Laura Collett On Settling Into Team Great Britain

By on Sep 15, 2015 11:00 am -
Laura Collett and Grand Manoeuvre Laura Collett and Grand Manoeuvre

How do you make the transition from baby on the British team to one of the more experienced riders, while you’re still relatively young and inexperienced? How do you bounce back from the shocking and tragic loss of a beloved horse, made even more difficult by mass media attention? If you’re Laura Collett you do what she’s always done — keep riding and keep working at it.

Laura flew relatively low under the radar at this year’s Blair Castle European Championships — it wasn’t her Senior team debut, she wasn’t the youngest or the oldest, and she was probably quite relieved to be able to get on with what she loves, the riding and her horses. Luckily for us, she took a few minutes to chat between the final horse inspection and the show jumping, but unluckily the wind interfered with our audio, but please do bear with us.

Laura talks about the support the whole team receives from UK Lottery Funding, and the amazing network of the crew that all go towards making the competitions a success for Team GBR. You only have to spend a couple of days at an event like Blair to see the cogs of the wheels of a machine like Team GBR in action and not fail to be impressed, and the team pride and camaraderie is obvious and huge. Check out these great photos from Jon Stroud Media to get a tiny idea of what we’re talking about!

Laura also talks about how excited she is for Grand Manoeuvre’s (Milo’s) future, who she’ll be tentatively aiming at Badminton again next year, and will be at Blenheim this week with Pamero.

Unfortunately Laura slipped out of the top 10 at Blair Castle with a stop at the Team GBR bogey fence, number 7, in the show jumping, and finished in 13th place, but I have no doubt that they’ll be working hard over the winter, and look forward to seeing her at Blenheim this weekend, and the both of them next spring. Many, many thanks to Laura for her time, and wishing her the best of luck going forward. Go Team GBR and Go Collett Eventing!