A CLEVELAND rider wants to thank her family and friends for the support which has helped her qualify her horse for the Northern Winter Dressage Championships.

Deborah Carr-Davidson from Foxholm Stud, Norton, has been suffering from a slipped disc in her neck and has been reliant on her husband, Colin, to take care of her horses.

Her friend Marjory Hoggarth from Billingham, who bought Foxholm Andrioso - a six-year-old Hanoverian - from the stud, qualified him at preliminary level. She only started competing in dressage 18 months ago.

She encouraged Deborah to take her horse Foxholm Pure Silk to the qualifying competitions at novice level.

"I took him over to Markington in North Yorkshire and he won by a mile," said Deborah.

Now the two women are off to the championships at Osbaldeston later this month