Carly Campbell Cooper’s involvement with horses was destiny as her parents, Rosemary Campbell and Gary Cooper, first met at a horse show. With horses on their family farm, it wasn’t long before Carly continued the family tradition. At the age of five, Carly began entering lead-line classes at the local fair on a black and white Shetland pony and never looked back.
First qualifying to compete at Toronto’s famed Royal Horse Show in the pony divisions and quickly progressing to jumpers while also competing in the hunter and equitation divisions, Carly climbed her way up the ranks to enjoy a successful Young Riders’ career with the help of two horses, Rex Get Busy and Croft Temptation. Winning medals at the North American Young Riders’ Championship for four consecutive years, she made her debut with Rex Get Busy as a Junior Team member in 2000, traveling to Colorado where she won both the Individual and Team Gold medals.
Riding in the Championship division in 2001, Carly earned Team Silver and Individual Bronze medals and, the following year, Ontario again captured the Team Silver while Carly placed sixth individually. In her final year of eligibility at 21 years of age, Carly capped off her Young Rider’s career by riding Croft Temptation as a member of the Ontario Team that claimed the elusive Gold Medal at the 2003 Championship held in Bromont, QC.
Two years in a row, 2003 and 2004, Carly and Croft Temptation topped the Jump Canada National Talent Squad Series and earned ‘carded athlete’ status with Sport Canada as a potential future member of the Canadian Equestrian Team. They also earned back-to-back victories in the 2003 and 2004 Ontario Rising Star Series.
In addition to Croft Temptation, Carly is showing Napier, an Oldenburg gelding purchased from Eric van der Vleuten, a two-time World Championship competitor for the Netherlands, and Santa Lucia, a feisty grey mare found on Canadian soil in the barns of three-time Canadian Show Jumping Champion, Eric Lamaze.
Coached by Canadian Olympian Beth Underhill, Carly values the support of her parents and her two brothers, Jeff and Todd. In addition, her mother continues to compete in the senior divisions. Carly is a fourth year Honours Political Science student at McMaster University in Hamilton, ON.
