An Interview with Olympian Gina Miles . . .

AN INTERVIEW WITH OLYMPIAN GINA MILES by Liz Freeman

ina Miles and McKinlaigh have become heroes in our little Irish Draught community....so of course we were thrilled when Gina agreed to do this Blarney interview!

Gina Miles is not your typical professional eventer. First of all, this Olympic individual silver medalist (2008 Bejing), PanAm individual bronze a n d team gold

Jerez) chooses to make her home in California, far from what her peers would consider the East coast mecca of North American eventing. As a working mother of two, she balances home and family with a career as a sought after trainer and clinician, all while finding time to chair the USEA Eventing Standards Task Force (during the run up to the Olympics no less), complete USEA Level III Instructor Certification, and earn her USDF Silver Medal. Did I mention she cross trains in upper level show jumping?! Respected by her peers for her professionalism and grit, and by lower level eventers who appreciate her downto-earth friendliness, Gina has spent the last nine years building an incredible partnership with the IDSH gelding affectionately known as Big Mac - a partnership that has weathered big changes to their sport in recent years.

Kilculmney Hostess, also a half bred, being by Stretchworth Lad (TB) out of Thomastown Baroness (RID 7563) who was by the Gortleesired Boulavogue (RID 480). Therefore, McKinlaigh is 1/2 Irish Draught by pedigree. Gina believes McKinlaighs Irish ancestry ...gives him a sturdiness. He just gets on with the job and he has a toughness about him. I have had other horses that let the smallest scratch keep them from going to work and he is definitely not like that. He also has a unique personality that takes time to understand. He has his quirks and although outwardly appears stoic, [he] is actually quite sensitive. As far as the substance the Irish Draught parentage brings to the equation, [it] is both an advantage and a disadvantage. It gives him sturdy legs and feet, but does add additional weight and because you are preparing for a marathon, this can be an issue. I compensate for McKinlaighs big size by keeping him on the lean side, doing lots of walking in his conditioning, and always body clipping him before a three day event so that he has the most cooling advantage.

IRELAND ina and McKinlaighs story began when his current owners, Thom Schulz and Laura Coats, were shopping in Ireland for a prospect to replace Thoms first event horse, who was Irish. Gina recalls, They arrived at Punchestown to watch the Young Event Horse Series and as they pulled up to the arena, saw this beautiful horse cantering by. Thom immediately ran up to the rider (Chris Ryan) and inquired about the horse. Thom of course was not looking for a 4 year old, but after two weeks of looking at horses, they went back to Scarteen and purchased McKinlaigh.
The original plan was to leave him in Ireland to see how far he would go, but a year later after Thom and Laura learned of my aspirations to compete at the four star level and go to the Olympics, they brought him home from Ireland for me to ride. Asked if she thought he had four star potential from the beginning, Gina says, My first impression of him was that he was soo big! I was initially concerned that he might not have the speed for the top levels and that because of his size [McKinlaigh is 17.3hh], he might be harder to keep sound. I dont think I ever doubted he would go Advanced, though. A bit of additional information for the pedigree buffs - the liver chestnut McKinlaigh was born in 1994, bred in County Carlow by Yvonne Walsh of Rainstown. He is by Highland King (ISH), who was bred by Thomas ONeill and stood with Loftus ONeill at Slyguff Stud until Highland Kings death in 2005. Highland King was a half bred by Highland Flight (TB) out of Ashling 2 (RID 8537) who was by King of Diamonds (RID 547). Highland King is also sire of William Fox Pitts 2005 Burghley CCI**** winner Ballincoola. McKinlaighs dam is the ISH mare

medalist (2007 Rio de Janeiro), individual bronze medalist at the inaugural FEI Eventing World Cup (2003 Pau), and top 25 finisher at WEG (2002

FORMAT CHANGE uch controversy surrounds the change of Three Day Eventing from a long format to a short format competition (the short format eliminating the Roads and Tracks and Steeplechase phases from Speed and Endurance day). It has been an interesting and tumultuous time in the sport, with McKinlaigh and his contemporaries as the guinea pigs bridging the change in format....a transition McKinlaigh made seamlessly. McKinlaigh has done seven long format events, six of them at the three and four star level. I think they were an important part of his development as each time he got fit to do one and then completed it, he was fitter for the next one. Overall, Gina says she enjoyed the long format events and feels they are very important for the development of young horses and riders, but she feels the short format is a good compromise between the desire to provide the ultimate equestrian test, but without all the pounding of the steeplechase phase.
Asked if she feels the new format favors more or less blood in the Irish crosses, Gina said, I think having the right blend of cold and hot blood is still the key. You need enough hot blood to give the horses the speed and the desire to run and jump, yet enough of the cold blood to make them manageable and rideable for the other phases. More than ever, with the short format, horses have to be able to switch

