They call her Fancy Nancy, and there can be no doubt that Nancy French is one dressage rider with style. When she first appeared on the dressage scene, she was a vision in pink ­ pink breeches, pink buckets and the brightest pink truck this side of Barbie’s Camper Van. It was an outfit that was sure to get noticed. But more noticeable was the fact that the former hack rider steadily progressed through the ranks, winning test after test… and she never once perspired!

Now Nancy is ready to break into the big big time. Selected to travel to Europe with the Australian Dressage Squad, she is right in line for a place in the Team at Rome. It’s been a pretty rapid rise to the top…

When did you decide you wanted to be a dressage rider?
"Nine years ago. My father had always wanted me to do dressage but because I was so involved in the showing, I never got round to it, until I bought Wiking. I’ve never looked back since then...."

At the beginning, did you say, I want to be a dressage rider, and I’ll train my first horse and go and compete in the World Championships for Australia?
"I think at that stage my big aim was to reach Medium level. I thought it would take me forever to get to Medium, then it’s just step by step, you want to get to the next level, then the next..."

When did you say to yourself, ‘hey I can get in there and mix it with anyone, I’ve got a chance to make an Australian team...’
"You just keep pushing yourself harder, want to keep achieving more and more..."

But what about the Sydney CDI in 1996, when you won almost every test - surely you must have started to get an inkling that you were in the big time?
"I suppose so, I just strive to get better and better all the time. Even if you win a competition, you keep thinking, ‘that bit was wrong’, ‘that bit was wrong’, ‘I’ve got to fix that and get better at the next competition’."

You went from the high of that CDI when you were hotter than hot, to twelve months later when nothing went right, and you found yourself dropped off the elite squad, left off the team, was that real stress out?
"Yes it was a little bit, but I’m the type of person that if something like that happens, it just smartens me up more to think, ‘alright I have to work a bit harder’, I might be just dropping off a little bit."

So when did you come up with the idea of paying your own way to Europe when you missed out on the team ­ straight away?
"I only thought about it for a short time, I thought, well, it is something I’d really like to do, and I have the horse. I might as well do it. Right now. This year. Because he’d proven he could do it. I just thought, now or never. I’m so glad I did go. It was hugely expensive to bear the cost personally, and perhaps unfairly when my results overall representing my country were as good or better than those whose costs were picked up by the EFA. It was however worth it to me  when they played the national anthem and had the Australian flag flying after my win at Hickstead CDI."

Did that suit you, on tour, just with one horse, competing all the time…
"It is difficult because I was there for quite a long time. When the team came home, I stayed there for a bit longer. It is very hard to just ride one horse. When you are used to riding a lot of horses every day and being extremely busy. But there are so many other horses to watch, and learn from. Every horse you watch over there, you learn so much. I made the most of it while I was there."

The European shows, were they an eye opener?
"The bigger the competition, the better I like it. The tougher it is, the more I like it. I prefer that. It’s at smaller competitions, I don’t know if I get too laid back and casual, I think that’s when things can start to go wrong."

So Wiking is really your first dressage horse ­ and you’ve gone all the way from a baby three year old to an international competitor with him?
"I competed on my last show hack at the Berwick Dressage Classic, a friend talked me into it. It was the first dressage competition that I did. I thought this is pretty good I’d like to get more involved in this ­ then we bought Wiking."

Do you have another horse that you think will make it to the top?
"I’ve actually got five horses at the moment, and they are all talented and all working at different levels."