DRESSAGE rider Laura Bechtolsheimer, from Ampney St Peter, near Cirencester, has been named in the British team for the Beijing Olympics.

Bechtolsheimer, 23, the current British dressage rider of the year, will ride Mistral Hojris, a 17hh Danish-bred chestnut gelding owned by Laura and her father Dr Wilfried Bechtolsheimer.

She started riding when she was given her first pony on her third birthday, and went on to compete in Pony Club eventing. She won the National Championships of Independent Schools at Stonar School, aged 12.

Bechtolsheimer started to concentrate on dressage aged 13 and was selected to ride at the Pony European Championship the following season. She won a team silver medal at her first major competition.

“The eventing fizzled out. I find dressage really challenging,” she said.

She won team silver medals at the Pony European Championships with Foresters Gold in 1999 and Golden Dancer in 2000 and took home team bronze from the Young Rider European Championships, riding Douglas Dorsey in 2004 and Mistral Hojris in 2005.

Also in 2005, Bechtolsheimer became the youngest British dressage national champion at the age of 20, riding Douglas Dorsey.

She has also enjoyed success at senior international level and won the B final in the 2006 World Cup final.

Bechtolsheimer 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 in the British team at the 2007 European Championships and achieved the highest placing in the team test, riding Mistral Hojris. The same year, she achieved a record score for a British rider in an international grand prix with 75.33% at Olympia.