Instructors

Meet our outstanding team of instructors here at Whitchurch Equestrian

Amanda Forbes

Amanda attended teacher’s college at the University of Western Ontario, and has her Primary/Junior Qualification (K-6). 

Introduced to riding at the age of seven, Amanda rode every summer at camp, and started formal weekly lessons at the age of thirteen. While attending the University of Ottawa she continued with her riding by working at a local stable and summer riding camp. 


Amanda's Bio

Megan Hamilton

Megan began riding at a young age with weekly lessons and felt an instant connection with the equine world. She gained valuable experience early on by riding a wide variety of horses, and she has been showing in the Hunter Discipline on the Trillium and A Circuits from the age of eleven to the present time.

As a teen, she worked on numerous equestrian facilities including breeding farms, show stables, and riding academies, and gained an extensive range of equine knowledge from those experiences.  In 2012 she graduated from McMaster University, where she was involved in the McMaster Equestrian Club as an Executive Member. She went on to become a valued competitive team member of the Ontario University Equestrian Association Circuit.

As an instructor of Whitchurch Equestrian, Megan thoroughly enjoys sharing her knowledge, experience, and love of horsemanship, by teaching the sport of horseback riding to young and old. 

Dianne O'Brien

Short-listed for the Canadian Pan-Am Dressage Trials, Dianne trained a variety of horses to a Grand Prix Level with Olympic Dressage Medalist Ashley Holzer.  Dianne recently retired Retro, her Dutch Warmblood, after a successful career and placing second in the Grand Prix at the Iron Horse National Show.

Dianne is now training Romancia, a young Hanoverian mare, and debuted her Prix St. Georges and Intermediare on the North American Show Circuit in 2016.  Dianne and Romancia train with Olympian Belinda Trussell, a valued member of the Canadian Equestrian Team, who has successfully competed in the European Dressage Championships and the World Cup.

Dianne's interest in riding was sparked as a ten-year old, when she joined the Canadian Pony Club, and went on to complete the Equine Studies Program at Humber College.  For ten years Dianne competed as an Eventer, and worked as an exercise rider at Woodbine Thoroughbred Racetrack.

Scott Meldrum 

Scott began riding at Whitchurch Riding Academy in 1980, and began competing in the sport of Horse Trials in 1984. He has been a keen member and supporter of Ontario’s Eventing scene ever since, and an instructor at WRA for twenty years.

Competing successfully at the Preliminary Level, he has had the privilege to train under several of Canada’s top coaches in the Jumper, Dressage, and Eventing disciplines. Scott has also been a participant and auditor at clinics given by International Eventing Stars in Ontario.