PROMISING teenager Holly Bradshaw is appealing for a horse and sponsorship in her quest to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games.

The 15-year-old, who lives near Bromyard, has recently had a great day overseas helping Great Britain to first place and finishing second individually at the Ballindenisk CNCP** event, in Ireland, where she proudly sported the British flag with her pony Bohemian.

A good dressage test saw them lying in third position, but a tough show jumping course saw its fair share of problems with the pair taking two rails.

Cross-country day proved testing, with a howling gale and driving rain making conditions heavy underfoot, but Bohemian coped well and produced one of only a handful of fast, clear rounds.

It took them to second place individually and helped their team to secure first position with the Irish in second.

Holly, who is trained locally by Karen Nicholas, was thrilled to be the highest-placed British rider to finish riding ponies in style.

Holly's mother Juliet Adcock explained that, because of her age, her daughter now needed a horse to compete on.

"Holly's dream is to compete in the Olympics but she needs the best horses. Without help we will plod along ourselves but it will obviously take us a lot longer," explained Mrs Adcock.

"We have made great sacrifices to get this far and devote most weekends to taking part in shows and horse events, the costs of which all add up.

"We all have to be extremely focussed.

"It would be great to have a bit of a leg-up, such as sponsorship with feed, competitions and rugs. Every little bit helps."

Holly, who is a pupil at Stonor School, in Wiltshire, has been riding almost as soon as she could walk.

She was involved with the pony club and has been riding her Bohemian for four years.

The 14.2 hand high pony has given Holly the opportunity to get as far as she can, but now she needs to progress to a horse.

Holly has been having some private lessons from former event rider Karen, who is based at Clifton-upon-Teme.

Holly did well at trials at Gatcombe Park and was selected for the British Pony Championships, at Sansaw, in June.

Because of her consistently high results, Holly was invited to compete in Ireland.

"I was so proud to wear the British flag for my country and hope to be able to do the same at the Olympics in eight years time," said Holly.

She is looking for a horse that has already competed at intermediate level as she is hoping to get into young rider teams.

The ideal horse is 7/8 thoroughbred and 15.2 hands high.

Holly's mother explained there were many difficulties trying to win sponsorship for a child, although British Eventing has recently introduced a "world class start and potential" talent spotting scheme.

"I think there should be more investment at grass roots level as we need to bring on the stars of the future.

"We have already submitted Holly's CV but you have to be one of the best.

"We have now put Bohemian up for sale and we're just praying that someone comes forward to help," said Mrs Adcock.

Anyone interested in helping out can call Mrs Adcock on 01885 482272.