Ian Millar Quotes

I've always loved horses. When I was younger, I competed in horse shows and did quite well.

Eventing is way too dangerous. People get killed every year doing cross-country.

I ride my horse at competition level.

I started to ride when I was very young, and it's a sport I have practised for a very long time.

My first ambition was to be a show jumper. I did a bit of dressage as part of it, and the dressage trainer saw me and said, 'Why are you wasting your time with the other stuff? You should be concentrating on this.'

I always thought I was going to be a professional horse rider because I rode horses competitively from zero to 17 years old.

I actually used to compete at show-jumping when I was a young'un.

Polo is a great thing to do with your kids and your family - it is a great day out. And to me, horses are amazing creatures that give you this cable to Earth and put you in contact with nature.

I'm about to challenge for the Maryland Cup in the next couple of years, as an owner, a trainer, and a rider.

I love the freedom you feel on horseback, and enjoy the discipline of competition.

Richard Armitage is very good at the old horse riding because of course he did it in 'Robin Hood,' so he's very good at that.

I think some horses are meant to do... eventing or dressage. We have Western horses who canter around. I think it takes, especially at the level I'm at now, it takes a horse that wants to do it.

One of my daughters is a competitive jumper, we live with horses, we have stables on our property. But I don't ride. I observe, and I worry.

The best riders in the world with the best horses make it look so elegant and graceful. When you watch it done well, it looks so easy that it's difficult for the public to understand how hard this really is.

When I was a little boy, I rode, but I didn't own horses.

I only knew basic western trail riding. Nothing fancy.

There's footage of me bouncing around, all uncoordinated, trying to work out how on earth you're supposed to do a rising trot on a really extravagant moving eventing horse.

When I used to say I did dressage, I got blank looks. No one had a clue what I was on about.

I understand when people think dressage is boring. But while your standard horse is like driving a Fiesta, our horses are like driving Formula One cars. I can't breathe without the horse reacting. You are training another being to become really responsive and athletic and powerful.

Riding Valegro always makes you smile, so I enjoy it.

I was very successful at three-day events, point-to-points, Pony Club, and gymkhana. But then I went to college, and because I had really good horses, they weren't going to be left in the field, so they were sold.

I remember some people after the Olympics that had no idea about horses would ask, 'Do you do that with the horse, or does the horse do it by itself?' I think the fact that you can make it look like you are doing nothing is a real talent. And it is such a massive reward at the end of it.

The sport is about finding the horses. But to find another Valegro is impossible.

What are the origins of dressage? Did just, one day, some young horse say to his dad, 'Dad, I don't want to charge into battle...I just wanna dance'?

And it's not that going out for a hack is wrong or bad, I certainly don't view it as that; it's just that there's something about the dressage, being put through your paces, that makes you better.