A competition nearly a year in the making is about to test a Blackie rider’s mettle.
Tiana Miller makes her debut at the Dressage National Championship near Winnipeg this week with a brand new challenge in horsemanship awaiting all of its competitors.
“You get given a random horse, draw horse, you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Miller said. “In preparation I’m just trying to ride as many different horses as possible trying to prepare for anything I will get down there. And you practice your dressage patterns because you have to know it all by memory.”
Dressage entails the horse and rider going through a series of movements in an arena. The movements are then judged on fluidity and execution and tabulated to provide an overall score.
A true measure of horse skills, the addition of a new horse to a rider adds a whole other element to an already challenging equation.
“It is difficult. Your horse at home you create a bond with it,” she said.
“With the new horse, you have to figure out what cues it knows, how to get it to do the movements in your test. And you also have it to make it feel comfortable and trust you.
“I’m excited, but I’m nervous because it’s a new opportunity.”
The opportunity has been there to think about for almost a calendar year.
Miller, 15, qualified for the championships at the Alberta South regionals last August.
“There were two tests and you had to place higher in those two tests to be able to move on so I was fairly nervous,” she said. “My first test I knew it was fairly close with the second competitor. My second test I really had to pull through.”
Though a newcomer to the national stage, the teenager is far from a novice on a horse.
A second-generation equine athlete behind her father, Miller practically grew up riding and believes she first mounted a saddle at the age of one or two.
She’s an eight-year member of the Davisburg Pony Club where she’s developed a myriad of different skills ranging from English riding, stadium jumping, cross country to dressage.
She now teaches stable management and riding to younger member of the club.
Miller, who’s set to attend Holy Trinity Academy as a Grade 10 student in a few weeks time, is also in her sixth year with the Okotoks Outriders 4-H Light Horse Club where she currently serves as vice-president.
Her well-versed background in equine athletics should serve her well in Manitoba.
“To be able to compete well on the flat definitely improves on the jumping because your horse has more flexibility with what you can do with it,” she said.
The Dressage National Championship runs Aug. 17-20 at Bird Hills Park in Manitoba.
For more information go to canadianponyclub.com
