From a long line of expert and accomplished horse-riders, Olivia Barton is living her dream now ensconced in Belgium and training with the Australian Olympic Equestrian squad.

The 25-year-old is the most recent member of an equine-focussed family to pursue her love, choosing the demanding discipline of Eventing. Others of her clan have been accomplished in horse-racing and in other disciplines including showjumping and dressage.

Olivia is an all-round sportswoman having played Touch when she was at Wellington Public School and later at Frensham College in the Southern Highlands; but her true vocation is when in the stirrups.

“Horses run in the family,” Olivia revealed.

“We have a large farm in Wellington and mum (Carlene) breeds the horses, so I was sort of born into it, I would say.”

The Barton name is synonymous with racing in the west. Indeed, the Dr Nat Barton Memorial Cup is named after a much-loved local doctor who served with honour in the Seventh Light Horse Regiment in World War I.

The legendary young medic proved his mettle in this conflict and was promoted to Major before coming home to practice medicine in his home-town.

Dr Barton returned to service in World War II with the Australian Army where he was promoted to Colonel, before arriving home safely at War’s end.

His service for his country included with the 2/9 Australian General Hospital, Fifth and Seventh Australian Light Horse Regiments, and the Australian Army Medical Corps.

His citation at the Australian War Memorial reads:

“After returning to Australia, Barton completed his studies in medicine and began working in Parkes, New South Wales.

“Barton also served during the Second World War as a lieutenant colonel with the Medical Corps at Darwin, Moratai (Indonesia), and New Guinea.

“During this time, he was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his distinguished service to the war effort in New Guinea,” it adds

Olivia carries the family name with pride, her family written into local folklore with their contribution to the rearing, training and racing of horses.

Peter Barton is well known as a committeeman and President of the Wellington Race Club that conducts one of the blue-ribbon events on the bush racing calendar, the Wellington Boot Carnival.

Olivia says she has worked with young thoroughbreds in pre-training, but her passion is in Eventing, a sport that combines a number of skills: dressage, cross-country, and show jumping.

There are two events in the sport, the One Day Event (ODE) and the Three-Day Event (3DE) in which Coonabarabran-based Matt Ryan won two gold medals at both the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and added another in Sydney 2000.

Olivia is now based in Belgium, with the hope of a late call-up for the most-recent summer Games.

“I flew over in July 2024 as an extended reserve for the Paris Olympics,” Olivia explained.

“I took a horse with me, but she didn’t get a run at the Games, but I decided to stay over and build up some international experience with the squad.”

She has decided to stay, gaining life-long experiences from the centre of world competition.

“There are a lot of Aussies in England and a few of us throughout Europe.

“It’s a pretty cool place to be in the ‘Eventing’ world,” she smiled.

Although she has been all over Australia to compete and learn, Olivia says being in Europe is like setting yourself in the middle of a show ring and jetting (or training) off to nearby countries like Germany, Austria, France and Denmark.

"The horses and I have been very well-travelled.

“Mum has been over a couple of times for the bigger events; hopefully Dad will get over some time this year.”

Having tasted the international scene, Olivia is keen to extend her experience.

"We have the World Equestrian Games in August. It is a pinnacle event in our sport and, this year, it's to be held in Aachen, Germany.

“I’ve got a couple of horses so we're going to train hard and compete successfully during the season; my aim is to clinch a spot on the team for the ‘Worlds’,” she said.

As her schedule shows, Olivia is committed full-time to her life the world of equestrian competition and has been home for two weeks.

With a full calendar of events ahead of her and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, Olivia is hoping to follow Phillip Dutton (Nyngan) and Matt Ryan (Coonabarabran) down the golden road to equestrian glory.

“I have two ‘Eventers’ (horses) and split my time between them and developing young show-jumpers,” Olivia said.

“I am really living my dream, (though) I must say, the best thing is seeing the sun!” she concluded.