In the late 1990s, Angela Millon was a busy pediatrician. She’d worked hard to get where she was, giving up horses for college, working her way through medical school and residency, and starting a family with her husband, John Millon.

But after 20 years out of the saddle, the horses came calling when she and her family moved to Greenville, South Carolina, for her job.

Angela jumped back wholeheartedly, buying a small farm and a horse, and her children, Meagan and Michael Millon, soon caught the horse bug. The trio competed locally and on the ‘A’ circuit until the children went off to college.

In 2015, Angela had another revelation and realized that in her mid-50s, she still had plenty of lofty riding goals she wanted to achieve. With John’s encouragement, she retired and put all her energy into qualifying for her bucket-list horse shows, like Devon (Pennsylvania) and the indoor circuit.

“All of a sudden one day I said, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this at this level forever, and I’m not getting any younger,’ ” she said. “I want to go to Devon, I want to qualify for indoor finals; I need to have time to dedicate to that, and working full time, there’s just not enough hours in the day. I didn’t have enough time to go to as many horse shows as I needed to go to, to get it done. The kids were in college, and I just cut back a little for a year or two, then finally my husband said, ‘Just retire. Go for it.’ ”

And she did, making it to Devon, the Pennsylvania National and the National Horse Show (Kentucky) in 2016 in the amateur-owner hunters with Motown, a Hanoverian gelding (Don Principe—EM Rising Star).

“I did get ribbons, not the primary colors, but I did. Those were on my bucket list, to be able to go and do that,” she said.

During her retirement, Angela became involved in the local Tryon Riding & Hunt Club in nearby Tryon, North Carolina. The organization, founded in 1925, put on rated and local shows, where Angela and her children were regulars over the years.

“Those shows were very special,” she recalled. “They were very different from the rest of the little local circuit shows. They had such a rich history and tradition, and the exhibitor parties were amazing. The board members would descend on the show grounds, and there this little, small town warmth. They’d come around and bring drinks and snacks. It was just wonderful. The kids and I looked forward to those shows.”

As she got to know more people involved with TRHC, she was asked to join their board of directors. She is now heading into her seventh year as a member and third year as president.

TRHC now supports a steeplechase, horse and hound show, rated hunter/jumper shows, dog shows, horse trials and two charity horse shows.

“There’s a lot of really rich, traditional activities that have been on the social calendar in Tryon for decades,” Angela said. “I love giving back to the community. Over the last five years, TRHC has given $200,000 back to the community and about half of that goes to horse-related places. The world’s been good to me. I like giving back.”

For her volunteer work with TRHC and for her work as a founding member and co-chair of the Carolinas Show Hunter Hall of Fame, which honors horses and horsemen tied to the Carolinas, Angela received the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s Amateur Sportsmanship Award at the organization’s annual meeting, held Dec. 4-7 in Concord, North Carolina.

“I was so humbled and surprised,” she said. “You sort of just do what you do and don’t think much about it. A lot of people know who I am in Tryon, North Carolina, but on a national scale, to get national recognition, that was huge. Going to that meeting and listening to the lifetime achievement presentation and the visionary presentation, it was so inspiring and sort of gave me a kick in the pants, like, ‘Alright, you’ve got one more year as the president of TRHC. You’ve done a whole lot, you’ve done well, but don’t coast your last year. Dig in and keep going because you can always do what you’re doing a little bit better.’ ”

Finding A Path

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Angela was always horse crazy. When her family moved to Connecticut, she started riding with Show Hunter Hall of Fame inductee Rick Fancher. All students had to care for their own horses, so Angela got an education in horsemanship.

“He had a great system,” she said. “If you could clip the school horses and do a great job, then you could clip your own. Of course, it was like Huck Finn! I was like, ‘OK, great!’ I learned how to clip and bandage and take care of horses from the get-go.”

She was a member of the local Pony Club in Weston, Connecticut, and a trip to the National Horse Show helped inspire her interest in medicine.

“One of our field trips was to go to the old National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden. … A lot of the horses that came into the ring, they would say, ‘Dr. and Mrs. this or Mrs. that,’ and I was like, ‘Huh, maybe if I grow up and become a doctor, I’ll have enough money to have horses,’ ” she recalled with a laugh.

Of course, it wasn’t just that which got her through medical school and a residency.

“I’ve always liked taking care of things,” she said. “I thought I wanted to be a vet, but I went out with a vet in Connecticut and made rounds with him, and it just so happened that the day or two that I went out with him, I got drug, trampled, stamped, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can survive being a vet.’ I always knew I wanted to do something medical, so I ended up doing people medicine instead of horse medicine. 

“I love taking care of kids and families—the continuity of it,” she said. “You take care of a kid from birth until they go off to high school or college. You get to really know the whole family. It was great. I loved it.”

When she got back into riding, Angela kept the family’s horses at home and taught her children the importance of horsemanship.

“I didn’t want to just take a riding lesson once a week. I wanted to have a horse and do it like I did as a kid,” she said. “I didn’t realize what I was setting myself up for, because it was three times the work and expenses, but both my kids rode all the way through high school;  my daughter rode through college. We had so much fun doing it together. We were like partners in crime. Those were wonderful days.”

“Pediatrics and horses are so alike: The little kids can’t tell you what’s wrong. You’ve got to look at them and see the look in their eye and read their non-verbal stuff to know, are they sick or are they well?”

Dr. Angela Millon, winner of the 2023 USHJA Amateur Sportsmanship Award

After her children went off to college—and after 25 years of doing the barn work herself—Angela felt lonely riding at home, so she moved her current horse, Jackson Square, to a barn where she could have a sense of camaraderie with other adult amateurs.

“To me [horsemanship] is huge. I feel like I know my horses,” she said. “Pediatrics and horses are so alike: The little kids can’t tell you what’s wrong. You’ve got to look at them and see the look in their eye and read their non-verbal stuff to know, are they sick or are they well? They can’t tell you what hurts. I think there’s a big crossover when you’re looking at a horse. You walk in the stall, glance in, and I can tell you, is he OK or not? It’s because you’re with them every single day and you know 100 percent what is there normal and what isn’t. I think a lot of amateurs don’t have that experience because they don’t take care of their horses on a daily basis. I think it’s very important.”

Angela rides with Gisele Beardsley O’Grady at Clear View Farm in Landrum, South Carolina. She shows “Jackson,” an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Q Breitling LS—Urrike) in the amateur-owner hunters, and O’Grady shows him in the 3’6” performance hunters.

“I decided, I’m young enough, I can do this, let’s move on and try one more time,” Millon said. “He’s probably the best jumping horse I’ve ever owned, but they all come along at different speeds, and he’s been slow to mature.”

At age 60, Angela still wants to get back to Devon and the fall indoor shows, and possibly earn primary-color ribbons there. 

But she’s not solely focused on the show ring: Returning to her childhood days in the hunt field, she recently went out for the first time with the Tryon Hounds for fun.

When asked what advice she’d give to older adult amateurs, she said, “Don’t give up. It’s out there. Surround yourself with the right village. Make sure you’re with the trainer that shares your goals, that supports you. It’s a journey. Enjoy every day. Every single day I go to the barn, I’m in my happy place, and it’s just a good day. Especially when I was working, no matter how bad a day I had, as soon as I got to the barn, life was good.”