Christine Kinsella will always enjoy riding.

But time has a way of taking a passion in a slightly different direction – and that’s something that the owner of Trevella Stables is more than comfortable with these days.

“I ride now to be a better coach,” said the native of Kapuskasing recently. “When I am out there riding during the day, I often think about exercises I can do with my kids.”

Though her childhood roots were in the north, equestrianism was far more a product of a family move to Ottawa – one which would present the precocious youngster with a one-time opportunity.

“My mom decided to move to Ottawa when I was turning ten – and I thought I would negotiate my terms of moving,” said Kinsella, with a smile. “I agreed to move if I could start horseback riding lessons.”

A family dairy farm in the Belleville area had engrained in the child a comfort with animals, one which would feed a preference for ponies. “I was just one of those kids where every Christmas, every item, every toy was always horses – every movie I watched,” she said.

Sessions at the National Capital Equestrian Park (now Wesley Clover Park) served their purpose, creating a foundation upon which Kinsella (then Christine Treverton) eventually leveraged into three separate trips to the Royal Winter Fair.

“By the time I was 14, I had progressed to the end of their (NCEP) levels that they had,” she said. “I decided that I wanted to go competitive and it wasn’t an option there.”

Very quiet by nature, Kinsella carried that demeanour into the ring, quickly demonstrating some of the key traits that can help young riders succeed. “The animals tend to do well with riders that are more calm and quiet,” she said. “And I always had the correct body type, the longer, taller frame which gives you a bit more of that leverage, that classic position that you wanted.”

“I’ve always had very good balance and a good natural riding position.”

Blessed and cursed with her very first horse (Randy), Kinsella stuck by him where some might have backed away. “He was a test of my patience, a very difficult personality to mesh with,” she recalled. “He was also an extremely talented horse; he could win against the best of the horses.”

“Learning to deal with all of his idiosyncrasies took a lot of patience. I would eat the dirt a lot more than I should have.”

While the Sports Psychology program at Laurentian University lured Christine to Sudbury, her riding rising to another level as she made the move to Foothills Farm and coach Cathy Inch. It was also at L.U. where she would meet her husband Devin – choosing to remain in the area, her equestrian involvement moving in a slightly different direction.

“Teaching just kind of fell upon me,” Kinsella suggested. “People asked, but I wasn’t sure that it was something that I wanted to do, I wasn’t sure I was good enough because I didn’t have teaching experience.”

Looking back, she wouldn’t change a thing.

“Learning to coach just doesn’t happen; there was a lot of trial and error, especially at the beginning. I think I became a better horse person when I started teaching other people to ride.”

“Now, I don’t like competing as much as I like watching my students compete.”

Her student base is an interesting one, to say the least. Far be it for Kinsella to pigeon-hole herself into one standard grouping of riders.

“I think I like the fact that I have so many different kinds. I am enjoying my younger adults a lot, just from that communication standpoint – and I have a group of older ladies that are quite entertaining.”

Kinsella has also recently experienced the quasi-parental pride of seeing her own locally bred horse (at Trevella) make its way to the Trillium Championship, finishing second overall. It’s clear that what drives her involvement with horses these days is not identical to what she may have felt at the height of her riding career.

“Back then, I would have said that it was going to the Royal,” noted Kinsella. “That was the most important thing for me for a long time. Now, looking back, I don’t know that it necessarily was.”

So goes the passing of time – even if the passion for horses remains.