Jessica Phoenix

Biography

As a five-time Pan American Games medallist, Jessica Phoenix has risen up the ranks to become one of Canada’s most respected and well-known eventing athletes. 

Representing the maple leaf, she rode Exploring at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. They were named to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games but were forced to withdraw when Exploring suffered a tendon injury. In 2010 Phoenix was part of the silver medal-winning team at the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Lexington, KY, this time aboard Exponential. 

Proving her talent for training top international eventing horses, a year later she captured individual gold and led the team to a silver medal at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, this time riding Pavarotti. For her outstanding performance at the Games, Phoenix was named Equestrian Canada’s Equestrian of the Year. She rode Exponential at the London 2012 Olympic Games and helped the Canadian eventing team finish sixth at WEG 2014, qualifying the team for Rio 2016. 

During the 2015 spring competition season, Phoenix was injured during a fall on cross-country, breaking three ribs as well as the sacrum bone at the base of her spine and requiring surgery on her liver. After 13 days in hospital, she was soon ready to ride again. With Pavarotti, she won individual silver and team bronze at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. Phoenix went on to continue her major games run with A Little Romance at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and with Pavarotti at WEG 2018 in Mill Spring, North Carolina. She and Pavarotti also led Canada to a team bronze medal at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games while finishing fifth individually.

In 2021, Phoenix became the only Canadian and one of only 17 athletes overall to have accumulated 100 entries at the FEI CCI 4*-S (formerly CIC 3*) level. She and Pavarotti were named to Team Canada for Tokyo 2020, but had to withdraw due to a minor injury sustained by Pavarotti during a final training session. 

A Little More About Jessica

Getting into the Sport: Growing up always had horses in her life, including a pony for her first birthday… Got her start in a western saddle before eventually moving to eventing… At 13 she won the Ontario Horse Trials Training Championship, her first major title… Outside Interests: Graduate of the Business Administration program at Durham College…Odds and Ends: City of Sunderland, Ontario declared April 1, 2012, as “Jessica Phoenix Day” after her double medal performance at Guadalajara 2011… Favourite motto: “If you can dream it you can become it”…