I started riding when I was 3 years old and was always more keen on jumping than my ponies were so I spent a lot of time falling off! When I started riding the 13.2hh Tom, things got better and I had a lot of success eventing. I started to concentrate more on dressage in my teens and when I was 14 I won a team silver medal at the Pony European Championships.

My first senior team appearance was in 2006 in Aachen with Douglas Dorsey. I made my senior team début on Mistral Højris (Alf) in 2007 (having competed Alf in the bronze medal winning Young Rider team in 2005). It was love at first sight when I first saw a video of Alf and although some people thought he wasn’t suitable for such a young girl I knew he would be my horsey soul mate. In 2008 I rode him at the Beijing Olympics. It was a serious learning experience and in the following year we had a major breakthrough when we won team silver and individual bronze in the Grand Prix Special at the European Championships in Windsor.

In 2010 the main aim was the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky where we won 3 silver medals, 2 individual and 1 team. I also won the National Championships on Andretti H (Andy). In 2011 we went one better and won team gold at the European Championships as well as an individual bronze medal. Later in the year, I became National Champion for the second time with Andy and I won the World Cup qualifier at Olympia with Alf. It was an amazing year, not only for me personally, but also for British dressage as a whole.

2012 was everything I hoped it would be. I had wonderful experience at the London Olympics with a team gold and an individual bronze medal. After the Olympics I was very proud to come 3rd in the prestigious BBC program Olympic Superstars. To be awarded an MBE has rounded off a very special time in my life and I’m looking forward to the next chapter…