The recent Youth Olympics saw Australian Young showjumper Aaron Hadlow experience what he says was "the best time of his life" when he was part of the Australian contingent.

In the lead up to the event Aaron was appointed one of the media personalities and in one of the interviews, when asked what his hopes for the Games were, Aaron answered that he would be doing his best but he hoped that his horse Step Sister would do well for whoever drew her from the pool of horses!

Aaron, one of 6, came to the notice of NSW trainer Simon Kale some years ago when he and his twin brother were in the show ring. Life for the Hadlow family is not always easy, with time being spread thin with so many kids in the family.

Simon Kale took Aaron under his wing and has been very proud of the progress this hard working young man has made since he first began showjumping some 4 years ago after making the transition from the showring and both Simon and his wife Olwyn were so proud of Aaron when he was chosen for the Australian Team.

All riders at the event were on borrowed horses and all members of the Australian team and team members were expected to put their "good horses" into the ring - for many of the riders on the Australian team they had plenty of choice about which horse to offer - Aaron has Step Sister!

Anna McGregor from Western Australia drew Step Sister and could not have been more complimentary about this lovely bay mare and she was thrilled to be part of the Gold medal Team, Australia Team Red - Aaron was thrilled to be pieces as he now had a Gold medal wining horse!

But things got better for this well mannered, quietly spoken young man - he found himself in a jump off situation in the Individual, jumping for the Silver medal.

Aaron, riding Nathan Woods' Airtime jumped clear in round one and had just the one fence in round two and Coco Miles from Hunters Hill in New South Wales had one down in Round one and jumped clear in round two over the testing John Vallance track - this left these two equal on four faults and a jump off for the medals was to run.

Sheridan Manuel from Kapunda in South Australia took out the Gold medal with two clear rounds riding Ashleigh Nordish's B Grade mare Margarita. Sheridan is one of Australia's very successful Young Riders and along with his brother Lachlan they are seen at prizegiving lineups throughout the country.

Coco was first to go in the jump off and she finished with four faults and collected time penalties along the way as well so Aaron knew he had one fence up his sleeve as he went into the jump off and he came through the finish flags with four faults and a time of 37.60sec to take the Individual Silver medal and what a great way to start 2005.

Aaron has also been very competitive in the AMMO jumpingaround.com SHOOTOUT Young Rider Challenge and he was at Shoalhaven Jumping Club for this event on Australia Day. On the completion of the event he was ready to go home and was a little surprised when his dad, Mark seemed to be "dragging his heels" and then Mark told him that they would be staying for the Jump Club Australia Day party.

Little did Aaron realise at the time that the party was actually for him- Olwyn and Simon Kale put on a party complete with balloons and cake to celebrate Aaron's wonderful results and everyone partied for some time.

Pictured above: Olwyn Kale and Aaron Hadlow with the special Olympic cake, complete with olympic rings.

Pictured right: Aaron proudly wears his Individual Silver medal and Team Bronze medal - Aaron was telling us that he intends to frame the medals along with memorabilia from the event.

Pictured left: proud parents Christine and Mark Hadlow and mentor Simon Kale - the smiles say it all!

The Hadlow's are a hard working family with 6 kids to bring up and life isn't always easy but this family never find it hard to smile and the Hadlow offspring are well mannered, hard working youngsters who will all achieve in their chosen life plans because they have super doses of determination and the desire to excel.

Pictured right - from left to right: enjoying the festivities we see 2nd in from left, Simon Kale's mum, Maggie who is visiting from England. Maggie is seen here sharing a sandwich and a drink with Jenny and Warren Priestley.

Simon was based in England during the height of his eventing career and his mum was his staunchest supporter and never missed him competing, making sure she walked the cross country courses and Maggie was always on hand