Click here to read McLain’s first Road To The Olympics entry from our February 22 Issue.

I think we’re headed in the right direction. This sport is about peaking at the right time, and what I’ve learned as I’ve matured a little bit is that you can peak too early, so we’re just trying to get everything to come together at the right time.

[On Feb. 13, the U.S. Equestrian Federation Ad Hoc Committee on Selection named Ward and Sapphire to the short list for the show jumping team for the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong, giving them a bye and allowing them to sit out the five rounds of selection trials.]
   
Receiving a bye certainly lets you do a little bit more of your own program, but there is a lot of pressure involved, too. It’s saying that the powers that be believe that you and your horse belong at this level of jumping and earned a spot on this team—and, hopefully, belong at the Olympic Games.

You have to appreciate that confidence from [Chef d’Equipe] George Morris and the selectors. You want to live up to their expectations and prove them right every time. It’s one step closer to the Olympics, and every step closer to the Olympics you get, the more you have to tighten the screws and perform better and better.
   
We had decided that we would show Sapphire a little bit at the end of Wellington [Fla.]; the prize money was very good. I talked with George Morris, and we agreed that if she received the bye we would jump in
the Nations Cup. He wanted an experienced horse to anchor the team, so I told him we would be happy to do that.

I remember thinking in the Nations Cup that we had to jump a clear round. All these horses were jumping in the trials to get on the short list, and we had to make sure to show that Sapphire had earned her bye and do what she’s asked to do.
   
I have to say that at Wellington in general—other than with Sapphire—I was a little disappointed with my performances. We weren’t that competitive, so I got a little discouraged. But it’s turned around in the last month. My mind is in a much better place. We had the stress in Wellington of not being 100 percent sure of what was going on with the byes and the short list. That’s behind us now, and we can focus on Hong Kong. And I think the mare is coming along really just right.

On To The Invitational

Sapphire didn’t jump a fence between the last week in Wellington [on March 16] and the schooling area at the [$200,000 Budweiser American Invitational in Tampa, Fla., on April 5]. She’s always been really good in that stadium, and I wasn’t worried about her being spooky. Knowing what’s coming later in the summer, I’ve been trying to pick and choose what I do with her. She’s going to jump plenty of jumps later in the summer.
   
Sapphire felt great warming up, and I felt very confident. I felt the course was good for us. [What Ward didn’t know was that there was a rapidly approaching violent thunderstorm.]
   
When I went into the ring, I made a conscious mental note that it probably would be pouring by the time I finished because you could feel the storm coming in. But there’s no way I could have expected what actually happened. [Ward was stopped after fence 7 on course after a whirlwind blew all the jumps down.]
   
Because I made a mental note about what was coming, I was really focused and actually didn’t really notice something was wrong until halfway through the triple combination, when I heard the wall fall down.

Then, I realized that this was a little bit of a tough situation. I was just hoping that the jumps would stay
up in front of me so I could continue. I had no intention of pulling up unless there were no more jumps to jump, which ended up happening. I jumped the jump after the triple combination and looked for the next jump, and instantly there was nothing left standing.
   
Sapphire was incredible. She never even slightly wavered. I didn’t feel her get at all nervous; I don’t even think she knew what was going on.
   
[Invitational officials decided to hold the class for 40 minutes, then allowed Ward to resume his first-round course.] She just stood in her stall and waited. We typically don’t untack them between the first round and the jump-off, so we didn’t untack her and let her get cold. We just waited, and I tried to stay focused.
   
To come back and start that far into the course was really tough. It was the guts of the course, and it was remarkable how she handled it. [Ward and Sapphire ended up winning the Invitational.]
   
We went back to Wellington, and everyone had a few days off. Sapphire showed on April 12 in a small class at the Charlotte Jumper Classic [N.C.] just to get her in the ring. It was such a change in venue for any horse. Particularly for a horse of her size, indoor jumping is certainly more challenging than outdoor jumping.
   
[In the $500,000 Grand Prix of Charlotte] Sapphire jumped fabulously; it was a little bit of rider error, and we had a slight mistake for 4 faults. As long as the horse keeps jumping that way, and she has solid rounds—clear or 4 faults—I think we’ll be ready for the Olympics.

Getting In Top Shape

I don’t leave for Europe until after Upperville [Va., in early June]. I go right to Rotterdam [the Netherlands]. Sapphire will jump a couple of small classes at Old Salem [N.Y., May 13-25] and then at Rotterdam and Aachen [Germany, where Ward and Sapphire will compete on the U.S. team for the Samsung Super League Nations Cups]. At that point, if she feels really good through there, that would be her last jumping in the ring before Hong Kong. She’s capable of performing very well after time off from showing. Five weeks in between shows doesn’t affect her that much.
   
She’ll do a lot of galloping work now when we go home. We try to keep her out of the ring as much as possible and ride in the fields. She probably won’t jump at home before Old Salem, and she’ll go there and have a relaxed show. Rotterdam and Aachen are crunch time, and we’ll have to show up ready to compete at those events.

I think I’ve got her weight really good, and she’s about 85 percent as fit as I want her to be. Her program
doesn’t change too much. She gets worked about 45 minutes on the flat, and then she spends about 20 minutes on the treadmill six days a week. I’m not a big believer in riding twice a day. I think the horses have a certain amount of concentration level they can work at, so we use the treadmill as a second exercise.
   
I myself always have to battle with conditioning. I’m not a twig by nature. It’s something I’m always working on. I don’t think show jumpers have to be as physically fit as say a swimmer or a track athlete, but I think we have to be strong and balanced and maintain certain standards.
   
I try to get to the gym a couple of times a week, and I was getting in quite a difficult workout in Florida, alongside my father.
   
I think for us, the mind is the most important. You have to be in a good place mentally. A lot of
unforeseen things can happen with horses—like a tornado at the Invitational—and you have to be prepared mentally to deal with them.

As I look back, if something has been my shortcoming in the past years, it’s been that mental focus, that
maintaining control even when things are going wrong. I’ve been working hard on that.

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