TOCKENHAM showjumper Jess Mendoza is looking forward to competing on home soil ahead of next week’s Olympia London International Horse Show.

The 20-year-old will be taking part in the prestigious U23 British Championship at the famous event.

During the competition, which runs from Tuesday to Thursday, Mendoza will be taking nine-year-old Horst and Toy Boy, eight, to The Grand Hall for the first time.

“I’m really looking forward to it because it’s one of my favourite shows in England and it will be nice to be back in my home country,” said Mendoza “I have one new horse going, which I’m looking forward to, and one younger horse, so it’s a different team of horses to what I normally take but it will be interesting.

“None of the horses have competed there before, so it depends how they react to the arena and the crowd.

“I think they’re going to be super nice horses. I think they’ll be fine because they are used to big crowds, so they’ll be okay.”

Mendoza, who is currently based in Holland, was also part of the GB squad which travelled to the Rio Olympics earlier in the year as a reserve rider.

Despite not competing, she still learned a lot from the experience.

“Although I didn’t jump there, the whole experience of being at the Olympics, being a part of the team and everything like that, was an experience I’ll never forget,” added Mendoza.

“I went to the Olympics is 2012 to watch in the crowd but this time, I was behind the scenes and I saw everything that happened. Seeing all of the riders that close was really great to see.”

Mendoza will be joined by some of the world’s top equestrian athletes, including double show jumping Olympic gold medallist Nick Skelton, who won the individual title in Rio aboard Big Star.