

Before you lease, build the horse dossier first

A good lease search connects the rider's real goal with verified identity, records, trial observations, independent veterinary input, total care costs, and written responsibilities.

Why read this next: This leasing and due diligence brief supplies a horse-life research checklist with 5 direct references. Apply the method to open questions, not as evidence about this individual horse.

9 min read5 sources
Read the original brief

Data boundary

Unknown is not a blank to fill

This dossier publishes reviewed fields and source-backed editorial analysis only. A field that is not shown remains not established in this source-checked dossier. EquinAtlas does not infer missing results, ownership, health, availability, or commercial terms.