Eleven-year-old Lucille Bywater rode her socks off to impress the judges on her way to claiming the Black Country Saddles BSPS Rider of the Year Championships.
Lucille partnered the 13-year-old Westfirle Mr Mcgregor to claim the under 13 age category class before taking the overall title against older competitors.
Lucille is a familiar face on the show pony circuit having successfully shown several Broadgrove ponies who are bred by her grandmother, Ann Fowler. This time it was the turn of her mother’s stunning 13hh welsh part bred Westfirle Mr Mcgregor to have his moment in the spotlight. Having been together for exactly a year, the combination has had much success in a variety of disciplines.
Her mum Victoria said: “I bought ‘Greg’ so Lucille could have a pony she could do absolutely everything with and that’s exactly what they do. He’s a wonderful pony and they know each other inside out.”
In the past year Lucille and Greg have competed on the dressage, show jumping and eventing Pony Club teams, qualified for the Royal International and competed at BE80 one day events. They qualified for the BSPS championships at BSPS 13A Cornwall and certainly made the journey to the Grantham based championships from her Bristol home worthwhile.
Lucille put her multi-discipline experience to good use in the second phase of the Best Rider competition, where competitors were under instruction from Jayne Ross. She captivated the judges with her knowledge and riding ability and Greg went beautifully for her.
A proud Victoria commented: “We were absolutely thrilled. It was such a fantastic competition as a whole and the second phase under instruction was very good and highly useful. It is particularly special for this pony to win as he is a true all-rounder and does everything for us.”
Lucille was the delighted recipient of a Black Country Saddle as her prize for claiming the prestigious BSPS Rider of the Year title. “We are really looking forward to the saddle arriving – we are hoping we might be able to have a dressage one as we would like to focus on eventing next year,” she said.
Lucille has recently acquired the 14hh version of Greg, Pebbly Grey Fox who she will compete alongside one another. Lucille has qualified three ponies for HOYS and will then focus on dressage through the winter including the Dengie Winter League Final, with both ponies.