A DRESSAGE star from Brentwood is spending this week at the Junior European Championships after earning a spot in the GB team for the third year running.
Gaby Lucas, 18, a student at Writtle College near Chelmsford, even received a letter from the Queen congratulating her on her success.
In April, she was part of the four-strong team which won gold in Saumur, in southern France, in the Junior Nations Cup – the first time GB has won the title.
She was the second highest placed Brit in the competition, coming fifth in the time test, fifth in the individual and sixth in the music.
At the regionals, she was the youngest person to win at the Advanced Medium Open with a score of 70.6 per cent.
She trains on the British Equestrian Federation's World Class Development Programme with her own horse, Laurentius II, a 15-year-old Danish Warm Blood, which has won four different European championships for three different countries.
She has competed in six internationals with him, including the Junior Europeans in Switzerland last year, where she came fourth. She will hope to do well in Compiegne in France this week, with the events beginning today and finishing on Sunday.
She said: "I am really excited that I have been picked for the Europeans for the third time in a row. I am so proud of Laurentius and it just shows that hard work pays off.
"When I received the letter from the Queen I felt really proud and privileged that she took the time to write a long letter to me. It really encouraged and motivated me for the Europeans. I am the youngest person on the dressage World Class Development Programme, which looks for Olympic hopefuls and combinations.
"Only ten people are selected from the whole of Great Britain at each level so it is a huge achievement to be on the programme.
"They fund you for the competitions' training and give you the knowledge that you need."
Along with team-mates Charlotte Fry, Chloe Vell and Maisie Scruton, Lucas set off for Compiegne, 40km north-east of Paris on Monday ahead of the opening ceremony.
The competition gets under way at the ten-hectare Stade Equestre du Grand Parc with the team test taking place today and continuing on Thursday when the team medal will be decided.
It is then down to individual honours with two days of the individual test to qualify for a coveted freestyle place when the individual European champion will be crowned on Sunday.
You can follow the action on http://dressageeurope.compiegne-equestre.com/ or British Dressage will be on Facebook and Twitter with updates.