That’s how Micheline Jordan feels about her 13-year-old Thoroughbred eventer, Irish Diamonds.

When Jordan received the letter naming her and the bay gelding to the 2011 Canadian National Eventing Team short list, she said “I put it on his stall, because it’s really his letter. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Jordan, 35, who lives in Ocala, Florida, grew up in the Ottawa area and at the tender age of two, got plunked on the back of a family friend’s horse. “Ever since then, I was all about horses.” Her parents, both professionals who worked for the government, owned a 150-acre farm where they kept horses and beef cattle. Jordan got her first pony at age eight: a veteran 20-year-old Welsh cob hunter.

“She was a very good little pony and I did schooling shows and fairs. She’d go around the courses and was very forgiving, because I was awful,” recalled Jordan.

Eventing wasn’t yet big in the Ottawa area, but when rider Casey Gillis moved in next door, she piqued Jordan’s interest in it. (Gillis, a lecturer and riding instructor at Kemptville College, represented Ontario at the North American Young Rider Championships  in 1990 and 1992, and was Talent Squad member in 1998.)

Jordan had been taking lessons sporadically and didn’t have any grand ambitions at that point. “I loved to ride. I just enjoyed the horses always wanted to be around them. I’d get on anything.”

One of her mounts was a young Appaloosa-cross filly that had arrived with an older horse her father had bought for himself. Jordan started working with the mare and eventually took her to horse trials.

“At 16 or 17, I took trips around novice courses, but it wasn’t until I got into university that I decided to do preliminary. That was my goal,” said Jordan. She had given up riding in her last year of high school and her first couple of years in university (she has an Environmental Science honours degree from Carleton University), “but then I really decided I wanted something I could do some eventing on.”

Getting Serious

She bought her “first serious horse” from Oakhurst Farm, a Thoroughbred gelding named Curious George. “I got on him and he went around everything,” she recalled. “Casey was helping me. She was the one who took me through the levels. I did a couple of novice and training events, then moved to preliminary. Curious George was the first horse that taught me how to do it.”

In 1999, Jordan made her first trip to Ocala, Florida, as a working student for Canadian Olympian Kyle Carter. He represented Canada at the Pan Am Games that year and that inspired Jordan to aim for the higher levels of the sport.

“I’d gone intermediate by then and thought I would like to go advanced to see if I could do it,” she said. “Obviously a lot of people aspire to ride at top level and represent their country.” Jordan also decided that she wanted a career working with horses and permanently settled in Ocala eight years ago.  She worked for six years breaking and galloping racehorses at Niall Brennan Stables, where she met Vance Fillingame, the training centre manager. They married six years ago.

She needed an event horse capable of doing the higher levels to achieve her goals and while she was  working for Sonya Crampton, an international event, hunter and jumper rider and trainer, Crampton introduced her to Irish Diamonds, then eight years old. The Canadian-bred Thoroughbred had been owned by eventer Tabitha Lee, who campaigned him as Kracker at the preliminary level.

“Sonya loved him and believed he was a four-star horse and she wanted someone nice to buy him,” recalled Jordan. “I wasn’t completely sold on him in the beginning. I couldn’t really ride him – it was me, not him.

“He was a lot more horse than I’d ever ridden before and he was a bigger mover, he was stronger and he was a phenomenal jumper. He would fire his hind end over a jump and I’d get lost. He is a big-strided horse and for someone who’d been riding 15.3 to 16-hand little Thoroughbreds, to go to a 16.2-hand horse that can do an 18-foot stride … I was a little lost.”

Despite her reservations, Jordan bought the horse, realizing she had to step up her game. She changed his handle back to his registered Thoroughbred name, Irish Diamonds. “When I think of Kracker, I think of a firecracker, and it didn’t give me the right vibe,” she said. Around the barn, he’s known as Reno.

Her determination to mesh with Reno paid off. “He is a fantastic horse, so forgiving and sweet. He tries so hard. “

She bought him in late spring five years ago and took him to training level to get a feel for him before upgrading to preliminary that fall.  Crampton coached her through the levels to her first two-star.

In 2007, the pair completed their first one-star at the Florida International Three-Day Event in Ocala, finishing 17th. They returned the following year to compete in the two-star, where they finished in the top 10 and earned a spot on the 2009 Canadian Eventing Team long list. When she heard the news that she and Reno had made the list, “I’m pretty sure I cried,” said Jordan.

The Next Step

She started working for Ocala grand prix show jumper Ian Silitch and through him, met Athens Olympic individual champion Leslie Law, who’d moved to Ocala with his Canadian wife, Lesley Grant-Law. About two years ago, she started training with Law, while continuing to work on her show jumping with Silitch.

Last year, Jordan achieved her goal to ride at the advanced level, but it was initially a bumpy ride.

“We had a bit of a rocky spring trying to get our feet wet at advanced and it just wasn’t meshing at the time,” she said. But by fall, the pair had found their feet and placed 14th at the Fair Hill CCI***.

“He was amazing and did well in dressage, despite the ring falling over,” she said. “We still struggle with dressage and we are working hard on it this year.”

Cross-country is Irish Diamonds’ forté. “He’s fantastic cross-country, super bold. He gets excited, but he is not rude or awful – he’s pretty nice to ride. Leslie says he’s a great water horse, super fearless.”

They’ve been doing a lot of the winter HITS shows with Silitch to gain experience in the jumper ring.

“With Ian, I’m constantly working on my show jumping and I’m constantly at the Laws working on cross-country. Leslie has brought it all together; he and Ian have helped me with straightness.”

Law has also been drilling her on flatwork, getting Reno more “through” and consistent in the bridle, and working on the quality of all three gaits.

Looking Ahead

Jordan is tentatively planning a trip home to Canada this summer. “I definitely would like to come home and do the Bromont CCI***,” she said. That would certainly save travel time for her mom, who lives in Kemptville and is Jordan’s staunchest supporter. Her mother spends January to March in Florida watching her daughter train and compete and often treks to summer events to cheer her on.

In addition to Irish Diamonds, Jordan has a young Thoroughbred that her husband owns. “I usually try to keep two horses, so I have something to practice jumping on other than just Reno.”

While Jordan wouldn’t rule out competing at the Pan Am Games if the opportunity presented itself, she’s keeping it in perspective. “If they look at us, that’s great; if not, I think my big aspiration would be to do Rolex next spring (2012),” she says. “I’ve been there as a spectator many a time. I was having a dressage lesson this past summer and was getting a little frustrated and Leslie was laughing at me.  He said ‘Don’t worry, we’ll have time to figure this out before you go to Rolex.’  I just stared at him. I couldn’t believe he said the ‘R’ word.”

For now, the only validation Jordan needs is the letter she pinned to Irish Diamonds’ stall naming them to the short list. “Anyone who does any kind of competitive sport knows when you are acknowledged that way,  it’s amazing,” Jordan said. “You always hope – then suddenly you’re realizing your dream!”