Riding High: Ian Millar's World of Show Jumping

Glynn A. Leyshon is a professor of physical education at the University
of Western Ontario, a former weekly columnist for the London Free Press
and author of 18 Sporting Stories.

A top-ranked amateur Canadian athlete receives $650 a month from Sports
Canada. One such athlete is Ian Millar, one of the best grand prix
riders in the world, and the owner of Millar Brooke Farms, where one of
the top mounts in the world, Big Ben, is stabled with about two dozen
other members of the oats-and-hay élite.

This book, on coated paper and lush with illustrations, details the
hows, whens, and wheres —if not the whys—of the world of grand prix
riding, a world that ranges from North America to the posh circuits of
Europe, and includes staggering bills for housing and transportation as
well as equally astounding prize monies. It costs, for example, about
$60,000 a year to maintain one horse on the circuit. In 1990, Big Ben
won $150,000 in prize money to help offset the expenses of the stable.
One wonders what impact the government subsidy of $650 a month would
have on such an operation.

Despite his successes in other events, Millar was a disappointment in
the Seoul Olympics, where he did not place. The longevity of grand prix
riders is such, however, that there is every likelihood that the rangy
Canadian will appear in one or two more of the quadrennial events, and
he, based on his record, is bound to do better. That record,
incidentally, is set in chronological order in the back of the book and
includes the major events in which Millar has participated, with or
without the famous Big Ben, from 1971 to 1990.

The inner workings of the huge operation of Millar Brooke Farms are
detailed by Scanlon—everything from the scooter to get Millar and his
cellular phone from place to place faster, to the fact that Big Ben is
owned by a consortium of 25 investors. To help gain further insight into
the man, Scanlon has inserted sidebars consisting of quotes from
friends, competitors, and sundry others commenting on Millar’s
qualities as a rider, a man, and a business person. He scores well on
all accounts.