Beneath every gifted rider, there is usually a pretty good horse, in some cases a great one. As Ireland deservedly celebrates Olympic gold medallist Cian O'Connor, the other hero of the hour, O'Connor's fellow Olympic champion, Waterford Crystal, has been somewhat overlooked.
Admittedly, as strong, silent heroes go, the German-bred bay gelding merely glances at journalists, he lets his jumping ability do his talking and does not grant interviews.
Garbo-like, he strikes a noble pose leaving O'Connor, a supreme horseman at only 24, to smile for the cameras.
Yet horse lovers around the country have been wondering about Waterford Crystal, where did he come from? These are pressing questions.
After all, many of us pay closer attention to the bloodlines of the fathers of our foals and puppies than we do to the fathers of our children. In a sport populated by good-looking horses, Waterford Crystal is obviously a handsome, athletic, super-fit 16.2hh horse with an attractive personality - but who are his parents?
Foaled in 1991, he is the son of the Holstein stallion Landgraf I, while his mother is Ulme, herself the grand-daughter of the great French stallion Cor De La Bryere.
He had been competing at national level in Germany as a nine-year-old before he teamed up with O'Connor four years ago.
In this moment of national euphoria, let us applaud the competition sport horse - the show-jumpers, the dressage specialists, and all-rounders, the eventers.
Few could dispute that one of the most magnificent sights on earth is that of the ultimate racing machine, the thoroughbred in full flight, a miracle of nature and genetic engineering. But for most riders, be they everyday riders, hacking or hunting, or showjumping at any level, the sport horse is the complete horse.
Even great racehorses have short careers, and many successful racing stallions and mares have been already retired to the breeding shed at an age when an aspiring showjumper is still only learning its craft.
Waterford Crystal is 13. There is a massive irony in the fact that having become Olympic champion he, as a gelding, is worth less now than he was two or three years ago. While his rider's future is assured as long as he has great horses, Waterford Crystal's is less certain.
It takes years of training, patience, trial and error as well as luck to make a great show-jumper - that plus technique, ability, agility and courage.
Considering that Waterford Crystal came back to take that gold after a neck injury is the stuff of Hollywood movies.
Racehorses are mythologized in the public imagination in a way few showjumpers are.
Nation's Cup victories aside, showjumpers, in common with eventers, are seen as players in a minority sport.
Cian O'Connor and Waterford Crystal did far more than winning a gold medal for Ireland.
They demonstrated all the artistry, technique, timing, intelligence and nerve demanded by a tough sport that tests riders and horses.
