Show-stoppers
Date published: 08 October 2013
TWO High Crompton sisters will take part in Saturday’s world-famous Horse of the Year Show at the NEC in Birmingham.
Lauren Helliwell (eight) and her sister Alex (six) have qualified for the most prestigious event in equestrianism. Lauren has been riding since she was four and will ride her nine-year-old bay pony Hightopps Magic Fairy.
Alex, who took up the sport a year ago, will make her first appearance at the show, with 10-year-old bay Barkway Priceless.
The sisters, who attend St Mary’s Primary School, have a long-distance training regime: both ponies are stabled in Lancaster with grandparents.
The girls visit every weekend - but the effort has certainly proved worthwhile.
Lauren recently featured in TV show “Greatest Little Britons” on Sky 1 after qualifying for the Horse of the Year Show on her first attempt, winning the Midlands Counties Show in Lincoln. She double-qualified with another success at the Bakewell Show in Derbyshire.
Alex won the Great Yorkshire Show during the summer, to book her own place in Birmingham.
They are starting at the same level of equestrianism as Charlotte Dujardin, a double gold medalist in dressage at last year’s Olympic Games in London. A place at the Olympics is Lauren’s ambition — and she is already well on her way.
