The name Laidlaw features regularly among the winners of riding competitions but the family’s latest success came completely out of the blue.

When Barbara Laidlaw was told she had won first prize in the British Horse Society’s 2009 raffle she thought it was a leg-pull.

"I thought I might get a bottle of champagne or something," she said.

But she was staggered to learn that, in fact, she had won a £4,000 trailer donated by Ifor Williams Trailers Ltd, the country’s largest trailer manufacturer.

The two-horse trailer, complete with extras, has been donated regularly by the company to the equine charity, and in 2009 the raffle raised £30,000.

The money enables the charity to continue its work of improving standards of horse welfare and safety, protecting bridleways, training instructors and advising horse owners.

Barbara, from Mount Annan Farm, Annan, in Dumfriesshire, is the mother of international three-day event international Peter Laidlaw, who is based at the Yorkshire Riding Centre, near Harrogate.

The rest of the family are also riding enthusiasts and currently have five horses which compete.

"We have owned Ifor Williams trailers in the past but we now have our own horse lorry. This new trailer will be a very useful addition as we travel to a large number of events," said Barbara, who could not even remember where or when she bought the lucky raffle ticket.

Unusually, the Laidlaws did not compete at the Badminton or Burleigh Horse Trials in 2009 but she said she could have bought the ticket at any one of several other competitions.

"We always buy tickets to help the BHS but you never think you’re going to win, especially such a big prize and especially with many thousands of tickets being sold across the country," she said.

The trailer, made at the company’s state-of-the-art factory on Deeside, North Wales, was delivered to Mount Annan Farm by local distributors, Alan Tuer Ltd, of Carlisle, and TH Jenkinson Ltd, of Castle Douglas.

Mona Parr, the local representative of the BHS in Dumfries and Galloway, commented: "This is the first time that the top prize in the raffle has been won by anyone in this area and we’re very pleased."

Peter Nesbitt, the Business Development Manager of Ifor Williams Trailers, was delighted that the raffle had raised so much money for the British Horse Society.

He said: "We work closely with the BHS because the safety and comfort of horses is our paramount concern.

"It is a source of great pride to us that the horsebox was judged to be the best in Europe in a survey conducted by Cavallo, a leading equine magazine in Germany

"When we designed the new horsebox we applied the standards of top car manufacturers because we believe that horses deserve the best comfort levels when they’re on the road."

NATIONAL PRIZE . . . Mrs Barbara Laidlaw (third from left) and her son, Peter (right), an international three-day event rider, are presented with the Ifor Williams horse trailer by, left to right: Jeff Jenkinson, of T. H. Jenkinson; Stephanie Foster, of Alan Tuer Ltd., and Mona Parr, Lochmaben, from the British Horse Society.

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News » BHS competition winner