The 2012 British Dressage (BD) young professionals award, established in 2010 to replace the talent spotting programme, has been won by Alex Hardwick.
In the two-tier process, riders were split across three assessment days before the final at Talland Equestrian Centre on 19 March.
Alex, a 21-year-old Hertfordshire-based rider, already has plans for her £4000 training grant.
“I want to use it to get my BHS stage four and to train to become a BD judge. It gives you a different insight into training and riding seeing things from the judge’s box,” she said.
“I also want to get my HGV license so I can drive our lorry and help my parents out.”
Judge Richard Davison added: “It was genuinely hard to choose a winner as the standard was so high, but Alex was articulate and clear in her training. She rode very efficiently, has a good dressage seat and empathy with a wide range of horses.”
