A is for Allstar B, Ros Canter’s gold-medal winning partner. Caroline Moore’s 13-year-old gelding (Ephebe For Ever x Ekstein) was in third place after dressage on a score of 24.6 and finished on that to take gold.

A is also for Alan Wade, the jumping course designer who was widely praised for his clever designs in Tryon.

A is also for Airbnb. My hosts adopted me like one of their own for the duration of the Games, making cookies for my media centre colleagues, acting as a personal Uber service and making Tryon feel like home for two weeks.

B is for Bellissimo, Mark Bellissimo. The co-founder and CEO of Tryon International Equestrian Centre came under huge criticism after tents were erected as grooms housing. He said however that he was “hopeful that when people look back on the WEG, they see what has been created, and not what hasn’t been created.”

B is also for Bernard O’Sullivan, Ireland’s sole reining competitor. Based in Australia, the former eventer was competing at his first WEG.

C is for championship and the atmosphere it brings – something quite like no other event.

D is for DSP Alice, the incredible chesnut mare who won an individual gold and team bronze medal under Germany’s Simone Blum.

D is also for dressage, of which the Freestyle to Music, was cancelled due to bad weather in Tryon.

E is for Endurance, and what a fiasco it was. The first competition of the Games was restarted after a false start and then abandoned completely, despite some riders being just 10km from the finish line, due to a “potentially dangerously high combination of heat and humidity”.

is for friends. I made plenty of new ones in the media centre and beyond.

G is for grooms. Every single one of them, and especially the Irish grooms who worked tirelessly.

G is also for Good Luck, Cian O’Connor’s extravagant stallion who finished in 14th place individually.

H is for Hurricane Florence, the category four hurricane which threatened to hit the Tryon area. Although downgraded to a tropical storm, it caused the delay of the final eventing phase and cancellation of the dressage.

I is for Irenice Horta, the beautiful grey mare who carried Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca to seventh place individually and will now be seen under Ireland’s Cian O’Connor, who is aiming the 10-year-old at the 2019 European Championships.

I is also for Ingrid Klimke, who looked certain to win the individual gold medal in eventing before SAP Hale Bob OLD knocked the final fence in the show jumping phase, relegating her to bronze medal position.

J is for Judy Reynolds and JP (Vancouver K). I will never forget the devastation on the Kildare native’s face when I interviewed her minutes after she found out her chance to compete in the Freestyle had been taken away following its cancellation due to deteriorating weather conditions. “I will be the Irish rider to qualify for a world championship freestyle and I won’t get to ride it! You get this chance once every four years, and they just take it away from you.”

K is for Kate Horgan, who worked as an FEI steward throughout the duration of the Games.

L is for Louise Parkes, the FEI/Irish Independent journalist who was a friendly familiar face in the media centre at my first championship, and someone to cheer with when Irish riders were in the ring.

L is also for Luibanta BH, the highest placed Irish Sport Horse in the show jumping competition. Ridden by Britain’s Amanda Derbyshire (whose other Irish link is her fiancé David Blake, son of Michael), the Luidam-sired 10-year-old was bred in Co Galway by Justin Burke and finished in 17th place individually.

There were five other Irish Sport Horses in the show jumping competition. Newmarket Venture Clover (Newmarket Venture x Cavalier Royle); Fernhill Curra Quinn (Harlequin du Carel x Clover Hill), bred by Thomas Hannon. The Ita Brennan-bred Coral Springs (Ard VDL Douglas x Cavalier Royale) and Darkos Promise is also listed ISH has no recorded breeding.

L is for Lyons tea, a necessity for Horse Sport Ireland marketing manager Sophie D’Alton who drank tea even in 35°C heat.

M is for mares – all seven of them who finished within the top 12 of the show jumping competition, namely DSP Alice, Bianca, Clinta, Irenice Horta, Zeremonie, Cristalline and Blue Movie.

M is also for medals. Germany came out on top with the highest medal tally of 17, followed by the USA with 12, The Netherlands with 10 and Britain with eight.

M is also for Michael Stone, the Dublin native who was President of Sport for the 2018 World Equestrian Games.

