Laura shows grace and class | Taranaki Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Taranaki

ONLY 11-years-old, Laura Hutterd, has had outstanding success in the equestrian arena.

Laura recently won her section in the North Island Eventing Pre-Training Championships.

Laura competed against 57 riders from across the country, with several competitors as old as 21 years.

The two-day event held in Masterton, was made of three components dressage, cross-country and show jumping.

The event began with dressage (the French word for training) and Laura finished the set test with 21.9 fault points. This put her into second place.

The aim of the event is to get as fewer points as possible to win.

The cross-country course proved no problem for Laura as she cleared the round within time and with no faults. This moved her into first place.

The next day was the show jumping event and overnight rain had made the grounds slippery. The course was a series of fences, which needed to be completed within a set time.

Another clear round secured Laura the win and the prestigious Hodder Family Cup.

Helping her with the win was her horse Sultan, which she has owned for one year. Sultan is 15 years old and 14.1 hands.

Laura began horse riding when she was two-years-old and joined the local pony club at age three.

Her mother, Clare's passion for horses helped Laura chose to ride competitively.

Laura trained twice a day for the past six to eight weeks to prepare for the national event.

"I gave it 100 percent and worked really hard to get Sultan fit and prepared for the event. The experience was incredible, but the win was a bonus."

This is not the first time Laura has had success, she has won a Taranaki one-day event for riders under 10-year-old for the past two years.

Laura has just moved up into the 11-13 year old circuit in Taranaki, with seven events to compete in. The first event is in Inglewood on February 2. The other pony clubs include, Opunake, Hawera, Carlyle, Waitara and Eltham.

Laura said she enjoys riding because you can go out and have fun, make new friends and bond with a special animal.

Her ultimate goal is to represent New Zealand for show jumping or eventing, hopefully at an Olympics.

Although her mum teaches her most of the time, Laura has attended several horse training workshops run by Brenda Bellringer and Olympian Mathew Grayling.

The St Joseph School student is looking forward to another successful year in the pony club circuit.