A young showjumper held her own as she competed alongside the world’s best in Herning – while also picking up some tips as she watched her heroes warm up for the Agria FEI World Showjumping Championships.
London-based Noora von Bulow, 13, made the journey to Denmark with her two horses Interstar B and Lucky Lisa to compete in the international and amateur classes running alongside the championships.
Noora, who is a familiar face on the pony and children-on-horses teams, and trains at Ashbourne International Stables, made the trip worthwhile, picking up top-three placings in the CSI2* small tour sections with both horses, and winning three 1.40 classes on nine-year-old Interstar B, known at home as Frank.
“Frank was placed every single day in the top three – he was on fire,” Noora told H&H. “They were definitely quite technical tracks. In the two-phase classes I aimed to jump the first phase nicely before deciding whether to really go for it in the second round, but my horses jumped so well it really gave me the confidence.
“The two-star was really competitive, there were more than 100 people in it including a few of the individual riders from the World Championships. It was a really cool experience to be able to compete at the same venue alongside them.”
Noora von Bulow pictured and Interstar B. Credit: Ridehesten.com
When not competing Noora found time to watch her idols warming up for the championship classes.
“It was really good watching how different riders warmed up in different ways and learning from that. I look up a lot to Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsoon and Sanne Thijssen who rides for the Netherlands – and of course Scott Brash. Sanne is only 23 and it’s really inspiring she’s got so far in her career when she’s so young,” said Noora, who also watched Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann’s individual gold medal-winning round on King Edward.
“We were right at the bottom of the stands when Henrik realised he’d won the world championship which was really cool.”
Sharifa von Bulow, Noora’s mother, said she is very proud of everything her daughter has achieved.
“We’re not a professional horse family, so we continue to learn as we go along. Noora is always surprising us and we’re really enjoying the sport with her,” she said.
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