THERE is just one obvious clue to Helen Kearney’s sporting status at her family’s bucolic home outside Dunlavin, Co Wicklow - a large Brazilian flag tacked onto the front of the impressive 60x20 manege.

But there are a few smaller ones too, like the electric scooter parked outside the small stable block and the magnificent, glistening black horse inside.

Rock And Roll 2, known at home as Rocky, is over 17hh and a serious looker. Yet he is surprisingly gentle and laidback for a 12-year-old Hannoverian stallion who was only gelded last year.

He’s certainly very different to Mister Cool, the grey who partnered Kearney to win three equestrian Paralympic medals (silver and bronze individual plus team bronze) in London 2012.

But when you’re competing in international dressage and have a degenerative neuro-muscular condition, calm is a useful ally. Charlie, as Kearney called her beloved Mister Cool, was originally a two-star eventer.

He could be tricky and didn’t like sudden loud noises. She actually borrowed the local funeral director’s PA four years ago to acclimatise him to crowd sounds and clapping, a clever ploy that paid off in London.

But she lost him to a freak accident in April 2015, when he ruptured his superficial digital flexor tendon out in the field.

Forming a new partnership with Rocky in time to qualify for this month’s Rio Paralympics was a challenge but Kearney has been cheerfully overcoming those for most of her life.

She was already a typical pony club kid and only in sixth class when she needed two major operations for scoliosis of the spine.

Her physiotherapist quickly noticed some other concerns and advised her mum Mary – herself a GP – to check it out.

Kearney was quickly diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia, a neuromuscular disorder that causes progressive loss of coordination and muscle strength in her arms and legs.

Yet, ironically, she had Friedreich’s to thank for getting her first pony.

“Mam was into not spoiling us. My sister and I started riding with Rosemary Rouse one summer and then went to Mary Kane’s in Johnstown, but she was always ‘I’m not buying you a pony!’

“Once I was diagnosed she said ‘OK, we’ll buy her a pony and that’ll keep her busy,’” Kearney (27) chuckles.

She is still extremely independent, living in her own place nearby, driving a slightly modified car and using a variety of walking frames to get about, plus a wheelchair whenever necessary.

The scooter gets her around the yard and, as its muddied wheels attest, often down the fields.

She uses a block to mount but, once in the saddle, is in her element, saying: “Horse riding and competing in para equestrian sport has given me so much of what this rare disease takes away.”

Kearney has a commerce degree from UCD – she actually missed her graduation in 2012 as it clashed with the Paralympics – but has been training full time since.

Meeting Eilish Byrne, a bronze-winning teammate in 2012, got her into para equestrian in 2008 but she was sceptical at first.

“Initially I thought ‘no way, I can ride able-bodied!’ I thought I was the bee’s knees but I went to watch Eilish riding and thought ‘holy crap, she’s way better than I thought.’”

There are five para equestrian grades (all dressage) and she started in Grade 3 but, as her condition degenerated, was reclassified twice to the highest degree of impairment (1A) and her first success was a European bronze medal in 2011.

“Physically my condition has deteriorated since London. You feel the loss of the small little things a good bit of the time, but I’m still managing, and managing to ride just as much,” she explains of training at least five to six times a-week.

At home her parents and Rosemary Rouse – who comes in most days to help - make up ‘Team Kearney’ and she is coached by Olympian Heike Holstein.

Her competition groom, Lydia Bagge from Blanchardstown, will be vital in Rio, as will her boyfriend David Redmond, who is her accredited assistant for the Games.

“He works in Intel and knows nothing about horses, he’s actually allergic to them!” she laughs.

Her Olympic preparation plan with Lydia will be the same as usual.

“I’m not big into that flashy stuff, sometimes I think dressage is gone too bling-blingy!” she grins.

“I’m getting it from all sides. They’ve made me get a blingy brow-band and a few other things. I have to give in to it sometimes but I’m just not that kind of person. I like simple plaits, a nice pulled tail, feet painted, just nice and tidy. Less is more as far as I’m concerned.”

Kearney’s first success was a European bronze medal in 2011 but her treble medal success in London exceeded all expectations.

“Because Friedreich’s is quite aggressively progressive I had it in my head that it would be my only shot so I was all geared up for it. I’d gone to Hartpury eight weeks beforehand and only scored in the mid-60s so there were a few tears, I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong.

“But then I decided I’m just going to ride the horse the way I think is right and stopped trying to please everyone.

“In London everything just fell into place and afterwards, win or lose, I wanted a new challenge,” she explains.

“Now I’m going back to a second Paralympics. Obviously I’d love to make the top seven and win medals, but I’m on a new horse, my competitors have also moved on and the important thing is to give a good performance and see where that gets us.”