St Swithun’s School pupil selected for the Great Britain Junior Eventing Team

Georgia Bartlett, a 17-year-old pupil at St Swithun’s School, Winchester, has been selected for Great Britain’s Junior European Championship eventing squad following success at the Nunney International event last weekend.

A fiercely contested second place finish in the final Junior Trial was enough to secure Georgia’s selection into the strong squad of five. This is a particularly noteworthy achievement because Georgia is in the middle of her A level courses – psychology, geography and religious education, and is studying hard at the same time as practising for the event.

Speaking about her selection and clearly feeling elated, Georgia said: ‘This has been a goal of mine for a very long time, and I am so excited to compete at the European Championships.’ With six training sessions a week it has often required very strict time management to ensure that Georgia keeps pace with both her academic studies and her eventing. Highlighting her busy schedule and the importance of balancing her workload, Georgia has said that ‘there is an awful lot of travelling to and from events and training sessions, so I do a lot of my homework and studying in the horse lorry on the way’.

Eventing requires riders to demonstrate a range of different skills through the disciplines of dressage, show jumping and cross country. The scores from all three elements are then combined. Prior to the European Championships, Georgia will have additional training sessions in Cirencester and Bury St Edmunds.

Georgia will be riding her own 12-year-old gelding Spano de Nazca at the Junior European Championships, which take place in Fontainebleau from 11–15 July.