Georgina "Piggy" March (née French, born 12 August 1980) is a British equestrian sportswoman who competes in

eventing Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

. She won the 2019

Badminton Horse Trials The Badminton Horse Trials is a five-day event, one of only six annual Concours Complet International (CCI) Five Star events as classified by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). It takes place in April or May each year in the p ...

and 2022 Burghley Horse Trials on Vanir Kamira, and finished second at the 2011 Badminton Horse Trials and the 2017 Burghley Horse Trials. She won Individual silver at the 2009 European Championships and a team gold at the 2018 World Equestrian Games. She earned selection for the 2012 Olympic Games, but was forced to withdraw due to an injury to her horse, DHI Topper W. She was also selected for

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

, as a reserve; however, her owners did not want the horse to travel, Brookfield Inocent, if it was not to compete.

Early life

French is from

North Elmham North Elmham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,428 in 624 households at the 2001 census, including Gateley and increasing slightly to 1,433 at the 2011 Census. For ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. She gained her nickname early on when visited by her sisters in hospital who noted a resemblance to Piglet from the

Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Win ...

stories. Her mother Kate and sister Nini also compete in eventing.

Eventing career

Having competed on smaller events, French's first championship level ride was in 2001 at the young riders European Championship, with a 4th place in the individual and a team gold medal. French represented Britain as an individual at the 2009 Europeans, winning the individual silver medal aboard Some Day Soon. The following year, she competed at the World Equestrian Games, finishing 14th with Jakata. This combination then finished 9th at the 2011 Europeans, as French won her first senior team medal, team bronze. In the senior ranks, she has competed at a number of CCI 4* (now 5*) competitions, and won the CCI5*-L

with Vanir Kamira in 2019. Previously her best place at the top level was 2nd with Jakata at Badminton in 2011. Earlier this year (2022) French ran Burghley Horse Trials with her horse, Vanir Kamira and won it. French has also won numerous international 3* events, including Hartpury CIC3* in 2010 with Jakata Burnham Market CIC3* in 2011 with DHI Topper W Bleinhem CIC3* in 2011 with DHI Topper W Houghton CIC3* in 2012 with Jakata Barbury CIC3* in 2013 with Tinka`s Time Burgham CIC3* in 2014 with Westwood Marinier Chatsworth CIC3* in 2018 with Quarrycrest Echo French's top horse, Jakata, was retired at the end of the 2014 season. She had three top horses for the 2015 season: DHI Topper W, Westwood Marinier and Tinka's Time.

CCI 5* Results

International Championship Results

Notable Horses

*Flintlock II **2001 Young Rider European Championships - team gold, individual 4th *Some Day Soon **2009 European Championships - individual silver *Jakarta **2010 World Equestrian Games - individual 16th **2011 Badminton CCI5* runner up **2011 European Championships - team bronze, individual 9th *Quarryquest Echo **2018 World Equestrian Games - team gold, individual 10th **2019 European Championships - team silver, individual 15th *Vanir Kamira **2017 & 19 Burghley CCI5* runner up **2019 Badminton CCI5* winner **2021 Bicton CCI5* third place *Brookfield Inocent **2020 Pau CCI5* runner up **2021 European Championships - team gold, individual silver

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Piggy British event riders 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Norfolk British female equestrians People from North Elmham