WHEN summarising Austin O'Connor's year, it is virtually impossible to avoid clichés, so let's indulge: eventing is a roller coaster of highs and lows. And sometimes good things happen to those who deserve them.
In May, Austin, then 48, finished third at Badminton on Colorado Blue - his highest placing at that level, and his best since finishing fourth there as a 24-year-old on Simply Rhett, in 1999. It had taken him another 24 years to make the podium.
Austin then got permission from Irish team coach Dag Albert to skip the European Championships to concentrate on Burghley. However, the roller coaster plummeted in September when he and “Salty” had a most surprising early run-out at the Leaf Pit.
But that second cliché came to pass the following month, when Austin and Salty flew across the Atlantic to the Maryland CCI5* and won. It might be the most popular result of the decade. Social media resounded with tributes from Austin's fellow riders, and even the overnight leader Oliver Townend, who looked set to
