A YOUNG horsewoman is jumping headlong towards her international dreams after riding for England.
Barnard Castle Preparatory School pupil Amelia Davidson represented her country at a showjumping event in Scotland and her success has spurred her on for the future.
The 10-year-old, from near Staindrop, was selected to ride for her country after winning all her classes last summer.
She only began riding just over two years ago after being encouraged by her mum who was once an eventer.
Amelia is now looking forward to a bright future of riding as she hones the skills of her two 12.2hh Welsh section B ponies Robbie, aged 16, and Limithe, 15.
She now has three main aims: to ride in the Horse of the Year Show, the London International Horse Show and to compete in the Olympics.
“I’m working with my ponies now to jump bigger tracks,” said Amelia. “I’ll be riding in U11s competitions this year which is a lot more competitive but I will try my very best.
“It was always my mum’s dream to compete and she has handed this on to me and I love it. We made the decision to try for England and it was really exciting. We platted Robbie up in England colours and got to join the parade with all the England flags which was amazing.
“We reached the jump off after a double clear but unfortunately one of our team had a stop which pushed us down the rankings.”
Her new pony Limithe has experience of competing in international shows so Amelia has high hopes for the future.
“It’s such fun and I just love competing,” she said. “I also really enjoy grooming and mucking out, being outside at 6am before school putting the ponies out and giving them haylage and making sure their stables are nice and clean and warm.”
Head of sport at Barney Prep Martin Burgess said: “It is so lovely to hear Amelia talk with such passion about her sport and everyone at school is really proud of her achievements so far. She is a real talent.”