Chasing a dream is never easy. Chasing one in a foreign country, in a foreign language, in a sport you weren’t born into takes something else entirely. Gildo Minichiello was 19 years old when he partnered with his nonna — his grandmother — to buy his first horse, a decision that would change everything. He was raised in Mirabella Eclano, a small town in Southern Italy, a world away from the sport that would one day define his life.

He may not have come from a horse family, but he came from something just as powerful — unshakeable support. “My parents don’t know anything about this world,” Gildo says, “but they always encouraged me. My dad has never wavered in his support, and my mom has been there every step of the way, too. They supported every crazy dream I had.”