N is for Niels Bruynseels, the world number 12 rider from Belgium who rode Cas de Liberte. Belgium crashed out in 11th place after a very disappointing championship.

O is for O’Shea – Paul. The 41-year-old Limerick native made his championship debut in Tryon aboard Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu, supported by his wife Siobhan and owners, including Frank Cunniffe.

P is for Padraig McCarthy, the British-based show jumper turned event rider who won two silver eventing medals for Ireland. A true scholar, he has a degree in Economics and Finance with German and a PhD after doing a study on insolvency legislation in Ireland in Waterford Institute of Technology. He took over the ride on Mr Chunky from his wife, British event rider Lucy Wiegersma.

P is also for Para Dressage, which was incredible to watch live!

Q is for Quarrycrest Echo, the 11-year-old Clover Echo-sired Irish Sport Horse gelding who won an eventing team gold medal under Britain’s Piggy French. Out of the Cavalier Royal mare Royal China, he was bred in Co Donegal by John Dooley.

R is for Rioghan Rua. The smallest mare in the eventing competition, standing at just over 15hh, was ridden by the youngest rider in the competition, Cathal Daniels, who turned 22 on the day of his dressage test.

R is also for Rocket (‘by name and by nature’), Sarah Ennis’ Horseware Stellor Rebound, whose personal Facebook page kept the nation updated with the WEG action. He was the highest placed Irish Sport Horse in the eventing competition in fifth place.

R is also for Rodrigo Pessoa, who was deflated after his team finished seventh, just one place off an Olympic qualifying place. “I am disappointed because Ireland has been chasing this for so long and now we just postponed this again, one more year of this agony.”

Rodrigo Pessoa with Steve Guerdat

S is for Sally Corscadden – the Irish eventing team manager who managed to turn things around for Irish eventing and lead the team to their first World medal in over 40 years.

T is for Tryon International Equestrian Centre. Not without its problems and an unfinished building site for much of the Games, the 1,600-acre facility has the potential to host an amazing event.

T is also for Tom MacGuinness, who was on track for a top-10 finish in the endurance championship before the race was controversially abandoned.

T is also for trot-up. The final trot-up before the eventing show jumping phase is one most of the Irish contingent in Tryon won’t forget! In the midst of a tropical storm, both Horseware Stellor Rebound and Horseware Ardagh Highlight were sent to the holding box, but passed on the second inspection, with some encouragement from the crowd!

U is for unbelievable sport, which there was plenty of!

V is for the volunteers who always had a smile on their face at Tryon, despite the blistering heat and hurricane threats!

V is also for Vancouver K (JP) – see J above.

W is for WEG. Have we seen the last of the WEG in its current format? The FEI have opened the bidding for single bids, which may result in a return to individual world championships, although they are still accepting full bids. Watch this space.

W is also for Werth – Isabell Werth. The German couldn’t control her emotions after winning two gold medals with Bella Rose, who was returning to top competition after a long injury layoff. “This was my answer to all those who did not understand how I could leave the world’s number one horse at home for this one. Most horse people here know how close I am to Bella and to bring her back after the long recovery after WEG 2014 is extra special.”

W is also for Watson, Sam and Hannah (aka Sparkles). The dynamic husband and wife/rider and groom duo work so well together.

X is for exhilarating. I am stretching it, I know, but that really was how the Irish camp felt after the eventers finally got their hands on silverware, the atmosphere was electric.

Y is for Yuri Mansur. We are getting into the tricky letter now, but this Brazilian was part of the team which looked strong on paper but failed to reach the final round, finishing 14th.

Z is for Zorro – Sumas Zorro. The Suma Stud-bred 14-year-old mare is owned by Joanne Sloan-Allen and was ridden at the Games by usual partner, Egypt’s Sameh El Dahan. The combination won the Rolex Grand Slam in Spruce Meadows prior to travelling to the Games. Eight faults on day two of the team competition finished their championship in Tryon.

Z is also for what feels like zillions of stories written about the 2018 World Equestrian Games. I can’t promise this will be the last, either.