As we know, all sports evolve tremendously, and our sport is no different. It's really not the same thing at all as it was in 1972. It's a different type of horse we're using. The style of riding is quite evolved, the way the courses are built, the materials used... it's virtually unrecognizable.
My first ambition was to be a show jumper. I did a bit of dressage as part of it, and the dressage trainer saw me and said, 'Why are you wasting your time with the other stuff? You should be concentrating on this.'
The best riders in the world with the best horses make it look so elegant and graceful. When you watch it done well, it looks so easy that it's difficult for the public to understand how hard this really is.
We had six horses, and I would compete. Jumping. Cabinets full of cups. I always won.
I was very successful at three-day events, point-to-points, Pony Club, and gymkhana. But then I went to college, and because I had really good horses, they weren't going to be left in the field, so they were sold.
I remember some people after the Olympics that had no idea about horses would ask, 'Do you do that with the horse, or does the horse do it by itself?' I think the fact that you can make it look like you are doing nothing is a real talent. And it is such a massive reward at the end of it.
I always thought I was going to be a professional horse rider because I rode horses competitively from zero to 17 years old.
I love the freedom you feel on horseback, and enjoy the discipline of competition.
Competing in show jumping is a school of life. And it's one of the few Olympic sports where men and women are equal.
I've been lucky to ride 10 different horses at the Olympics. I'd like to think that of all of them, Big Ben - who was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame - would still be competitive in the contemporary sport.
I actually used to compete at show-jumping when I was a young'un.
I started to ride when I was very young, and it's a sport I have practised for a very long time.
When I'm approaching a water jump, with dozens of photographers waiting for me to fall in, and hundreds of spectators wondering what's going to happen next, the horse is just about the only one who doesn't know I am Royal!
I think some horses are meant to do... eventing or dressage. We have Western horses who canter around. I think it takes, especially at the level I'm at now, it takes a horse that wants to do it.
I grew up riding horses since I was eight. I rode English style and competed every weekend. I had two horses, Scout and Camille, and they were my babies. It taught me a lot about responsibility and commitment. I hope horses will always be in my life.
A jump jockey has to throw his heart over the fence - and then go over and catch it.
I would be at horse shows by myself for weeks, and I had to make sure I was on my game at all times.
Eventing is way too dangerous. People get killed every year doing cross-country.
I began these clinics because I want to share my years of experience in around the ring, in addition to my proven winning methods. I have seen the good and the bad. I have learned valuable lessons, which I want to pass along to those truly interested in the sport.
When I was very young I wanted to be a professional horseback rider. Then I wanted to be a pop singer. Then I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Then I wanted to be a movie director.
I ride my horse at competition level.
Richard Armitage is very good at the old horse riding because of course he did it in 'Robin Hood,' so he's very good at that.
And it's not that going out for a hack is wrong or bad, I certainly don't view it as that; it's just that there's something about the dressage, being put through your paces, that makes you better.
I only knew basic western trail riding. Nothing fancy.
I do, and I hunt. I like small horses best. They're like small men. They have more to prove so they take all the more risks and jump higher and faster than all the rest.
