About Victoria “Tori” Miller

Welcome! I’m Victoria “Tori” Miller and I am the owner and trainer at Paragon Eventing established in 2019 and I am currently based in the heart of Leesburg Virginia. I am extremely lucky to be in such close proximity to some of the best venues and events in USEA Area 2 and USDF Region 1

I am currently based in VA 12-months out of the year, but I also plan a calendar of opportunities to get my string of talented horses to many other events and shows in Area 3 (Tryon, NC, Aiken, SC) during the winter season, and have also been blessed to travel for training and show opportunities in Ocala, FL.

I was born and raised in New York and began riding, as many aspiring equestrians do, at a very young age. I took my very first lessons at age 5, and was immediately hooked! I was privileged to ride with Terry and Sue Williams of New York, who are most notably known as the owners of the show jumping stallion, Abdullah, who earned multiple medals at World Championships, World Cups, and the Olympics. Not only did I learn valuable lessons in the saddle, but I also learned equally valuable lessons in horse care, grooming, and showing as they believed in doing all the hands-on care themselves.

I pride myself in my diverse background in numerous disciplines and breeds within the equestrian world. Not only did I enjoy numerous years of riding and competing in Eventing and showjumping with various breeds of top class warmbloods and thoroughbreds, I also assisted with the training of the competition horses at Lorick Stables in Youngstown, NY, the #1 Friesian horse breeder in the United States in 2012, 2013, and 2014. This amazing opportunity added to my “toolbox” of training techniques I still use today to work with every type of horse, from the “packer” type, quiet lesson horse, to the incredibly fit, and sometimes sensitive, Upper level event horses.

In the little over one year of time there, I enjoyed numerous championship wins with this unique breed.

My heart truly belongs out there galloping on the cross country courses, and I realized in 2013 that Eventing was my true passion, and where I wanted to focus all of my energy for the future. Later that year I was accepted into one of the most well known Working Student programs in the eventing community, Windchase Eventing, owned and operated by Olympian Phyllis Dawson in Purcellville, Virginia.

I spent 3 years under the tutelage of Phyllis and her amazing team of assistant trainers, advancing up the levels. As a working student, I was part of a team of personnel responsible for the care and training for over 50 horses on the property including foals and youngsters bred by Phyllis, client horses, and sale horses. Riding multiple horses a day, including my own, really sharpened my skills as an effective rider, and I learned the principles of running a successful training and sale program.

Through Phyllis and her network of former, successful students-turned-trainers, I was able to source my current FEI Upper Level prospect, Like Magic aka “Magic”. With Phyllis’s guidance and training, I was able to bring him up from the beginning to successfully competing at Training Level, winning numerous times including at Area 2 Team Challenges, and multiple Year End Awards.

In 2017, I was accepted as a Working Student for 4* International Event Rider Sara Kozumplik Murphy, based at Overlook Farm in Berryville, VA during the summer season, and Ocala, FL during the winter season. Sara’s husband, Brian Murphy is a Grand Prix international show jumper from Ireland, and was a valuable resource for improving my show jumping rounds.

Having the training opportunity to move to Florida with Sara during the winter season allowed me to successfully move “Magic” and myself up to Prelim, in preparation to compete in our first FEI 2* event.

I was also able to take part in unique opportunity as a demo rider for the USEA ICP symposium in 2017, featuring as clinicians International Event riders, Leslie Law, Chris Burton, and judge Chris Ryan. Having experienced the ICP instructor symposium, I have plans to become ICP certified as an instructor now that I am focusing on the teaching and training aspect of my business.

In 2017, after multiple successful Top 5 placings, Like Magic qualified for the American Eventing Championships (AECs) in Tryon, NC at Preliminary Level, and ultimately finished in 5th place.

2018 was a year of “building” and finally accomplishing one of my biggest goals. It proved to be a tough year with inclement weather cancelling numerous shows and making training and conditioning near impossible, and a handful of minor injuries for both the competition horses and myself, kept us from pushing for our FEI appearances and the move up to Intermediate. As every top equestrian knows, horses will be horses, and this business is not without it’s highs and lows. The difference between success and failure, is the ability to persevere and give it 110% every day.

I focused on building my business and establishing a home base for training. I found a lovely, private facility in Harper’s Ferry,WV where I moved my entire string of competition horses closer to home, and began accepting boarding and training clients, and lessons students.

With a growing business, I am looking for key sponsors to join my journey, and be apart of my path to my goal of Advanced Level eventing and 5* competition. This journey would not be possible without the help and support of my sponsors, my clients, and my friends and family, to which I owe most of my success. It truly “takes a village”, not to mention a lot of hard work, and I welcome potential clients and sponsors to come take a tour to learn about all the big plans we have to turn this into a top class facility!

AWARDS:

2015 USEA Area 8 Novice Adult Amateur Rider of the Year

2016 USEA Area 8 Training Adult Amateur Rider of the Year

2016 USEA 3rd Place Overall Training Rider of the Year

2017 USEA Area 8 Preliminary Adult Rider of the Year