Sabrina Van Schyndel is CPHS' Athlete of the Month

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Desmond Devoy

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EMC Sports - The jockey works just as hard as the horse.

"You're using your muscles with them (which) people don't realize," explained Sabrina Van Schyndel, 17, who trains horses in her spare time. "It's how I stay in shape."

She was raised around horses growing up on a diary farm, and has had her 12-year-old horse Q (show name "Quotation Con") since he was only four.

While Q will not be stabled in residence with her when she goes to the University of Guelph next fall, she would still like to have her horse close by.

"I don't want to sell him," she said emphatically. "I might bring him with me. You can take them to the campus. They have stables there. But it is ridiculously expensive," she said, so Q may be boarded at a nearby farm run by friends instead.

Van Schyndel is the Carleton Place High School Athlete of the Month for February, mostly on the strength of her performance as a middle on the school's volleyball team.

"I've been on the team for four years," said Van Schyndel.

Even before her high school career, she played on the volleyball team for Arklan Community Public School, where she also played basketball and track and field.

She will be attending the University of Guelph to take her Bachelor of Science degree, before moving on to veterinary sciences. She is unsure, as yet, whether she will continue on with volleyball at the university level.

"I'd like to but I don't know how much time I'll have," she said. "But I don't want to quit it, that's for sure ... I want to be one of those people who are still playing sports in their 50s."

Her interest in her horses has led her to her decision to become a veterinarian, specializing in large animals.

desmond.devoy@metroland.com