American professional dressage rider Emily Miles has put her show career on the back burner as she decided to go back to school and finish her medical degree.

Photo – Emily Miles at the 2023 Palm Beach Dressage Derby in Wellington (© Astrid Appels)

The 36-year old Miles (née Wagner) finished her pre-med bachelor in 2011 at the University of Kansas, but put that professional path on hold to pursue a career with horses.

Yellow Brick Road

Emily is from LaCygne, Kansas, and grew up in a dressage loving family at at Wally Woo Farm with mom Jana being a dressage rider, trainer and coach.

Her first claim to fame came as a junior rider representing the USA at the 2006 North American Junior Riders Championships with stallion Mushu (by Macht). In 2007 she move up to Young Riders level and returned to the NAYRC aboard Molinari (by Metternich x Acajou). In 2008 she piloted Wagnis (by Weltmeyer x Lungau) at the NAYRC and in 2009 it was Brigadier’s turn (by Batido x Art Deco), although they were rung out.

WakeUp Launches Emily’s Career

The pair went to Europe to represent the USA at the 2010 World Young Horse Championships in Verden, where they finished fourth in the 5-year old consolation finals. In 2011 the pair won the U.S. Young Horse Championships for 6-year olds. In 2013 the duo won the Developing Prix St Georges Horse Championships and two years later he claimed his third major national title, the U.S. Developing Grand Prix horse Champion.

In 2014 Miles got a grant to train in Europe, where WakeUp pulled a suspensory, and it took a long time for him to recover. Wagner married Jeff Miles in October 2014 and changed her name to Miles. More recently she also goes by the name Emily Juchser Miles with Juchser pointing to her mom’s maiden name.

Emily and Wakup returned to the CDI ring in January 2019 in Temecula before he was retired from sport.

Read the Full Article at Eurodressage.com