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Girls in pearls on horseback: British event riders in Country Life

Agnes Stamp Agnes Stamp

British beauties mad keen on eventing.

The frontispiece – or ‘girls in pearls’ as it is affectionately known – has launched the editorial section of the magazine ever since it was first published on 8 January 1897.

Below, we reveal the elite band of lady event riders who have appeared on the famous ‘frontispiece’ of Country Life magazine.

Georgina French

Piggy first represented Britain at senior level at the 2009 FEI European Championships in Fontainebleau, taking home a silver medal. In 2010 she represented Great Britain at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky. In 2011, she made her first British team appearance at the Europeans, taking home team bronze. That year, she also finished 2nd at Badminton Horse Trials.

She will be competing at this weekend’s Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials on Vanir Kamira.

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Sheila Wilcox

Sheila Willcox (12 March 1936 – 9 June 2017) won Badminton three consecutive years (1957–1959), and was the first woman rider in the Britain to achieve international success, winning individual and team gold at the 1957 European Championships in Copenhagen.

Mary King (née Thomson)

Mary King has represented Great Britain at six Olympic Games, as well as numerous world and European championships. A former world number one, Mary has won Badminton, Burghley, Kentucky and the British Open title at Gatcombe.

Kristina Cook (née Gifford)

Tina Cook is a three-time Olympic medallist, wining individual and team bronze in 2008 and team silver in 2012. She has won two World team golds (1994, 2010) and four European team golds (1995, 1999, 2009, 2017). She is also the 2009 European Champion.

Zara Tindall (née Phillips)

Riding her horse Toytown, Zara collected individual and team gold medals at the 2005 European Eventing Championship in Blenheim, and individual gold and team silver medals at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen making her the reigning Eventing World Champion until 2010.

She competed in the 2012 Olympics on High Kingdom, where she won silver in the team eventing. At the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy, Zara and High Kingdom were part of the British team that won team silver.

Lissa Green

Lissa Green is the daughter of Olympic event riders Lucinda and David Green. She competed in her first Badminton Horse Trials with Malinhead Clover in 2017.

Emily Llewellyn

Emily Llewellyn has ridden on eight consecutive Youth European Championship Teams, winning six gold, one silver and two bronze medals. She has completed Badminton five times and in 2016 she was awarded her Armada Dish in recognition of this.

Wiggy Nicholson (née Channer)

Wiggy is married to Kiwi event rider Andrew Nicholson. She has completed Burghley Horse Trials three times (2001, 2002, 2003).

Dani Evans

Dani Evans has represented Great Britain in six consecutive European championships. In 2009 she took Junior individual silver riding Uchin, in 2011 she took Young Riders team gold, and in 2012 took Young Riders individual bronze.