Ian Millar

Ian Millar Web (I made it.)

Ian Millar was born January 6th, 1947 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, growing up in Ottawa, Ontario. He rode his piano bench when he was young and he watched longingly for rent-a-ponies in his neighborhood. Years later he had children of his own, 23 year old Amy and 25 year old Jonathon. Both of his children are competing in horse-back riding and they both say “Our dad never pushed us to ride.” Ian Millar is the most successful competitor in the history of Canadian show jumping! He has ridden for Canada in five world championships! He’s ridden in Rome, Italy, Dublin, Ireland, Aachen, Germany and in the Netherlands! He represented Canada in three consecutive Olympic Games from 1984-1992. All his life he dreamt of horses and wanted to horse-back ride. It looks like his dream came true!

Ian Millar jumping (www.horseweb.com)

Ian Millar’s life is very inspiring and remarkable because when he was little, he dreamt of horses and wanted to ride them and his dream came true. I think he is a great role model. He wins in every jumping class he is in (almost). He is brave, humble and athletic. That is what I call a role model! He inspires me to be more athletic and to be brave and take risks. I admire Ian Millar because he is a big star (to me) and is so humble about it! He is funny and is one of the biggest risk-takers I have seen in a long time. I think Ian Millar is a role model because he always strives for greatness and inspires everyone around him to do so as well. He is generous, charitable and giving because he didn’t hog all of the fame for himself, but now his children are riding and competing against him. When his horse, Big Ben died, he buried him beneath the ground on his farm, to remember his great companion. He is very athletic and I don’t think I need to tell you why. He always rides horses and is constantly competing. Ian Millar is very brave because he is never scared to jump to bigger heights. He is also risk-taking. By jumping big heights, he is risking his life and the horses, because he could have a nasty fall and hurt himself or the horse. He is very caring, not only for his family, but for his horses. I think he is a community hero because He shares his fame with everybody and does activities with children and other cool stuff like that. He is very humble because he wins a lot and never brags about it or is snobby about it. One of the best things about Ian Millar is, he is CANADIAN! I think the most influential qualities to how Ian Millar is living now are risk-taking, brave and athletic. If he was not either of those, how could he compete the way he is now? It would be hard! I think the hardest trait he has would be humble and generous. It is not easy to be generous and humble but he managed to do so. The most helpful trait he has is probably being brave and risk-taking. It probably helps him jump the courses.

I think the most important lessons I learned from Ian Millar are to never give up, even when life gets you down. Another lesson I learned is to be brave and do what you love even if there are some down sides to it. I think you can judge the quality of a person by who their enemies are. If someone hated a person that was always mean to everyone, which says that this person does not like people who are mean. I don’t think Ian Millar had a mentor, but he grew up around horses and as years passed, Ian probably grew to love horses.

Ian Millar and Big Ben (I drew it)

I think being a hero means to be looked up to and to be admired for great things that you have done. I think Ian Millar is a hero because I look up to him and he has done great things to represent Canada. Ian Millar is well known, but I think of him as a hero because he represents Canada in a lot of ways and he takes lots of risks and is very brave. That is how he is different from being well known. Ian Millar didn’t really have any heroes growing up... except horses! Ian Millar still lives on a ranch in Perth, Ontario. Today he is still competing, representing Canada. Ian Millar has won several awards in the Canadian jumping team. Here are a few: At 24 Ian Millar was the first jockey to ride over 500 winners in one season! He has competed in eight Olympic Games and has ridden in five world championships! I chose Ian Millar as my hero because he is brave, generous, risk-taking, humble and Canadian. He has accomplished MANY things and is still doing so. He has a great sense of humour and is using his talent to represent our country. I have learned a lot of things from Ian Millar such as: Never give up, even when life gets you down. Another thing I have learned is to do what you love, even when it has down sides. Maybe some of you will consider Ian Millar to be your hero! I hope I’ve convinced you!

Ian Millar jumping over Canada