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I was a member of a local riding club and joined their showjumping team as I was heavily into BSJA at the time and wanted as much jumping as I could get!

My team got as far as the Nationals which was tremendously exciting and it goes to show that you can get quite far if you want to just by joining your local club!

Ok it wasn't Olympia or Wembley but it was a weekend away at a big show and a small bit of recognition in the monthly newsletter!!

I think the trick is to keep these little dreams moving on - something new and sort of frightening all the time keeps things interesting. Horses, life, whatever.

I think it is even more exciting for us in NI because if we reach the finals that means a trip to England!! How exciting is it to stick your horse on a boat and go away for the weekend to somewhere far away and compete! Although it takes a lot of money unfortunately which is the disadvantage.

I was lucky enough to take a trip to Ireland circa 1997 - Cavan specifically - when my friend qualified for something through the BSJA. I was in between ponies at the time so was grooming for her and we had great fun!

We stayed in Holyhead, Wales on the first night at a horsey hotel, then pushed onto Ireland early the next morning.

The ponies were stabled at the showground and although my friend's parents put us up in a hotel, we chose to stay in the lorry at the showground have campfires and and really live the horsey dream. It was so much fun - even though I wasn't competing - I got to ride and warm up the ponies and we met lots of other horsey teens our age.

So joining in clubs and societies really can take you places and give you opportunities, even if you don't get to/want to compete!

I find it useful to have smaller easily achievable goals and then much bigger ones that are harder to achieve but still could be attained over a much longer period of time.

The important thing is self-belief because it is amazing what you can achieve if you believe you can!