Our Staff

Brittany Maxner

Performance Program Coordinator

Brittany organizes our performance team, does the accounting and scheduling for all of DME, as well as works side by side with Jennifer to run our in-house show series!

Brittany has been riding for 26 years.  She retired her Prix St. George dance partner, Spider, of 19 years together this past year and is currently working with Callie.  She is developing her up the dressage levels with coach and DME owner Daisy Kosa.

Qualifications: EC Certified Instructor &  EC Rider Level 8

Jennifer Baic

Academy Program Coordinator

Jennifer wears many hats in the DME Academy, teaching the stable management program and lessons and organizing events and clinics. She is a proud “barn mom” to her daughter, who competes on the Silver Series and is the affectionately adopted barn mom to many of our riders. She has a passion for horse care, loves sharing this with her students, and is an avid supporter of the Equestrian Canada Rider Level program. She loves mentoring our young riders through their rider levels. 

After a long hiatus from riding in her teen years, Jennifer started taking lessons at the DME Academy in 2018. In early 2020 Jennifer purchased her horse Velvet, and they have been training and preparing to show in dressage. They are currently working on First Level skills and can often be seen riding in the DME In-House dressage shows. They will make their debut at Caledon Dressage in the 2023 season. 

Qualifications: EC Licensed Coach, EC Tester (1-4) & EC Rider Level 6

Daisy Kosa

Head Instructor & Show Team Coach

Daisy Kosa is the head coach of the Daisy Meadows Equestrian Performance team and co-owner of Daisy Meadows Equestrian Inc. since 2009. She is a certified Equine Canada Competition Coach Specialist, teaching a broad range of students who compete on the local, provincial and national circuits in dressage and show jumping. As a trainer, she focuses on starting and developing horses so they become relaxed and happy athletes. Daisy currently trains regularly with multiple-time Canadian Olympian Cindy Ishoy, FEI judge Cara Whitham and jumping trainer Don Brandle. Her competition highlights include being a member of Canada’s Young Rider’s team for dressage in 2009 and a declared athlete for the 2011 and 2023 Pan Am Games, as well as many provincial (e.g., 2018, Don Garth, training level champion; 2017, Explosief, second level, Don Carletto, training level) and national championships (e.g., 2015, Explosief, training level; 2009, Robic, Young Riders). She has developed Explosief, an 11-year-old KWPN gelding by Tuchinsky owned by Katharine Renison, from 2 years of age and has competed at the Prix St George level with scores of 71%. She has also recently partnered with Scarlett, a 10-year-old warmblood mare by Sandra Song, owned by Cindy Ishoy, for a little over a year and has competed with her successfully at the national shows. Outside of the horse world, Daisy works as a Research Associate at Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto, Ontario, and is an assistant professor at McMaster University.

Patrick (Pat) Kosa

Senior Instructor

Pat has been riding since the age of 10. His passion is jumping and has competed extensively in the jumper ring. Patrick is an Early Childhood Educator and works as a supervisor for the YMCA.  He takes pride in helping students take their first steps in riding. Pat is passionate about teaching beginner jumpers and enjoys helping them develop their skills to become confident jumping students.

Qualifications: EC Rider Level 6

Gwen Cottle

Senior Instructor & Tack Coordinator

Gwen has been riding since she was 12 years old. The one lesson a week she begged her parents for quickly turned into two and participating in the local Pony Club, then part boarding and leasing and then eventually getting her own horse. Gwen grew up eventing and still loves the concept of combining the precision of dressage with the thrill of galloping over a cross-country course. After taking some time to focus on her career, Gwen is back in the saddle and now riding as a member of the Daisy Meadows Performance Team in dressage under the instruction of Daisy on her mount #Supersonic. Gwen loves helping new riders experience riding for the first time and hopes she can help all her students feel the joy that comes with developing a relationship with a horse!

Qualifications: EC Certified Instructor & EC Rider Level 6

Jemma Elsdon

Instructor

Jemma started riding as a child and was obsessed with it. She was a hunter/jumper and dabbled in cross country, but her passion later in life turned to dressage. She bought her first dressage horse, Tiffany & Co., and their proud moments grew over the years. Their greatest accomplishment together was trailering 18 hours to Aiken, South Carolina, where they trained and competed at the beautiful Stable View in the heart of horse country, SC. Her current equine partner is a 12-year-old unraced thoroughbred who is currently learning how to dance.

