Poised for Rio: Mikala Gundersen

A lifelong dedication to education has brought Denmark’s Mikala Münter Gundersen to where she is today. Brought up in the Danish school of equestrian art, mentored by a national heroine and tutored by a former director of the Spanish Riding School, Mikala’s skillset is in much demand. Now, at 48, the teacher is the star pupil on the verge of making her own Olympic debut.

Mikala and Henrik Gundersen and their two children left Denmark in 2004 to make their home at the four-acre Bell Tower Farm in Wellington, Florida. In the decade since Mikala crossed the threshold of the international dressage scene, she has won grands prix and World Cup freestyles (her ‘burlesque’ choreography is admired by audiences and judges alike) at CDI 3-, 4- and 5-star level, competed in a World Equestrian Games and a European Championship, and steadily climbed the world rankings. Today, with Janne Rumbough’s 16-year-old Danish Warmblood mare My Lady, she is current leading money-winner at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival, number two in her Olympic group’s athlete’s ranking, and a shoe-in for the Danish team heading to Rio.

What’s your earliest horsey memory?

My father taking me to a local barn. I think I was about three years old and I remember the smell of the horses and the barn and of him carrying me and letting me pat them all. I know I cried and begged him to take me back. I think he regretted ever taking me there in the first place!

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How did you get started with horses?

My parents weren’t horse people. It was all me, it was all I wanted to do. I started having lessons when I was six (my parents told me I had to know my left from my right before I could start) and for three years we mostly played around with ponies, bombing through the woods bareback. You can learn a lot, riding like that. I was 10 when I started riding my aunt’s off-the-track Standardbred. He was huge, with a neck like a broomstick, and I was tiny. It was an interesting combination.

Why dressage?

One day I saw a lady doing extended trot and I thought that it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw and that I wanted to be able to do that. I advanced pretty quickly, but my parents didn’t have the money to buy me horses and I worked as a cleaner just to have lessons. If I was going to progress any further, I had to go into the education system and become an instructor. In my fourth year I actually met my heroine, Liz Hartel, who asked me to come and work with her. She was Danish dressage champion ten times in the 1940s and ’50s and one of the first women ever to compete against men in the Olympic Games. She won silver medals in the 1952 and 1956 Games, despite being disabled by polio. She taught me just about everything about training and life.

How did you end up living in the United States?

In April 2004, we happened to visit Lars Petersen [Danish team rider] here in Florida and we were blown away by its beauty. Everything is so close by – schools, farms, shops; in Denmark, you’d have to drive miles to get anything. Henrik and I said “We want to live here.” So we sold everything we owned – horses, antiques, paintings, cars, equipment – and moved to Wellington six months later. My intention was to take a break from the sport, raise my kids, and ride my one horse. One neighbor saw me ride and asked me to teach her. All of a sudden I had a barn full of horses again!

What is your typical day like?

I sit on my first horse at 7:15 a.m. It’s always My Lady first and then Victor, who I have just started showing in CDIs. I’ll ride or teach all morning until 11:45 when I’ll run into the house for an apple and banana and some almonds, jump into the car and zip over to Janne Rumbough’s for her two-hour lesson. I’ll finish there at two and then it’s back to Bell Tower for more teaching and riding until 4:30. Then it’s ‘my time.’ I’ll go have a shower and lay down for an hour before I go to Publix and get the ingredients to cook for dinner. That’s pretty much it, six days a week for three months, juggling show days in between. It’s pretty exhausting. In the summer I will go to Europe to train with Ernst Hoyos. We rest in December. You need that time off to recharge your batteries and prepare yourself for the season ahead.

Can you identify a turning point in your career?

It’s been such a long road, but I never doubted that I could do it. No matter what horse I was given, I knew I could make it better. I also knew that I could be a better rider and that someday, if I would be lucky to get a really good horse, it would all come together. Leonberg was my breakthrough horse. In 2009, we came fifth in the freestyle at CHIO Rotterdam. Coming fifth behind the likes of Edward Gal and Totilas and Anky van Grunsven on Salinero was like winning for me!

Were sacrifices made along the way?

Absolutely. It’s hard to be the perfect mom when you’re riding full-time, and there have been family celebrations or funerals we’ve had to miss. There is no in-between in this business. You’ve got to give 100 per cent. I do feel, however, that my children benefitted in some ways, particularly in their maturity and confidence.

Besides being ultra-competitive by nature, what else gives you an edge?

I am ultra-competitive, that’s for sure, but horses have to last. I think I have found the right balance between competition and serving the best interests of my horses. Protecting and saving my horses for the long run is more important to me than winning in the ring.

How would your friends and family describe your character?

My girlfriends say I am a very loyal person. They can always count on me. I am also an optimist. I always see the positive in any issue.

If life hadn’t taken you where it has, would you have had another profession?

I can’t see myself doing anything else, although I do like to write. I think that at some time in my life I would like to put my knowledge into words.

Where is your favorite place in the entire world?

I actually love being at the farm in Florida, at home with my family and dogs and horses. I don’t need to get on a plane to sip a margarita on the beach.

How do you keep in shape?

Yoga once a week; it keeps my body flexible.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

A glass of cold white wine at the end of the day. I also love champagne for special occasions.

What’s on the horizon for you?

It looks like we are in a good position to be on the Danish team for Rio. We qualified for the World Cup Final, but after a long discussion with my coach, Ernst, we decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to fly My Lady over to Sweden, back home, and then back to Europe for the Danish team selection trials.

If you could invite four guests, living or dead, to a dinner party, who would you choose?

My daughter, Claudia, is away at boarding school in Denmark much of the time, so I would choose my kids and my husband. I would also like to have my grandmother. I wish she could be here to see my life and my family.

Do you have a life lesson to share?

I think it’s really important to live in the present. Life’s a journey; some steps are harder than others. Don’t put yourself under so much pressure by focusing too much on the future. Enjoy the day – what will be, will be.