A teenage showjumper from Shropshire has become the only Brit to qualify for the Children on Horses world championships.
Fourteen-year-old Will Edwards will jump at the FEI Children’s International Classic Final to be held in Valle de Bravo in Mexico next month (26-31 January). The top 16 children will be competing on borrowed horses at the event.
Will, who is a pupil at Ellesmere College, qualified for the world championships following an impressive set of performances at FEI Children on Horses events — including wins at Arezzo, Bonheiden and San Giovanni, with horses R-Candy and Touche.
Will and R-Candy also won the national under-16 championship at the Scope Festival in August.
“I feel honoured to represent Britain and compete with other top riders of my age. I feel well prepared and will enjoy the trip to Mexico,” he said.
The goal of the series is to provide up-and-coming youth with the encouragement and opportunity to experience international competition at FEI level. Both the qualifiers and the final are set at a maximum height of 1.20m.
The draw takes place on Monday 26 January after the horse inspection. The first warm-up competition taking place on 27 January.
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The first qualifying competition takes place on the 28 January with the second competition taking place the next day followed by a rest day before the final on the 31 January.
“We are highly delighted that Will has both qualified and accepted his place at the Championships in Mexico,” said Di Lampard, Co-Selector and Chef d’Equipe for British Showjumping.
“Our youth riders have proved time and time again the tremendous talent Great Britain has at this level and Will is very much a true testament of this. I speak on behalf of both myself and British Showjumping when I say that we wish him all the very best and to make most of the invaluable experience he will gain from it.”
Will’s mother Amanda added: “It’s a great end to a great year, Will has had a fantastic two years of Children on Horses and it is a fantastic opportunity for him and he is looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
The producer of showjumping pony Foxlynch Little John died in February
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.
