After bringing home Gold and Bronze Medals from the Pan Am Games,
Gina Miles prepares for the 2008 Olympics
What started as a little girl’s dream
at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los
Angeles is about to become re a l i ty for
Creston resident Gina Miles. Miles
just re t u rned from representing the
United States at the Pan Am
Games in Rio de Janeiro
where she garnered the Team
Gold Medal and Bronze as an
individual. She is curre n t ly a
member of the A squad in
training for the 2008 Olympic
Games along with her partner
McKinlaigh, a 14 year old,
17.3 hh Irish Sp o rt Horse who
shares the limelight and workload with the petite Miles.
“It is still pre t ty incredible.
Being in Rio and winning was
such an incredible experience.
Sometimes I have to pinch
myself,” said Miles sitting at
home on Rainbow Ra n ch in
Creston.
Miles and McKinlaigh are members
of an elite group of horses and riders
who compete in Three-Day Eve n t i n g.
Eventing is a sport that tests the horse
and rider teams’ skills, teamwork,
endurance and versatility. The first day
horse and rider compete in dressage, a
show of teamwork and skills that somewhat resembles a figure skating routine
with prescribed movements and a set test
pattern ridden in a 60m x 20m arena.
Day two finds horse and rider galloping over jumps and cove ring a
5700-meter course in a timed competition of endurance and skill . On the
final day, horse and rider must navigate
over a series of tightly spaced jumps in
a showring, competing for the best time
without hitting any of the obstacles.
Miles began riding at age seven in
northern California at the Happy
Horse Riding School in Davis. At
the age of 14, Gina found Sir
D’Artagnan, a seve n - year-old Arabian
gelding and became a member of
Hobby Horse Pony Club. Patches, a
10-year-oldAppaloosa/Thoroughbred
c ross was Mile’s next mount and
together they competed throughout
California as well as joined the U.C.
Davis Equestrian Team.
Schulz and Coats imported
McKinlaigh to the United States in
1999 with the hopes that he might be
the mount that would ca r ry Miles to
the Olympics.
In their first two
years of competition
t h ey won 9 out of the
10 events entered, an
incredible re c o rd and an
incredible partnership
was being created.
Above: Gina and
McKinlaigh clear a
fence in superb form
in the stadium jumping
phase of the Pan American
Games competition in Rio
Miles and McKinlaigh
continued to advance
through national and
Left: Gina proudly receives
international competithe bronze medal for the
tions and in 2006 the
United States, also at the
United States Eve n t i n g
2007 Pan American Games
Association
named
in Rio
McKinlaigh Advanced
Horse of the Year.
Photos: Shannon Brinkham
“Riding has always
Miles graduated from Cal Po ly been what I wanted to do,” said Miles.
with a degree in Crop Science and “I have been afforded some wonderful
in 1997, she attended a prestigious o p p o rtunities and this is the perfect
event in Kentucky and made the area for me, p a rtway between the
d e c i s i on to compete at the inter- Bay Area and Los Angeles. It makes
national leve l . Now all she needed was c ompeting here ve ry convenient. And
the right equine partner.
now with Twin Rivers here, this area is
Having trained with Brian and really becoming recognized.”
Lisa Sabo in the Paso Robles area,
Miles is a busy woman who in
Miles was thri lled when Rainbow addition to her equine duties loves her
Ranch owners Thom Schulz and duties as mom to 8 year old Austin and
Laura Coats offe red to help.
2 year old Tayl o r. A typ i cal day in the
Miles home consists of getting the
children ready for school, returning
home to ride seve ral horses, strength
training and Pi l a t e’s, giving lessons to
her students, re t u rning phone calls,
dinner and homework with Austin and
staying in touch with clients and
friends.
When asked how the com mu n i ty
could help her with her goal of bringing home the gold medal from China,
Miles smiles.
“It would be great for people to
c ome out and watch us ride. Wi t h
Twin Rivers right here we really want
to grow the sport of eve n t i n g. To
get people to come out and watch.
In Europe there are huge crowds at
the events,” said Miles.
To see the sport of eventing loca lly, plan on attending the Oct 27-28,
2007 One Day Horse Trials &
Fundraiser Clinic at Twin Rivers
Ra n ch located at 8715 No rth Rive r
Road, Paso Robles, Ca or contact them
at (805) 467-3585 info@tw i n ri ve rsranch.us
If you would like to make a
donation to help Gina Miles go to
the 2008 Olympic Games, please
make ch e cks payable to:
The Ameri can Horse Trials
Foundation Inc.
Write “DO NATION FOR GINA
MILES” on the memo line. Make
sure to include your mailing address
and you will receive a thank you
letter for tax-deduction purposes. The
A HTF is a non - p rofit organiza t i on –
www.ahtf3day.org. Mail donations
ch e cks to:
Am e ri can Horse Trials
Foundation, Inc.
221 Grove Cove Road
Centrev i ll e, MD 21617
Keep track of Mile’s progress
and read her Pan-Am e ri can Games
j o u rnal by logging on to www.mileseve n t i n g.com