A HORSE riding student has secured a place in the GB team in the European championships in Belgium.
Haslingden High School student Madison Jamison is also bidding for a place at the Horse of the Year Show at the NEC in Birmingham along with fellow student Marnie Green.
Madison, 15, has been horse riding since she was eight and owns six horses, while Marnie, 12, comes from a riding family, has 14 horses and ponies and first sat on a horse at just two. They both live in Guide.
Madison said: “I went to the show at Chepstow with Clippie, who is 12. We did four days of jumping and we completed a round each day.
“On the first day we had a clear round and on the second he knocked one down. Then on the third day we had another clear round and on the final day again he knocked one down, but every day we completed the course within the time limit.
“That got me a place in the Europeans. My dad Trevor was crying and my mum Nicola was delighted.
“The Europeans are later this month and there are five of us who were picked. On the first day we will have a practise round and that will determine who is on the team and who competes as an individual.
“If you are on the team then there is more pressure because you want to do well for everyone on the team, but you also have their support.
“There is not as much pressure competing as an individual but it all rests on you.”
In July Madison will also be competing at Hickstead on her six-year-old pony Sweep hoping to secure a place in the Horse of the Year Show in October.
She has been in the show twice and last year she was sixth on Misty.
Marnie has already qualified for Hickstead on her 14-year-old horse Koriaika and hopes they will also land a place for the first time in the Horse of the Year Show.
She said: “This is the best I have every done. I was also in the Pony of the Year Show in Buckinghamshire and I was third in the qualifier for the Grand Prix and then sixth overall in the event.”
Marnie’s parents Samantha and Lloyd and her brother Finney, 15, used to race horses and he now takes part in mounted games.