Eventer and Olympian Gina Miles Believed in a Dream

Enjoy Part III of the Three Days Three Ways interview with Gina Miles. Some tips on keeping those horses sound and how to become a silver medalist (hint, get reading!).

photo by Mark Hart

Q. How do you keep your horses healthy and sound?

A. Hill work instead of speed work since speed increases the chance of injury. When hills can be used I do that. I use a heart rate monitor; you can gauge what kind of cardio work out you’re getting. When you’re on the road and have to train in Florida or England if you know the heart rate you can come up with comparable work. I’m an advocate for heart rate monitors and using hill work as opposed to speed. Also, walking on the treadmill or on the road I prefer over trot sets for sure. I learned that when training with Jimmy Wofford. When I first trained for first Rolex he had us out there walking for two hours.

Also the judicious use of ice. Icing extends the benefit after every gallop or jump school. I got that watching team competitors like Amy Tryon. I respect her for how she maintains her horses. And really careful, close work with the vet; a lot of times you can pick stuff up before it becomes a problem. Take a look when they’re sound. Flex them. If you jog and flex them and do that a lot you’ll see when the joint’s getting a little stuff long before it becomes a problem. More wellness checks and scanning tendons. We’re in the habit of doing that only when we suspect a problem. But you need a baseline ultrasound when there is no problem so when a little fill comes up you know what it normally looks like. Shoeing. I can never leave where I live because I have the best shoer in the world.

photo by Mark Hart

Q. So what’s the secret to your success?

A.Don’t underestimate people skills. Yes it’s a horse sport but, guess what, horses are attached to people whether they’re owners or clients or students or sponsors. You’re going to be involved with people. I did a lot of training in area seminars and readbooks. It feels silly walking to the Do-It-Yourself section [in the bookstore] to read The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, for example. But I learned so much, there’s a lot of info out there, people should explore that. Most of that is geared towards the business world but you would be surprised how much that will help in the horse world whether you’re a professional or a young rider or looking for sponsors.

Q. Any suggestions?

A. The Power of Positive Thinking and How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Q.  Anything else?

A. Belief in the dream. Even if the dream is unrealistic you gotta have it out there. I wanted to go to the Olympics when I was ten and it didn’t seem very practical and feasible and keep going for it. You gotta work really hard and work harder than the next guy and if you don’t like the result go home and work harder. And if you do like the results you still have to go home and work harder.

Thanks for reading Three Days Three Ways.  If you’re just tuning in to the interview with Gina Miles make sure you catch Part I and Part II.