‘I have a very nice mother!’ Meet the European individual medal contender given to her rider as a surprise present

Meet the Swiss rider who will be challenging for the individual medals at the Longines FEI European Showjumping Championships this afternoon – with a horse her mother gave her as a surprise present.

Nadja Peter Steiner and Mila are in sixth place at this stage, on 2.11 penalties, having added nothing to their first round score over the two following days of jumping.

The 13-year-old mare is no stranger to championships; she and Eoin McMahon were on the Irish team that won the silver medal at the 2023 Europeans, where they finished ninth individually. And neither is Nadja; she was on the Swiss team that won European bronze in 2017.

“She’s just an amazing, amazing, amazing mare,” Nadja said. “I’ve only been riding her since the beginning of this year, so it’s still new, and very special to be here after such a short time. “Coming here was not at all the plan for this year, because it is still so new, but every time I go in a ring, she does her very best, and she makes my life easy.”

Nadja said Mila is a very sweet mare, who is more fond of humans than she is horses – and that it was a “funny story” that led to their partnership.

“I didn’t know about her – my mother gave me a present!” she said. “They all organised the flight and everything for me; she came with Philipp Weishaupt’s horses, and when I arrived in Doha, she was there.

“I rode her for the first time there, a small course but in a show straight away, and since then it has been real love together.”

Asked if it had been her birthday, Nadja answered: “No, she was just a present, I have a very nice mother!”

The first round of the individual final starts at 2pm local time (1pm BST) and the second round at 4.30pm (3.30pm).

• To stay up to date with all the news from the European Showjumping Championships as it happens, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website today from just £1 a week. Our reporter Eleanor Jones will be on site throughout

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