2012 Readers' Choice Award Winner - Why does Hickstead deserve to be recognized as one of Canada’s 10 most remarkable horses and people? “Because,” as Henry Swierenga of Smithville, Ontario, succinctly put it, “he was Hickstead.” The legendary stallion became a Canadian icon in 2008 when, with rider Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ontario, he won the Individual Gold and Team Silver medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.