Well Done to................
Sarah Holmes, winner of SkillHORSE Advanced Apprentice Competition at Osberton International Horse Trials.
Sarah works at her parents' large and thriving yard - Lake Farm Equitation Centre on the Isle of Wight. She has ridden from a very young age and is currently doing her Advanced Apprenticeship with Haddon Training. Having achieved her NVQ Levels 1 and 2, she is now in the process of completing her Level 3. She has also passed her BHS Stage 3. Sarah has produced two young horses of her own and is now competing at BE Novice Level and JRN. She also qualified both horses for the Riding Club Championships where they finished a very
creditable 1st and 2nd - she is hoping to take on her first 1 star event before the end of the 2009 season. In the winter months she also competes horses at different levels in British Dressage and BSJA.
During her working day, Sarah rides a wide variety of horses and enjoys helping the liveries, giving lessons and schooling. She also helps with the daily needs of a large livery, riding school and competition yard. She is up early and finishes late making sure that the specific needs of individual horses are catered for.
Stubbing Court Training set up the SkillHORSE as a national competition for the best Advanced Apprentices in the country. It is a pioneering research project to showcase excellence in vocational skills through competition, to motivate and reward young people to work to world-class standards through the Apprenticeship programme. The competition was for the best 6 Apprentices with a £ 500 training bursary to the winner. The competition is part of Stubbing Court Training's Beacon Status Innovation project supported by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, to enhance the preparation for skills competitions leading up to World Skills 2011.
In planning the competition, Stubbing Court Training had the support and involvement of some of the world's leading specialists - Mike Etherington-Smith, Designer for the Beijing and Sydney Olympics and World Equestrian Games 2010, and Chief Executive of British eventing; Ian Stark, four times Olympic silver medallist and selector for the British teams for the European and World Championships and Olympic Games; and Yogi Breisner, World Class Performance Manager and Chef d'Equipe of the British Eventing Team.
Sarah is obviously absolutely thrilled to have won such a prestigeous competition. She thoroughly enjoyed it and felt that she learnt a tremendous amount doing it. She appreciated the opportunity and challenge of being given different horses to ride in unfamiliar conditions and feels that it has helped her own riding tremendously. She also feels that it has given her a great insite into riding as a professional at the top of their sport and how to get there.
The final placings were:
| Position | Apprentice | Provider |
| 1st | Sarah Holmes | Haddon Training Limited |
| 2nd | Craig Kiddier | Stubbing Court Training Limited |
| 3rd | Kim Liversedge | Stubbing Court Training Limited |
| 4th | Martyn Humphrey | Duchy College |
| 5th | Lisa Perry | Chichester College |
| 6th | Amy Ellison | Lite Limited |