With riding boots shining almost as much as her gold medal, Tina Cook proudly accepted her individual gold for her brilliant horsemanship at the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships in Fontainebleau at the weekend.

Wearing Sergio Grasso Vicenzas, Cook's brilliant dressage and cross country rounds on Miners Frolic left her in first place with 8.6 penalties in hand. With the first part of a treble down at fence 10 and with the optimum time proving a challenge, her chances of a gold medal looked to be slipping away. However, luck was on her side and she managed to beat her closest competitor by just 0.6 penalties.

Cook was not the only one on top form over the weekend with team mate Piggy French claiming the individual silver and the British gaining team gold.

Cook said of her win: "I've won individual bronze and silver before, but gold is incredibly special and to be champion of Europe is brilliant."

Fontainebleau was a senior championship debut for 29-year-old Cook, so no doubt we will be seeing plenty more of her in her riding boots at future competitions next year.