A YEAR'S coaching by Badminton winner Pippa Funnell is the dream prize in a new competition entered by Basingstoke horsewoman Natalie Olive.

The 26-year-old and her horse Eleda Jack are among about 100 hopefuls vying for the title of Quest-X champion in a national competition to find new British eventing talent.

World number one Funnell, who has just won her third Badminton title, said: "I know the Quest-X champion will have to display the kind of skill, determination and commitment it takes to succeed.

"I look forward to helping them to the next level."

The competition starts on Wednesday, May 25, with a warm-up day for the Windsor Horse Trials.

Contestants will try to make the final 25 at Windsor Great Park after dressage, show-jumping and mini cross-country competitions.

Olive, who lives at Brighton Hill, has partnered Eleda Jack for just 15 months. Before that, she lacked a horse good enough to get among the prizes.

After a background with the Woodland Hunt Pony Club in the Henley area, Olive joined the Thames Valley Riders Club, where she has been the eventing team manager for the past three years.

While at university in Birmingham, she captained her campus team through to the national student showjumping finals in Staffordshire, only to have the 2001 event cancelled because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Eleda Jack has had a successful winter after being sidelined by a knee injury last summer. The nine-year-old bay gelding and Olive were half-way to qualifying for a British dressage regional competition after a recent win.

The pairing are warming up for the Windsor competition with one-day events at Salisbury and, locally, at Mattingley.

Olive, who runs medical trials for a pharmaceutical company, said: "I'm looking forward to the Windsor competition, where Princess Anne is one of the judges on the panel."