Adrian Cecchetto has reached the point where he needs to be seen – and few settings in the world of elite equestrianism offer a better opportunity to be seen than the North American Youth Championships in Traverse City (Michigan).
A 15 year old grade 11 student at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School who started riding in 2013, Cecchetto was selected to Canada 1, one of ten young athletes from across the country who will compete this week (July 27th – Aug 2nd) against entries from the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.
This is a very different world from the one that Cecchetto first entered on the urging of hockey teammate and friend Holly Heikkila, she herself a former participant at what is affectionately known as the “Young Riders Show”.
“I don’t think I initially thought of doing this (equestrianism) seriously,” said Cecchetto, taking a little time out from his training just prior to the Rick Smith Memorial Horse Show a few weeks back. “It was more just something to do, a fun activity. It was a summer camp with a bunch of friends, which was fun.”
Adrian Cecchetto is hardly the first rider to suggest that his inner competitiveness in the sport rose to another level entirely when he transitioned from hunters (events in which horse and rider are judged on style and grace) to the jumpers (events scored objectively on speed of course completion and clear rounds).
But the signs of his potential were already present – if not to everyone who watched the young teen perform, then most certainly to coach Cathy Inch, one of the foremost names in the sport in the country.
While Cecchetto could point to his first appearance at the Royal Winter Fair in 2024 as a breakthrough moment (in a pony on flats division), Inch dove deeper to explain the separation from other aspiring young riders in the country.
“When you are showing a pony in a ring with a bunch of other ponies, you have to make sure you are seen,” Inch explained. “He exhibited the pony really, really well. You are under pressure there to make sure you do everything correctly – and he did everything correctly.”
And for more often than not, Cecchetto continued to do things correctly, progressing through the ranks of the Trillium Shows and eventually capturing an “A” circuit title. There are most certainly some innate qualities that make the young man who will travel to Michigan with Chiridor, his lease for the bulk of 2026, successful.
Blessed with both great balance in the saddle and a fearlessness that serves him well, Cecchetto has enjoyed a comfort in the surrounding of horses for as long as he can recall. Throw in a healthy heaping of exceptional guidance and you have the makings of a very good young rider.
“He has very good hands with the horses,” said Cathy Inch. “If the horses are strong, you might have to go to war early with them – but you have to be soft at the jumps. Adrian is very good at that.”
This time last summer, the thought of representing his country alongside Albertans George Balderston, Sofia Bowes and Bianca Ciarla as well as Lexi Pathy from Québec would never have entered Cecchetto’s mind. “Everything kind of fell together at the right time,” he said. “I had the chance to lease the horse now – and he does the 1.30 metres (jump) quite well.”
“We grew, together, and now we’re here.”
That growth occurred largely in Florida, while snow still covered the ground in these parts. Three shows in the Sunshine State, two more in the spring at Palgrave and two more in June – all with very encouraging results – were enough to book his ticket.
“We stepped him up faster than we would normally step them up,” said Inch.
Once this latest show is done, Cecchetto will take much of August off, with a pair of trips in September still on the schedule to close out the year. Regardless of the outcome, 2026 will have been a year to remember – and to be seen – for Adrian Cecchetto.
“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime.”
