THE hard work of dedicated young horse riders from an East Cornwall riding school has paid off after they made it through to the finals of a national competition.

Two teams of riders from the East Cornwall Riding Club saw success, beating off stiff competition in the Area 19 Winter Novice Show Jumping qualifiers and the Area 19 Junior Winter Novice dressage qualifiers of the British Riding Club Indoor Show Jumping Championships.

The qualifiers for the South West area, held at Duchy College, saw junior show jumping team Chloe Eastman, Ellie Robinson, Chloe Taylor and Louisa Flemming beat several other teams to come out on top and it will now go on to the national championships at Hartpury College in Gloucester on April 5.

The junior dressage team of Ellie Robinson, Jess Lamb, Charlotte Brumwell and Abi Cox also succeeded in its qualifier and will also be travelling up to Hartpury College to compete in the championships.

Chloe Eastman, part of the junior show jumping team and a student at Callington Community College, said it was a great experience for her and the team.

She said: 'It was my first time representing the East Cornwall Riding Club and we were extremely chuffed with the result considering we had a couple of young horses in our team as well.'

Cynthia Robinson, who leads the junior teams at the club, said: 'This is the first time ever that we have had two teams going up to the finals. I am very proud of my juniors. A lot of them have individual instructors and do a lot of work at home as well — they are constantly working and are pretty dedicated.

'If they win the championships they will get rugs and sashes but they will be competing against some really good teams from across the country.

'They can use it as experience and if we manage to come home with ribbons, that will be a bonus.

'It has been a long time coming for the girls and they've worked really hard for this.'