Annan teenager rubs shoulders with equestrian world's elite

BBC News

5 days ago

A teenage equestrian star from the south of Scotland has been tipped as "one to watch" by British Eventing.Tara Kane, 15, from Annan, was recently selected as the only solo Scottish competitor in an upcoming international championships.She has been rapidly rising through the ranks with her Connemara pony, Anna, and the pair will now fly the flag for their country at next week's event in Bishop Burton in Yorkshire.Tara said it was "quite unbelievable" that she would be competing with some of the best eventers in the world.
The teenager has produced a string of impressive results recently, including successfully completing clear rounds at Badminton Horse Trials in 2024 and 2025.Widely considered the pinnacle of the eventing world, Badminton was an event that Tara watched on television growing up. However, she is now competing alongside world-class eventers, tackling the three disciplines of dressage, showjumping and cross-country.
"I feel like it's quite unbelievable really," she said."I'll be in the warm-up ring looking over to competitors like Ros Canter, who's one of the best in the world, and here I am on my little Connemara pony."I bought Anna as a four-year-old and I've home produced her, so everything that we have achieved together has been through sheer hard work."Tara recently beat one of her heroes in a dressage test, when she scored higher than Olympic gold medallist, Oliver Townend. As a teenager competing in adult and horse classes, most of the fences tower over both jockey and pony.Her achievements have not gone unnoticed.
"Tara is one of the youngest riders competing at this level and to have completed a clear round at Badminton aged just 14 is both rare and extremely impressive," said a British Eventing spokesman."Her selection to represent Scotland at the upcoming championships is a well-deserved recognition of her talent and composure under pressure."She's certainly one to watch."Competing at international level requires a significant amount of training and dedication, with Tara riding every morning before attending school at Lockerbie Academy.
In order to compete at Badminton this year, she had to sit her school exams on Monday before a six-hour drive south to compete on the Tuesday, with British Eventing making special allowances in order for her to participate.Tara's parents, Margaret and Edi, work full-time to support their daughter in following her dream.However, competing at this level is expensive and Margaret has to work overtime to cover the cost of entry fees, travel and accommodation.
"It's surreal for us as a family to see Tara's name on the entry list alongside riders who we watch competing all over the world and to have royalty arriving in helicopters to spectate," she said."We do everything ourselves and we don't have any sponsors."Some of Tara's competitors have the pick of the best horses and teams of people around them to cater to horse and rider."I think it makes it even more special when Tara achieves the results she does, and we'd like to thank her coaches who work so hard."The dream is to reach the top of the sport, perhaps even a future Olympics Games.Both Margaret and Tara are working as hard as they can to realise those ambitions.