A young Chippenham woman has been shortlisted for a national sports award.

Lily Laughton, a 20-year-old dressage prodigy, is among the top 10 contenders for SportsAid's prestigious One-to-Watch Award.

The annual award has previously recognised Olympic champions such as Tom Daley and Alex Yee, as well as Paralympic gold medallist Hollie Arnold.

At just 20, Miss Laughton is part of the British Dressage U21 International Performance Pathway squad.

She has recently returned from a year of training and working in the Netherlands, where she honed her skills.

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She said: "It was amazing over there.

"It was a different culture, different people, a different way of training with the horses, I worked so hard and I think it’s changed my mentality so much."

Miss Laughton is now back in England and training under the guidance of Carl Hester, a legendary figure in the sport.

She said: "I’m very lucky to train with Carl Hester.

"Training with him each week, I’m really lucky and that is where I would like to get to.

"He’s very good at showing me the way and how to get there and the attitude I need to have."

Despite her tender age, Miss Laughton is already managing her own business, which involves buying and selling horses, as well as teaching people to ride.

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She said: "I’m only 20, it’s quite a big thing.

"I’m very lucky to have my parents guiding me on what to do and what not to do.

"But I’m also very independent, I like to do lots of things myself and figure them out for myself.

"It’s going super well, I have a lot of really lovely clients with horses here, I’m loving it and learning along the way."

Miss Laughton was a member of the bronze-medal winning team at the FEI Young Rider European Championships in Hungary last year, while she finished sixth in the FEI CDIY in Aachen, Germany earlier in the year.

That was her first competition on new horse Hulana T, and they are hoping for a similarly good performance back in Aachen in December, for her biggest remaining event of the year.

She said: "I’ve got a really big competition at the end of December which I’m preparing for in Germany.

"It’s very busy.

"It’s one of the biggest ones in Germany.

"I’m doing it for my age category which is young riders, which is 16-21 and I’m the only Brit going which is nice."

SportsAid’s annual One-to-Watch Award is being supported by Aldi – the charity’s Official Supermarket Partner.