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Ian Stark in hospital following bleeding on brain
FORMER OLYMPIC eventer Ian Stark is 'stable' in hospital in Cardiff after a brain bleed at the weekend, writes Sally Gillespie.
The Ashkirk rider called an ambulance himself after feeling unwell while driving near Pembroke on Sunday.
His daughter Steph Robinson is quoted on the Horse and Hound magazine website saying: “He had been at Dublin horse show with mum, dropped her off to go home, and carried on to teach near Pembroke when he had a blinding headache.”
The 55-year-old had then pulled over near Haverfordwest, called an ambulance and was taken to Withybush hospital for a brain scan.
Mrs Robinson said: “They found a small bleed in his brain, and moved him that night to Cardiff.”
Yesterday as TheSouthern went to press Stark’s condition at University Hospital of Wales was described as stable.
A spokesperson said he had been talking to nurses but had a headache.
From no family background in horses, Galashiels-born Ian Stark became one of the leading event riders in the world.
He has won four silver medals at three Olympic Games, as well as gold, silver and bronze medals at European and world championships.
He was European champion in 1991 and won Badminton three times, in 1986, 1988 and 1999, and remains the only person to win and come second at the trials when he won the 1988 event on, Sir Wattie and came second with his other horse, Glenburnie.
He was awarded an MBE for his services to equestrianism in 1989 after his Olympic successes in Seoul, but in 2001 he was honoured again, this time with an OBE.
He has achieved similar success as a coach, with the British Horse Society awarding him an Honorary Fellowship, the highest accolade it can give, in recognition of his coaching contributions to the equine industry.
In 2003 he was appointed to the British team selection committee before he became coach to the Brazilian Olympic Three Day Event Team in 2004 who trained in the Borders, basing themselves at his Ashkirk home.
Kelso-based NZ Olympic eventer Caroline Powell has trained with the horseman and rising Borders stars Emily Galbraith and Charlotte Agnew have also benefited from his coaching.
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Weather for Galashiels
Thursday 24 May 2012
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