HELEN Bell, the former international three-day event rider, believes that small is beautiful when it comes to training ponies and horses for eventing and show jumping.

Helen competed regularly at Badminton and Burghley in the Nineties, as well as representing Great Britain at the world and European championships.

Now she and her husband Tom, who is a farmer, have set their sights on creating Britain's leading centre for training ponies and horses in the heart of North Yorkshire.

She said: "We are one of a few stables specialising in the 14 to 15.2 hands range. We decided to concentrate on this because my clients often asked for 14.2hh ponies and small horses and I had difficulty finding them. Also, because I am only 5ft 3in, they are the right height for me to ride.

"We have excellent cross-country facilities to train the horses and people can see them over water and all types of fences."

Visitors to Helen's web site, www.helenbellequestrian.co.uk, can generally find pictures and descriptions of up to ten horses and ponies at any time.

With the practised eye of an accredited British Eventing trainer, Helen is skilled at achieving the best combination of horse and rider. Her approach involves schooling and competing ponies and horses at affiliated BE one-day events before handing them over to new owners.

An example is Jump the QII, bought as a six-year-old by Helen and trained at novice and intermediate levels. His success continued after being sold to Paul Whitehead, who has been long-listed for the British junior team.

Another horse, Stainsby Irish Mist, showed exceptional promise during training and has since gone on to compete at Hickstead and other national show jumping events.

In addition to her string of UK successes, Helen has recently received interest from the United States.

She said: "This year we have had sales into America. The clients were attracted by the idea of coming to a centre with good facilities, but more importantly of having a choice of horses from within our particular range."