Danielle striding towards GB team (From Chelmsford Weekly News)

Danielle striding towards GB team

10:10am Monday 1st June 2009

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Danielle Dickson is taking big strides in her bid to claim a place on the Great Britain equestrian team.

Having coped with the transition from riding ponies to horses, the 20-year-old from Maldon Road in Stanway has added back-to-back competition wins to her growing list of achievements in the sport.

She rode her 16.2 bay mare Savanna to an emphatic victory at the MK Three Day Event at the Milton Keynes Eventing Centre just days after qualifying for the Scope Festival at Stonely Park in Warwickshire in August by taking a show jumping win on her 16.1 grey mare Fran at Towerlands in Braintree.

An eventual place on the British team is the ultimate aim for Dickson, who works as a veterinary nurse at Rivenhall and is orginally from Canvey Island, but she is currently busy building her experience and picking up wins at various shows and competitions all over the country.

The Milton Keynes three-day event is run on FEI and British Eventing guidelines, following a long format with roads and tracks, steeplechase and a professionally-built cross-country course, as well as dressage and show jumping elements.

However, the major competition held no fears for Dickson as she and Savanna surged ahead of the rest of the field to claim the overall prize in the intermediate section.

“It was fantastic as it was my first win on a horse,” she said.

“It has taken a while for me to really make the transition from ponies to horses, but hopefully all the hard work is now paying off.

“I have been training with Annette Lewis and have been competing all over the country.

“This win at Milton Keynes means I will now step up from the intermediate section into the open section when I go to the British Riding Club National Championships later this year and then I hope to move into British Eventing, which would put me in line for a British team selection.

“That is what I hope to achieve if I can keep my horse fit and sound.”

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