FOURTEEN-year-old Sophia Doheny became the youngest Irish rider to compete at Grand Prix level when completing her first ‘Pro Elite Grand Prix’ and finishing fifth on a score of 64.036% at Le Mans in France two weeks’ ago.

Sophia has recently relocated from her home at Slieve Bloom Stud in Co Laois to base with French international riders Camille Judet Cheret and Corentin Pottier at Pamfou Dressage outside Paris. She has brought six horses with her to France, and won the FEI Junior Test at the same show aboard Batiqar.

“She has relocated with six horses for the moment,” Sophia’s mother, Louise Doheny, told The Irish Field. “She felt she had gone as far as she could in Ireland in that it is small and quite limited in terms of shows. Pamfou Dressage is just outside Paris; there is two international riders who are both very successful and Camille’s mother is a five-star international judge, so really it’s the best place she could be based.

“She made the decision herself. This is what she wants to do, she is incredibly dedicated and hard working and this is what she wanted. She is aiming for the Junior European Championships this year,” said Louise who added her daughter was responsible for 15 horses while based at home while she was being home schooled.

The horse she rode in the Grand Prix was the 18-year-old Westfalian gelding Enrico who the family purchased just three months ago. Previously ridden by Ukraine’s Oksana Gusarova, he went to the 2017 European Championships in Gothenburg.

“She had been riding my horse, Angel D, and I wanted him back so we were looking for quite a long time for the right horse. I wanted a Grand Prix horse that had experience. She has a range of horses from preliminary right up and in the past we would have started ponies from scratch, but I felt she needed a schoolmaster to go and learn this stage. He is a really sweet horse, they are the perfect match,” Louise added.