Brand Ambassadors
Piggy French
INTERVIEW
Georgina ‘Piggy’ French comes from what is very much a horsey family and an eventing background. Piggy has followed in the footsteps of her mother, Kate who competed up to Advanced level, in order to achieve her dream of becoming an International event rider. She has been riding for as long as she can remember and her rise to the world stage began back in Pony Club. Piggy began eventing at the age of 15: “As a young girl, event riding was always my dream and now I’m lucky enough to be living my dream. Both of my parents, Kate and Wally, fully supported my decision to become an event rider. My passion for eventing very much came from my mother and I remember her driving me to my first three day events.”
Piggy grew up at her family home in Norfolk and to this day, she stills enjoys returning back to Norfolk to compete at events such as Houghton, Burnham Market and Great Witchingham. Piggy’s success is down to the level of dedication, hard work and determination that she puts into her career and her horses. In her early eventing days, she did not have access to readymade event horses and worked hard to produce event horses and to secure rides.
Moving onto Four Star events
Piggy’s hard work was rewarded in 1996 with wins on her Junior horse, Lloyds Gamble but it was 2001 when Piggy really shone as an event rider to be reckoned with. In 2001, Piggy was selected on Rebecca Finch’s Flintlock II for the Young Rider European Championships in Waregem, Belgium and the combination were part of the gold medal winning team, finishing fourth individually. Only two years later, Flintlock II took Piggy to her very first four star at Badminton and the pair ended up finishing 31st. Reaching these career highs meant that Piggy got the opportunity to compete against her idol, Mary King: “I used to go to all of these big events as a spectator and I followed and admired Mary King. I looked up to Mary and still do because she enjoys every minute of her job.”
Since then, Piggy’s eventing career has grown from strength to strength and she classes 2009, 2010 and 2011 as her career highs when she was selected for the 2009 Senior European Championships (Some Day Soon), the 2010 World Equestrian Games (Jakata) and the 2011 Senior European Championships (Jakata). In 2009, Piggy earned herself her first senior medal with an Individual Silver at the Europeans.
Looking into the future
Piggy still has a number of aims and ambitions that she wants to achieve: “I have been lucky in the respect that I have had amazing horses, brilliant times and supportive owners. I would love to win a four star, but I really just want to do my best and produce my horses to the best of my ability.
