Millie Boo Smith who is now 16 and classed as a senior rider competed at the RDA National Championships, riding against experienced adults, some with their own horses.

Millie doesn’t have her own horse and has to borrow horses, which puts Millie at a significant disadvantage as she has a very small window to get to know the new horse. In this case she rode a horse called Ocean.

Millie Boo did fantastically well, coming in 3rd in her Grade 2 Freestyle to Music. The first time she has tried this. Having bilateral hearing loss Millie has to feel the music and she was riding in the huge indoor arena and this class was live steamed over YouTube.

She was 4th in her Grade 2 dressage class.

She received her gold medal for winning the Dressage Anywhere online Championships against riders from all over the UK and Hong Kong.

She won 1st place and class champion winning a lovely plate for her collage in the Arts and Crafts class for a lovely piece using horse stamps to design horse heads. She was 5th in photography too. She also won a rosette for advanced Horse Care and Knowledge and a 3rd place in Best Turned Out.

She was even interviewed by the social media creator Esme Griggs known as This Esme which Millie Boo found fantastic. She was lovely and spent time asking Millie about her riding journey and the challenges she has.

All in all a very successful National Championships which is the biggest RDA competition in the world.

Millie’s family are so proud of Millie Boo and all the hard work she puts in and her courage and resilience against the senior riders. Their next step on the journey is to find a horse that Millie can compete on to build a relationship and not have to borrow horses.

Huge congratulations from all at FVDS.