Twelve-year-old schoolgirl Millie Cottrell from Clytha has won through to one of the UK’s most prestigious riding championships, partnering a coloured cob called Norm who was once rescued from the meat man…

Having spent this year competing locally Millie and Norm won through to the Welsh regional championships, held near Ammanford at the end of September.

They then came second in the BYRDS My Quest Intro class which is open to riders under the age of 25 and are now through to the national championships - the British Dressage Quest Finals to be held in Buckinghamshire later this month.

For Millie, a pupil at Monmouth Comprehensive School, it’s been quite a tough year.

Mum Sarah Canning, whose family run the Clytha Arms pub, explained, “Millie’s been riding all her life but outgrew her old pony.

“So we bought her a new one and that came down with laminitis at the beginning of the year and although he’s recovered he still hasn’t been ridden.

“Millie was desperate to ride and the only other horse we had was my 14hh hairy cob Norm who’s now 17. I rescued him from the meat man when he was three and I used to do eventing on him and take him hunting with the Monmouthshire Hunt.

“But he’d never been any good at dressage with me.

“He hadn’t been ridden for three years but Millie was keen to have a go. To start with her marks weren’t very good at local dressage competitions but she wouldn’t give up.

“Then this summer she had a few falls and she lost her nerve. We found out she had qualified for the regional championships but she wasn’t interested in going.

“Then three weeks ago she decided she was going to go for it. She arranged some lessons herself and really worked hard.

“When we got to the competition I could see how nervous she was, but she rode her heart out and got second. She’s only 12 and she beat other riders who are in their early twenties. I was so proud of her I couldn’t stop crying.”

Millie says she’d love to be as good as Olympic dressage Gold medalist Charlotte Du Jardin.

“But I want to win on cobs,” she said. “No one thinks that cobs can do dressage. But me and Norm have proved you can, so when I grow up I want to have a cob farm and prove how great they are at dressage.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good as Charlotte, but I would like to beat my mum.”

And mum Sarah will be going to the championships too as she also competed in the regionals.

She qualified as part of a team of local riders known as the `Sinai Hoof Tappers’. Made up of Sarah, Pandora Lyster from Newport, Caroline Barnes from Llanarth and Ellen Whittingham from Raglan, they came second in the Open Class at the weekend.

Other local riders who secured a place in the national championships included Ruth Gregory from Llanfoist, Claire Nowicka-Price from Nantyderry, Becky Pugh from Crickhowell and Liz Lucas from Blackwood.

Most of them are members of the Vale of Usk Riding Club.

Sarah, who’s club secretary, added, “It was great being surrounded by other team members and we had such a sense of camaraderie, we all helped each other.

“Now we’ll be there to support each other at the nationals too which is so exciting.”

Sarah also paid credit to local dressage trainer Helen Dawson, from Raglan, who trained many of the riders and went to the regional qualifiers to help them.

“She’s so dedicated to us all and without her skill and support we never could have done it,” she said.

The British Dressage Quest National Finals are at Bury Farm, Buckinghamshire, from October 28 - 30.