Sask. Sport names P.A. equestrian Athlete of the Month for July
Prince Albert equestrian Janice Boucher has been named Athlete of the Month for July 2017 by Sask. Sport, an organization that promotes and supports sports in the province.
The Saskatchewan Horse Federation nominated Boucher for the honour and it comes shortly after Boucher won a pair of gold medals in the individual and team events at the World Para Reining International Championships in Ermelo, Netherlands in July. She also won the American Quarter Horse Association’s Highest Scoring Riding Award. Para-reining is a version of the equestrian sport of reigning for competitors with physical disabilities. Boucher has Parkinson’s disease.
“It was emotional, exciting, everybody was so happy and I can’t even explain it. It was just so surreal,” she told the Herald shortly after returning from the Netherlands.
“The competition was awesome. It can’t get better than two gold medals.”
In its announcement, Sask. Sport noted that Boucher’s achievements were “even more remarkable” because she did it all on an unfamiliar horse due to the prohibitive cost of shipping one’s horse overseas and because the Canadian team was the only one at the competition to score at least 200 points in two events.
Boucher is no stranger to athletic recognition. In 2003 she was inducted into the P.A. Sports Hall of Fame for her accomplishments as a world champion archer.
