FROM pony eventing to a place among Europe’s elite, it’s been a mighty fast rise for Membury’s eventing sensation Laura Collett.

While the 21-year-old may already be grappling with the dizzy heights of international selection less than a year after entering senior competition, Collett has not developed vertigo quite yet.

Instead, the softly-spoken, charming youngster has that ambitious glint in her eye that is a dead giveaway for a future Olympian.

Considering Collett left school post-GCSEs at the age of 15 in 2004, and did not have the financial backing to jump to the top of her sport’s pecking order straight away, her achievements take on an even more impressive complexion.

Sure, she has been blessed with moments of good fortune - and Collett is modest enough to appreciate that - but it is using luck to her advantage where she has excelled.

“I’ve had a lot of lucky breaks, definitely,” she said.

“It’s hard work, 24 seven.

“I left school at 15 just and started eventing then and it’s been non-stop since. It’s nothing like a nine to five job.

“If you ask any eventer they wouldn’t have a clue what working in an office is.

“This is what we know and it is hard work but it’s definitely worth it in the end.”

An eighth-placed finish at Badminton preceded third at Barbury this summer to land Collett a spot in the preliminary Great Britain side for the European Championships.

Talk about hard work paying off - this mild-mannered young woman from Stow-on-the-Wold has hit the equestrian jackpot.

But it is not simply luck that has seen Collett through. From a young age she led the field in her age group.

Graduating from pony eventing into juniors, Collett became the youngest ever winner of a CCI** event on Fernhill Sox in 2006, and she claimed individual gold in the Junior European Championships in the same year.

In 2007, on board current stable favourite Rayef, she ensured back-to-back titles at the event - the first British rider to do so.

Now Collett finds herself competing with the very best, with a London 2012 place more plausible than impossible.

Recently, she even made a significant appearance in equestrian bible, Horse & Hound.

“Ever since I can remember I’ve always wanted a front cover of Horse & Hound and to get it now and have the article in there is really nice,” she said.

“Things have been going really well this year and hopefully I can just stay on a high.”

The Advertiser meets Collett at her stables on the Membury Estate - halfway between Aldbourne and Hungerford in the beautiful confines of rural Wiltshire.

Custom-built for her arrival in 2009 on the whim of logistics entrepreneur Phillip Walker and his wife Sarah, who wanted a professional to assist in the development of their daughter Grace’s riding, the Membury facilities are the epitome of modern equestrian.

Clean and hi-tech, they provide everything Collett could possibly need to progress as an international rider.

For those blessings, she has to thank a tiny, four-foot eight-inch companion.

Noble Springbok, Collett’s first pony, was effectively the middle-horse in bringing her to Membury.

After being sold by Collett to Libby Soley, Springbok ended up with the Walkers, who were at the time looking for a young pro.

Soley suggested Collett, the parties met for dinner and some weeks later the Membury Estate was born.

For the rider herself it was a somewhat whirlwind experience - and the culmination of a lifetime dream.

“When we first came and met them there was nothing here apart from a piece of paper with a plan on it,” she said.

“Luckily for me the Soleys suggested me, so this was built and here I am.

“It all happened quite quickly, but they (the Walkers) are really, really good to me and I’m very grateful for that.

“I think I started riding when I was about two.

“My brother was on a pony and I was in a pushchair and apparently I was screaming because I wanted to ride and he was screaming that he didn’t want to ride.

“There’s never been a doubt in my mind from as long ago as I can remember that it was what I wanted to do.

“We didn’t have the money to go and buy ready-made ponies so for me it was having to buy them unbroken, produce them and get them to a good level where they were worth money.

“Selling them on was probably the hardest thing when they got to their best, but that’s how I knew it had to be.

“Now it’s really worked out for us where we are, which is great.”

This year saw the return of Rayef - the 12-year-old gelding with whom Collett has developed an intimate bond.

After damaging a tendon at the Young Rider European Championships in 2009, Rayef’s original reappearance was earmarked for the end of last year.

In the end Collett and her team decided to pamper her charge a little longer, and the softly-softly approach paid dividends when a dressage score of 36 saw the pair sit top of the Badminton leaderboard in April on Rayef’s return to the competitive fray.

Collett still looks surprised about it to this day.

“It was crazy really,” she said.

“I had a phone call from a friend of mine who works in the press office and she said I was wanted for the press conference and I couldn’t quite believe it.

“It hadn’t really sunk in. Because I went out so early, I was fifth to go, and even though I knew deep down it was an amazing score you know what the results after dressage at Badminton can be like.

“I knew a 36 was good but I thought there must be people in the 20s if I’m in the 30s.

“So to be sat there on the first day in the press conference and then be called for the second day as well was amazing.

“It was mad and I really enjoyed doing it but I guess you have to, it’s not every day you’re going to be sat there at Badminton in the lead is it? It was really cool.

“It was surreal. I think the most surreal moment was when I was sat with Mark Todd on one side and Andrew Nicholson on the other and I was saying to myself, ‘this isn’t happening.’”

“It’s something I will cherish for the rest of my life and if it never happens again at least I’ve done it once.”

Now horse and rider can target the consolidation of a place in the national side ahead of a big year on the eventing calendar.

And the fact they share such a close relationship can only help, even if Rayef has a habit of getting on Collett’s nerves.

“He can be quite spooky and he knows how to wind me up but he always seems to produce the goods when it matters,” she said.

“None of us thought he was going to produce the test he did at Barbury because he was completely on edge but he went in, did his job and in that respect he’s a proper showman.

“He loves to win and that helps.”

Winning is something Collett may well get used to in the future.