That's Sir Mark Todd to you

New Zealand's Eventing maestro Mark Todd was made a Knight Companion in New Zealand's New Year's Honours for his services to equestrian sport.

When interviewed by the New Zealand Herald , Todd joked that he would be the only knight riding on the equestrian circuit, though without the shining armour. 

The 56-year-old Kiwi first represented New Zealand at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where he won Gold with  the diminuitive powerhouse Charisma - a 15/2hh Thoroughbred. The  duo then repeated their winning ways in 1988 Seoul with another Gold medal (Charisma was 16!). 

In addition to his achievements in 6 Olympic appearances, Todd has won Badminton 4 times and Burghly 5 times in addition to 2 World Championship team titles for New Zealand.  

Todd, who was voted Rider of the 20th Century by the FEI, made an incredible comeback after announcing his retirement following the 2000 Olympic Games where he won individual Bronze. 

He added to his Olympic medal collection with a Team Bronze from the London 2012 Olympics, which made him New Zealand's oldest Olympic medallist while also equalling the world record of 28 years between first and last Olympic medals.

Todd now has his eye set on the 2016 Olympic Games which will be held in Rio de Janeiro.

He is arguably one of the most talented riders ever in equestrian sport. And his teamate Andrew Nicholson was once quoted "Mark can ride anything - he could go cross-country on a dairy cow!"

Something tells me we'll be seeing a lot more of Mark Todd in the future, although likely not on a dairy cow in Rio!

Check out Mark Todd's website at www.marktoddeventing.com 

Follow Mark Todd on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MTEventing