BIRTSMORTON rider Heather Williams fulfilled an ambition last week when she competed in the Horse of the Year Show at Wembley and then walked off with first place in her class.

Heather was competing in the South Essex Insurance Brokers Search for a Star competition after qualifying at a regional event held at Bristol with her horse L'Etoile - a seven year old 17.1 hand Hunter.

Search for a Star is a competition for horses never to have qualified for Horse of the Year Show and riders who do not earn a living from producing show horses. The idea of the competition is to find horses with potential to go on possibly to international competition.

Heather said: "We travelled down to Wembley on the Tuesday in preparation for the competition on Wednesday. The horses are put through their paces by the riders and are also ridden by one of the three judges. They are also judged on their overall appearance and condition.

"I was delighted to be placed first, we then had to stay on until the Friday to go in the championship where we were judged against the winners of the other sections. The mare put in a faultless performance but unfortunately we were not placed as champion or reserve this time."

A former point-to-point rider, Heather runs a riding school at Lintridge Farm, Bromsberrow Heath, and her brother Tim Stephenson still rides and trains point to point horses at Castlemorton.

Heather said: "This was the fulfilment of an ambition to compete at Wembley and I had a wonderful time, as did Chiara Reagan and Tamzin Plummer who came with me and were invaluable help as my grooms for the three days. I have owned L'Etoile 'Letty' since she was three, I broke and schooled her myself and she was bred locally by Mrs Cath Beech from Upton-upon-Severn."