YOUR HORSE MAGAZINE meets Ben Maher

YOU COULD SAY that there are two Ben Mahers. There is Ben the public persona, who spends much of his life soaring over gargantuan painted poles on super-talented equines. This Ben is there for all to see checking in or out in hotel foyers, or at airports or on planes, for he circumnavigates the globe frequently in his (often successful) quest to win his sport’s great prizes. This same Ben posts pictures on social media of podium presentations, videos of speedy clear rounds and mighty leaps over easily dislodged obstacles that his mounts rarely even touch.

Then there is private Ben. The one who exists behind closed doors, away from the limelight. Like tonight, for he is home alone in Hertfordshire (new wife Sophie is currently at 35,000ft somewhere above the Atlantic en route to Florida) with just his mobile phone for company and, as we speak, it beeps frequently. The new Olympic Champion is endlessly in demand.

“It never stops,” he says,