Wednesday 13 June 2012

GB Rider Profile; Zara Phillips

I have decided to do an extra rider profile this week on Zara Phillips. It has recently been announced that she has made it onto Team GB for the eventing. She also recently was one of the carriers of the Olympic torch on her retired horse ToyTown.

Credit; LOCOG via Getty Images

In the past, Zara has been very unlucky with Olympic selections with her horses being injured at the wrong time. The horse she will be riding in the Olympics is called High Kingdom. She also currently has a number of other good horses such as Lord Lauries and Silver Lining V.


I am sure you all know Zara is also a member of the royal family. She is the granddaughter of the Queen and cousin to William and Harry. In her private life she married a rugby player, Mike Tindall, who played for England.

I remember going to watch Gatcombe Horse Trials and Zara was there. Zara's mother is Princess Anne who lives at Gatcombe Park which has a big cross country course. We were watching the dressage ring and suddenly became surround by photographers taking her picture as she entered the ring. Her father, Captain Mark Philips won Olympic Gold Medals for eventing and helps to train the USA eventing team.


Zara has a number of great achievements in the sport. She won a gold medal on ToyTown at the World Equestrian Games in 2006, she also was on the eventing team at the same event gaining a silver medal. She recently was placed 3rd at Bramham Horse trials and over the years has been highly placed in a number of 3* events. In 2006 she was voted BBC Sport's Personality of the Year by the British public.

Below is a video showing interviewing Zara showing clips of her riding. It is an old video from 2008 but at the end she shows her Olympic horse High Kingdom and says "remember that name"! Seems like even four years ago she knew he would be a great horse. I am glad that Zara has got another good horse to ride after ToyTown, he was a great horse and she was very upset when she retired him.



Zara Philips is definitely one of the people's favourites when watching eventing. She will also hopefully bring a higher profile to the sport over the Olympics!

(I do not own these images or video).

Love Laura
xxxx

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