Liz Mikutowski remembers watching her 3-year-old daughter Amy play a game she referred to as "pony roundup" with her uncle Stewart and finding it hard not to laugh.

The My Little Ponies with which Amy played were hand-me-downs from neighbors who had outgrown them, since the Mikutowskis were not in a financial position to lavish Amy with toys, but Amy delighted in playing with them nonetheless, Liz said.

For Liz, watching Amy encircle her 6-foot-plus and well-muscled uncle with hundreds of ponies was a comical sight.

But for Amy Mikutowski, now a College of Arts & Sciences sophomore with aspirations of riding at the Olympic level, horses have always been a serious matter.

"I don't remember a time when I wasn't interested in horses," said Mikutowski, who, according to her mother, had riding on her mind at an age when most children struggle to walk.

"We have her on videotape at 16 months holding a little brown horse and telling us all about it," Liz said.

Mikutowski pleaded with her mother to take her on trail rides at age 3 and started taking riding lessons by the time she was 9, Liz said.

Mikutowski specializes in Dressage, an equestrian sport she said dates back to medieval Europe. Dressage, originally used by cavalry in battle, focuses on precision, control and communication between the horse and rider, she said.

Mikutowski said she drives to Sorensen Equestrian Park in East Troy, Wis., five to six times a week to work with her horse Ovation, whom she has owned for three years.

She and Ovation spent last summer in DeLeons Springs, Fla., working for Michael Poulin, a bronze medal winner in Dressage in the 1992 summer Olympic games. She will return next semester to work for Poulin again.

In DeLeons Springs, Mikutowski said she spends 12 to 14 hours a day working with horses, doing barn chores and trying to establish the connections she hopes will help make her own Olympic dreams a reality.

"There are basically two ways to get to the top of Dressage," she said: Buy the best training and horses, or work for everything.

Mikutowski said it generally takes 10 years as an apprentice to become an Olympic-level rider. But she said she values the process of getting to the Olympics as much as the end result. For her, that means putting in hard work, "not just getting on someone else's trained horse to win a medal," she said.

She said riding drives her toward constant improvement.

"You're searching for perfection, but you'll never achieve it," she said.

Anne Zaharias, a trainer with whom Mikutowski worked in her hometown of Marinette, Wis., for seven years, said Mikutowski can take her riding "as far as she wants to go with it."

The path to the Olympics "is a difficult road," Zaharias said, but Mikutowski "definitely has the capabilities to get through all of that."

Mikutowski is no stranger to the difficult road. In September 2003, she was diagnosed with leukemia and underwent treatment until April 2004, she said.

A strong support system of family and friends and an upbeat attitude helped keep her optimistic through treatment, she said.

"There's no maybe with cancer," she said. "You're either going to make it or you're not, so you might as well go into it like you are."

Even while undergoing treatment, Mikutowski said she never lost sight of her goals.

"I never for a day actually thought that I wouldn't ride again," she said.

While treatment restricted the exercises she could do, Mikutowski spent hours on a stationary bike to keep in shape, her mother said.

"She was so driven to stay in shape because she wanted to ride," she said.

Mikutowski's efforts paid off sooner rather than later. Just four months after she had been cleared to begin riding again, Mikutowski qualified for the Regional Dressage Championships in a region covering seven states and finished 10th out of 66 riders.

Mikutowski said her aspirations for horseback riding go beyond competitions and medals. She said her battle with leukemia helped her realize the need for funds for cancer research, and hopes to use her riding to spearhead fundraising efforts similar to Lance Armstrong's LiveStrong campaign.

"I know how important it was for me to have role models" like Armstrong, she said. "I would like to give something back."

Mikutowski said her experiences both within and outside the world of horses have taught her that nothing happens by itself.

"You almost have to make your own miracles," she said.