Fun fact: Jemma will never turn down Haribo gummies!

Qualifications: EC Certified Instructor & EC Rider Level 6

Robin Holk

Instructor

At the age of five, Robin’s mother enrolled her in a summer day camp for western riding, and right before the session, the discipline was changed to English. At the age of 11, her dad took her for an interview to be a student at a new stable close to home called Genns Equestrian Farms, where her main focus would become dressage. Many decades later, that same barn would now be called MJM. Robin has trained under many top-level coaches, such as Marina Genn, Diane Creech, Walter Zettle, Cindy Ishoy and Cara Whitham. Along with working in the main barn and back barn and teaching in the riding school, Robin is currently a member of the DME dressage team and training her horse, Victor, with Daisy to prepare for this year’s Caledon dressage shows.

Qualifications: EC Rider Level 6

Lexi Vinerskis

Lexi began her riding career in the DME Academy at the young age of 8 with riding school horse alumni Charlie. She spent many summers showing with both DME and Abbey Road at the Hamilton Hunt Club, where she developed a passion for field hunting. Lexi has represented Canada at the Junior North American Field Hunting Championships in the USA. At the age of 11, Lexi purchased her horse, Fox, who she trained up the levels and successfully shows on the Silver Series at the 1.0/1.10 height.

She has a passion for jumping and showing and assists Head Coach Daisy Kosa with our Academy show team at our in-house show series.

Emily Dickson

Social Media DME Performance & Website

When she was seven, Emily fell in love with riding the first moment she stepped up into the saddle upon a friend’s horse. She’s grown up tackling Hunters/Jumpers before deciding she was passionate about Dressage. She’s developing her skills with DME owner and coach Daisy Kosa. And, of course, with her four-legged partner, Yoshi (#yoshidoodlesDME). She is super passionate about social media, website design and everything Equestrian.

Fun fact: In her spare time, Emily writes fan-fiction!

Sydney Brown

Sydney has been riding at DME for four years! She currently has her EC Rider Level 3 and works in the DME academy as a junior instructor and camp counsellor. She’s currently training to add barn staff to her growing resume. You can find her spending her summer showing 2′ jumpers at the Hamilton Hunt!

Angelica Miski

Angelica started riding at DME when she was 12 in March Break Camp and instantly fell in love with horseback riding. She started lessons the next week. She is continuing to work on her riding skills with Bella, Moose and Neo. She has her EC rider level 3 and is a junior DME instructor. 

Horses have always been her favourite animal because of their kind and curious personalities, and she loves helping younger students learn to love horses in the same way. When she’s not at the barn, she’s probably reading a new book or hanging out with friends.

Abigail Reidy

Abigail has been riding with DME for about eight years. She started in the Academy and is now learning so much on the performance team. She currently has her EC rider level 6 and works in the DME Academy as a junior instructor. Her goal is to be an instructor one day. 

She loves to share her love of horses with new riders. 

Jessica Pope

Jessica has been riding with DME for five years. She currently works as a Junior Instructor and has her EC rider level 4. She started showing in the winter schooling show series in 2022 and hasn’t looked back. She will be joining our summer camp team for the summer and is so excited to meet our new and old campers and share her love of horses. 

Caitlin Pope

Caitlin has been riding at DME for five years. She has just completed her EC rider level 4. She enjoys riding Moose and Felix and has started showing in the winter show series in 2022. Caitlin works as a junior instructor in the Academy and will also be joining our camp team for the summer. Caitlin can often be found around the barn running the aisle and helping our youngest riders learn how to groom and tack up. She loves sharing her passion for horses with Academy students! 

Anastasia Guerra Rodie

Ani started riding when she was ten years old at a riding school in Mississauga. She went to different riding schools to find horses she connected with the most. From there, she came to part-boarding and then moved on to owning her own horse in 2020. Ani is a hunter/jumper who has shown the 2’6” hunters at schooling shows as well as two successful Silver Series at Angelstone Tournaments. She completed the 0.9m jumpers this year on the Trillium Circuit with her own mare. As of today, she is part of the McMaster Equestrian Team, as she is also a full-time University student. 

Ani loves sharing her knowledge of riding and horse care with all the students at DME, as well as introducing beginners to the love of horses.