EQUESTRIAN: Mars is the name of the God of War, but Mars the handsome 7-year-old bay gelding from Longford is an affable character. So affable it takes skilled riding to get him going. Eileen Battersby reports.
Olga Rybakova, from the town of Joshkar-Ola in North Central Russia, is only 12 and could as easily be doing ballet as horse riding. She began riding at the age of eight and first competed at 11 last year in Moscow.
Her handling of this easy going 16.1 hand horse on whom she has already won gold and bronze is impressive. According to groom Annemarie O'Brien, owner David Harrison "was ecstatic. Mars needs a strong leg."
Olga's ability was noticed at the school where she was placed as an orphan and began riding lessons "because once a friend introduced her to horses, it was what she wanted to do."
Her education has been haphazard but according to the Russian team interpreter, Valera Kakharov, "it is difficult for her. In Russia once you have been in a school for special needs, it is impossible to get a job. But as a rider, Olga is doing well.
Yesterday, Day 4 of the competition at Kill International Equestrian Centre, saw her win a bronze medal in Dressage. She was disappointed and cried on leaving the arena aware she had made mistakes. Mars decided to scratch his leg with his nose "and then it became hard to pull his head back up and he brought me forward." Earlier in the week, Olga, the youngest member of the six-member Russian equestrian team, won gold in Equitation and was third in her trail riding event.
Today is a big day for another Russian rider. Dmitry Badanin completes in the Prix Caprilli. He is 24 and lives in the same special school as Olga. He is an orphan. Dmitry began riding at 15 because he watched from a window as a working horse pulled a cart outside. The driver saw the boy's interest and invited him to drive the cart. He was so taken with the horse, he decided to learn to ride.
Within a year he was at the World Games in 1995, and won two gold medals. Four years later he competed in North Carolina and won two gold medals.
This week at Kill he has already won two gold medals. He is riding Eileen Bennett's Nelson who is 16-years-old and just about 15 hands. Winning is fun, and Dmitry is hoping to do well today.
On a day that saw the Curragh Foot-Beagles and the Kildare Hunt join forces, the gentle New Zealander, James Farrell took his third gold medal. No one surpassed the sheer jubilation of ever expressive Netherlands riders, Erris Van Ginkel, who punched the air in triumph and on dismounting shook hands with every member of his national delegation. He became even happier on discovering he had won Bronze.