Chiacchia, who trains in New York and Florida, would love to compete at next year's Olympics. Here Chiacchia talks about his early riding days when he would get thrown off a horse daily, what his goals are for Athens, and what it's like to travel with his four-legged friends.

Q1: How did you get started in equestrian?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "I grew up in a suburb of Buffalo just south of the city and lived near a standard bred racetrack. I would just love to go over and watch the horses and be around them. When I was about 12 I met someone with some riding horses at a little local stable and I would go and clean stalls and just do anything I could to be around them."

Q2: What was it like when you finally started riding horses?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "I was only given an unbroken pony that I think threw me off at least once a day for about nine months. I sort of really came up the hard way. I didn't own a saddle for a year so I learned to ride bareback and I learned the halter and lead rope style, which is very, very basic. As I look back, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. I could ride just about anything so people who had problem horses were always sending them my way to ride."

Q3: Is there a secret to breaking in horses?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "Now things are very different but at the time I think the only special talent you needed to have was the ability to stay on better than the next person."

Q4: How often do you ride now?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "I am in the saddle anywhere from 4 to 10 hours a day. On a competitive day I may be on my first horse at 6 o'clock in the morning and crawling off the last horse at 6 o'clock in the evening. We compete nearly every weekend so if we have 52 weekends in the year I think it's safe to say that I am competing pretty hard on a minimum of 40 of those weekends."

Q5: What's it like traveling abroad with a horse?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "I've been in a very fortunate position to be able to represent my country in some pretty outstanding competitions and travel with my horses all the way to Rome, Spain, and to England on numerous occasions. Traveling with horses is never storyless. It's a big enough adventure for people to jump on the plane and go to London let alone pack for 4-6 weeks for horses and for grooms and equipment. It's quite a process. Once you've done it a few times it's like anything else. It gets easier and easier."

Q6: Has your horse ever been shipped to the wrong place?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "We've never lost any horses thank God. But stuff gets left behind you can't help it. Somebody forgets to pack something. Fortunately there's always an array of pack shops around or you can borrow from a friend."

Q7: What are some must-have items when traveling with a horse?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "As a rider, you never want to get anywhere without the basics like your riding boots. You can almost borrow a saddle but your own personal equipment that is fit just to you that's a little hard to replace on short notice."

Q8: How do you celebrate after a win and how does the horse get rewarded?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "After some of the big competitions and big wins horses have a little bit of a reward as in a break. We certainly are not shy of celebration whether it be a party or a great evening out or something like that but that's Sunday evening and the horses have Monday off and we're right back at it Tuesday for the following weekend."

Q9: Is your goal to make it on the Olympic team or do you have medals in mind?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "Absolutely. I would never say I'm going to the Olympics just because I want to participate. When we get there we're going to get there to win a medal."

Q10: Have you always wanted to go to the Olympics?

DARREN CHIACCHIA: "I always just wanted to ride horses but once you learn that this was also an Olympic discipline of course that just heightened the goal all the more."