A NORTH Yorkshire rider has enjoyed success at a new grassroots championships held at the home of the Badminton International Horse Trials.

Primary school teacher Katie Hardisty, from Stokesley, won the BE100 championship crown at the 2012 Mitsubishi Motors Grassroots Championships.

The contest had originally been scheduled to take place last year, but had to be postponed until this month when the grounds became seriously waterlogged.

The competition was the finale of a series aimed at amateur riders to compete on the grounds of the world famous Badminton horse trials, on the eve of the event. She won the title on her seven-year-old skewbald horse named Croft Farm Percy on a dressage score of 29.5 in a class of 46 riders.

Katie, who lives in Stokesley, said: “This horse has never won anything until today so it’s fantastic that he pulled out all the stops for the championships. This kind of thing doesn’t happen to me, it’s incredible.

“The nerves very nearly got to me, it was very nerve wracking being at such a big event with such a lot of competition - it was a very close call with less than one point between me and the second placed rider.

“I think he will be the horse of a lifetime for me.

"I hope to get to international level competition with him by the end of the year. I think winning this title will be the confidence boost that will get us on our way towards that.”

The grassroots championships were thought up by the managing director of Mitsubishi Motors UK, Lance Bradley, who was inspired by amateur footballers being given the chance to play at Wembley on the morning of the Cup Final and thought he would give the same opportunity to grassroots riders.