Laura Bechtolsheimer

Laura and her Olympic partner Mistral Hojris

Laura started riding when she was given her first pony on her third birthday. She went on to compete in Pony Club eventing and won the National Championships of Independent Schools at Stonar School aged 12. Laura started to concentrate on dressage aged 13 and was selected to ride at the Pony European Championships the following season and won a team silver medal at her first major competition.

“The eventing fizzled out. I find dressage really challenging. Every detail is important,” says Laura.

Laura took home team bronze from the Young Rider European Championships riding Douglas Dorsey in 2004 and Mistral Hojris in 2005. Also in 2005, Laura became the youngest British Dressage National Champion at the age of 20 riding Douglas Dorsey.

Laura has also enjoyed success at senior international level and won the B final in the 2006 World Cup Final. She represented Britain at the 2006 World Equestrian Games and was offered a wild card for the 2007 World Cup Final, which she turned down due to university commitments.

She was again on the British team at the 2007 European Championships and achieved the highest placing in the team test riding Mistral Hojris.

Laura was the British Dressage Dressage Rider of the Year 2008 and represented her country at the 2008 Olympic Games riding Mistral Hojris. At the National Dressage Championships, she took the grand prix title with Andretti H, but was unable to contest the grand prix freestyle as her horsebox was delayed on the motorway following a major accident.

In 2009, she set two British international record scores at ’s-Hertogenbosch CDI-W in Holland riding Mistral Hojris, 76.553% in the grand prix and 75.25% in the grand prix special. In the same year, Laura and 'Alf' won team silver and an individual bronze at the European Championships before concluding their year with a win at Stuttgart.

In 2010, Laura found herself ranked world number three and won both team and individual silver at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky with Alf. The partnership also secured third place at Aachen. She also achieved huge success with her second string, Andretti H, winning the CDI Kur in Aachen.

Her success continued with a win in the grand prix qualifier at Olympia 2010, but a spooky Alf's hesitation in the piaffe cost her first place in the kur.