Teddington's Park Lane Stables attended the Riding Disability Association (RDA) National Championships and Competitions in Gloucester last weekend (Friday, 11 July – Sunday, 13 July), taking along five horses and 13 riders.

The stables also brought along a support crew involving nine people.

Park Lane Stables' founder, Natalie O'Rourke said: "We had somebody to look after the riders and make sure that all their needs were met as well as the horses. And because obviously it was very, very hot, it was quite challenging for lots of reasons, so we needed a big support crew. We went down on Thursday and stayed until Sunday."

O'Rourke added that her riders who attended the event were of mixed ages, with the youngest being 12 and the eldest 49.

"We entered in lots of different events, including show jumping, dressage, horse knowledge and care, and something called Countryside Challenge," she said.

The Countryside Challenge involved overcoming any obstacles riders might meet when riding in the countryside.

O'Rourke explained that her team also entered a freestyle competition for which they created a homage to Liverpool through a choreographed routine to music.

Park Lane Stables' team paid homage to Liverpool in the freestyle competition (Credit: Topshots Photography)

She said: "It has to be between four minutes and four and a half minutes, so we spent a lot of time preparing it."

The Park Lane Stables team won the freestyle competition, which O'Rourke says the team were "really delighted" about because they "worked really hard".

She added: "There was some tough competition, and we were a bit worried, but we really, really put the effort in. So, we had a fantastic weekend, and we're really proud of the team."

Speaking about why the team chose to pay homage to Liverpool in its freestyle routine, O'Rourke said: "We chose to do a homage to Liverpool because they always show resilience in the face of adversity. For example, the Hillsborough incident, the attack in Southport, and the attack they had recently at the Liverpool FC procession.

"The people of Liverpool always come across as if they always get on with it and they support one another. And of course, they have the saying 'you'll never walk alone'.

"And it's the same for us in the riding for the Disabled Association - all our participants show resilience no matter what is thrown at them. We all stick together, and we would never let anyone walk alone. So that's why we chose to do it."

Two of the stables' team members dressed up as The Beatles (Credit: Topshots Photography)

O'Rourke explained that the team dressed its horse and rider up as the Liver Bird.

It also had two people dressed as The Beatles who danced along to the band's songs.

Moreover, as Park Lane Stables resident' horse, Jota, died recently, the team paid tribute to him at the end of the show.

Park Lane Stables also came second in the showjumping competition and came third and fourth elsewhere.

Speaking on this, O'Rourke said: "We were just really proud of how everybody pushed Themselves as for a lot of them, it was their first time at a big competition.

"It's challenging riding in a different environment offsite, and so we're really, really proud of them - the way they pushed themselves and rose to the challenge, and the way that everybody works as a team.

"They all supported each other and championed one another. So, we were really proud of everybody that took part and all the support crew as well, because we couldn't have done it without them."