LIDIAH BLUNDELL is one of ten amateur dressage riders who have qualified for next year’s prestigious Petplan Equine Championships after a great performance in the Area Festival that took place at Pencoed College, Bridgend.

Nineteen-year-old Lidiah won through in the Preliminary section riding her own five-year-old 16hh gelding Wonderboy III.

Their dressage score of 70.45 per cent was beaten by only one of the other nine class winners.

Lidiah and Wonderboy III now head to the Championship finals at Hartpury Arena in Gloucestershire next April.

The Petplan Equine Area Festivals, or ‘The Petplans’ as they are known among competitors and fans of dressage, are a series of 17 dressage competitions running from August to October held at top competition venues across the UK.

Isabella Von Mesterhazy, Petplan Equine’s Head of Marketing, said: “This is the 13th year in which Petplan Equine has supported this series.

“Dressage is the UK’s fastest growing equestrian discipline and this trend is likely to continue thanks to the outstanding efforts of the British dressage riders in Greenwich where they claimed team and individual gold and individual bronze medals.”