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An Interview with Olympian Gina Miles (cont) . . .

gears between the three phases, being brave and aggressive for the cross country, yet completely submissive for the dressage. Willing to brush through fences on cross country, yet allergic to wood on the final day. the ring. And the Hong Kong Jockey Club had cooling stations with misting fans set up all over so the horses could get cool right after exercise. Everyone got real lucky that we had a cooler day for cross country with some cloud cover and then light rain. Probably the biggest challenge was the odd hours that we competed. Amy, our lead rider had to get to the barn at 3:30 a.m. to start preparing her horse and we jumped our final show jumping round at 12:30 in the morning! Gina and McKinlaigh lay in third place behind Australians Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks after the first day of dressage, with a personal best dressage score of 39.90 penalty points. She dropped to fifth after the second day of dressage as Belgian Karin Donckers and a third Australian, Megan Jones, crept onto the leader board (incidentally the three Aussies were mounted on IDSH as well). After the dressage competition was completed, horses were boxed down to Beas River Country Club, the site of the Olympic Speed and Endurance Phase. Gina described the Mike Etherington-Smith designed cross country course as ... very twisty with lots of terrain and obstacles along the galloping paths. We all knew the time would be impossible to get. Although you wouldnt think a course like that would suit a big horse like McKinlaigh, his rideability made up for his size. Because he takes very little to set up for even the most difficult combinations, you waste less time. I didnt have to speed up or slow down much, just keep a consistent pace. Gina and McKinlaigh finished cross country day with a score of 55.10, which was good enough to put them in fifth place individually. Going into show jumping with a chance of medaling, what was Gina thinking? I was very focused before Stadium and even though I knew the scores were very close, would not allow myself to think about that. I only wanted to focus and doing what I knew how to do-- jump the jumps. I knew if I could keep concentrating on the job I had to do, the rest would take care of itself. After finishing up with two clean rounds, I couldnt have been happier. I was so proud of McKinlaigh and the job he had done. No matter what happened with the riders that came after me, I knew we had put in our best competition of our lives. Gina and McKinlaigh showed everyone how its supposed to be done, putting in two perfect stadium rounds to clinch the individual silver medal for the USA behind German gold medalist Heinrich Romeike on his TB-Holsteiner gelding Marius, and ahead of bronze medalist, Britains Kristina Cook, and her Thoroughbred gelding Miners Frolic. Less than one rail separated the medalists so the competition was very close at the end. Of her favorite Olympic moments, Gina reflected: There is nothing like standing on the podium and watching your flag go up. That is the proudest moment for any athlete. I also got the chance to go to Beijing for the closing ceremonies, so being part of the bigger Olympic picture with all of the other US athletes was pretty special. Asked if McKinlaigh knows when hes done well, Gina answered with an example, When we were waiting in the collecting ring [at the Olympics], all of the other horses went in for the team medals, and he was left by himself. He was very upset, he couldnt figure out why everyone else was in there and he was not. He would not stand still. Once I got back on him and went in for the individual awards he was much happier and stood perfectly still. I think he recognizes the victory gallop and knows that he has done well.

HONG KONG hen asked about the challenges they faced at the Olympic venue in Hong Kong (the equestrian competitions were held there instead of Bejing due to quarantine restrictions on mainland China), Gina replied, I think our US horses were well prepared for the climate challenges in Hong Kong. The heat and humidity was not any worse than a summer in Virginia or Florida and we all had plenty of experience with both. The horses were very cool and comfortable while in their air conditioned stables. We aimed to minimize our warm-up time to save plenty of energy for

LONDON 2012...? sked what McKinlaigh has been up to since returning from China, Gina said McKinlaigh has been totally relaxing postOlympics. He had his shoes pulled off and has been doing absolutely nothing, getting fat and fuzzy. I think he is bored now and ready to go back to work! So will we see McKinlaigh in London in four years?! Gina and McKinlaighs owners arent saying, but with the talent and determination of this incredible partnership, I personally wouldnt count them out in 2012. Go Irish!

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