EQUESTRIAN SPORT: It was official. No one wanted to go home. Kill Equestrian Centre is about as comfortable a place to set up camp for life as you could desire.
Even the horses were beginning to greet each other as old friends. As for the humans, language had become irrelevant. One Russian rider had remarked on never before having heard so many languages being spoken that weren't Russian.
Day five of the competition at Kill, which will become the new Millstreet, began with further rounds of the dressage competition. Ireland's Anne Foley (29), riding John Jo, taking gold in division 18, had given the home crowd something to cheer about. Not that either it, or the crowd in general, had stopped cheering throughout the week. New Zealand's team had travelled for 24 hours to arrive at the Games and its four riders were leaving with a phenomenal five gold, five silver and one bronze between them.
Another long distance journey was made by Chuan Chin Kao from Chinese Taipei who won a 4th place ribbon. Two Russian riders, Stanislav Kondrachev and Sergey Yuzva won their respective events. Yuzva was particularly impressive as he had had an alarming start to this event when his mount, Black Jack Boy, a dashing hunter, had been startled by a noise when an over enthusiastic onlooker fell against a barrier.
Yuzva, already a medallist, fell off. Black Jack Boy had had enough. Another horse was called in. Paddy Whack a bay gelding owned by the Cooper family of Markree Castle in Sligo, enjoys dressage. Yuzva was happy and rode Paddy Whack to gold.
Italian Daniele Rebuffo took another gold and Ireland's Jane Spillane, who is blind, left onlookers awestruck with her performance on Penny, as the pair took 4th place green ribbon.
The stage was set for the highlight of the equestrian programme, the Prix Caprilli, advanced dressage tests with jumps included, which was the subject of much discussion during the week. German coach, Gaby Eickmayer, had a particular interest in this.
"Dressage is very popular with us, but we have no one in the Prix Caprilli." The eight German riders concentrated on the flat dressage. "We never saw trail ridging before and I will watch the Prix Caprilli closely, it should be exciting." How right she was.
First to enter the arena was the gifted Russian, double gold medallist Dmitry Badanin, on Nelson. Badanin is exceptional, perfect balance and the lightest hands. But in sport nothing can be taken for granted. Although he rode as elegantly as he had throughout, it quickly became obvious there was a serious problem. The test being read to him by his coach was not the one he had learnt.
Sympathetic sighs rippled around the arena. Three times he began and although his riding is beautiful to watch, rules are rules and he was disqualified. Californian Stephanie Hardy came to Ireland aware that dressage has a greater tradition in Europe than in the US and that "Prix Caprilli is very European". A disciplined, assertive rider, she had been practising the dressage jumps back home much to the interest of her fellow Californian riders.
Already a double gold medallist here, she and Bambi, a willing Connemara pony, took a third gold in division 1 with another high score, 322 marks, ahead of Belgium's Tera Alessia Gaona. Prince, an 11-year-old Connemara pony partnered the stylish Analia Rico of Argentina to gold in division 2, while US rider Tawny Gray had fun and scares on Gypsy, the ultra bouncy coloured pony.
From the first gold medal won by Scott Tongue of Team USA Mid Atlantic, on Jakes, to the final relay won by Russia, the equestrian events were a triumph of horsemanship, as well as sportsmanship. The Polish riders true to their tradition kept their medals and presented their ribbons to the owners of the horses they rode.
There is something magic about the unity of horse and rider. Family was a major theme and it was a family, the Flannelly's of Kill International, who hosted the event. Fintan junior summed it up when holding aloft his presentation Special Olympic white numnah, a saddle cloth: "We are all winners."
All 139 riders rode, competed and won a lot more than medals.