British team medallist Tina Cook has made the sad decision to retire her Olympic mount Miners Frolic after it has been discovered that he has a heart fibrillation (abnormal rhythm of the heart beat)
After diagnosis of the problem, Tina and Miners Frolic’s owners, Valda and Nicholas Embiricos and Sarah Pelham decided to retire the 16 year old gelding rather than put him through corrective surgery
On the British Eventing website, the British World Class Eventing Performance Manager Yogi Breisner says “Miners Frolic was as close to the ideal type of Event horse that you would wish for. Very few horses make it to Olympic Games yet he made it to two, winning medals for Britain at both. His Olympic achievements combined with his European Individual gold puts him among the hall of fame of top Event horses ever.
“He has been fantastic for the British team in contributing to several big successes in his career. He was a wonderful individual and a lovely horse to be around.”
Tina commented that “I obviously have mixed emotions and it’s very sad that we’ve been forced into this situation. He’s still very well in himself but we felt that at sixteen, the treatment that he would have to undergo to correct the heart would be too intrusive and he owes us nothing other than to have a happy retirement.
“It does feel like the end of an era; I started eventing him when he was five, and we’ve been competing together for eleven years now - everything he has done for both my owners and myself - he’s just been a superstar.”
Miners Frolic and Tina won Individual and team bronze at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, Individual and team gold at the 2009 FEI European Championships in Fontainebleau, team gold at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky and team silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Their most recent team appearance was at the 2013 FEI European Championships in Malmo, Sweden
Although Miners Frolic has been retired from top level competition it is hoped that he will now enjoy hacking and a more leisurely lifestyle with one of his owners
