• Contino 14

    1997 Holsteiner bay gelding (Contender x Calypso 1)
    Owned by Millar Brooke Farm

    Contino 14 was living on a small farm in Germany when Dutch horse dealers Paul and Emile Hendrix took the Millars to try him. At 11, the Holsteiner gelding was posting consistent results at the 1.40m level, but had not yet competed in an International Grand Prix.

    “He’s a real gentle giant,” says Jonathon Millar. “He’s very scopey and careful and has a very sweet disposition. But he’s also 17.3h. It can be challenging for a horse of his size to compress its stride quickly.”

    Well suited to a tall rider, Millar Brooke Farm purchased Contino 14 for Jonathon in 2009. The formidable pair quickly became staples on the Canadian Equestrian Team.

    Riding alongside his sister, Jonathon was a member of Canada’s second place team in the 2009 Nations’ Cup Promotional League Final in Barcelona, Spain aboard Contino 14. The following year, they made their major games debut, representing Canada at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky. The team’s fifth place finish earned Canada a berth at the 2012 Olympics. In 2011, Jonathon and Contino 14 again rode for Canada. This time on a team with his father, Ian Millar, in the Nations Cup competition in Wellington, Florida, where Canada placed second.

    “We were very lucky in a sense, because there are very few riders that would have been able to achieve International success with Contino,” says Amy Millar. “They were a well-matched pair.”

    FEI Results at this link.