FOUR years ago MJ Tumbridge had the best year of her life when she won Bermuda's first ever gold medal at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada.

A year after that brilliant performance in the demanding three-day event, the Bermudian rider went through the most difficult time of her eventing career - seeing her mount Bermuda's Gold break a leg at the Sydney Olympics in 1990 with the end result being that the mare had to be put down.

But Tumbridge is nothing short of tough.

After her heartbreaking loss, she eventually jumped back in the saddle and initially started to develop young eventing horses.

Last year saw Tumbridge, who is based in England, compete in 40 national and eight international events including five three-day events in the UK, Holland and France.

This season, which kicks off in a couple of weeks, may see her even busier.

And the highlight is expected to come in October when Tumbridge plans to defend her crown at the Pan American Games which is set for Fair Hill, Maryland despite the games being officially staged in the Dominican Republic. There is a question whether the event in Maryland will be for an official medal.

Tumbridge said this week from her UK base in Surrey that she will be riding eight horses who are at different stages of development.

She will find out just how good her main two mounts, Lily the Pink and Ginger May Killinghurst, are in the spring when she takes them across the Channel for the prestigious and tough three-star event at Saumur, France.

"This will be the first time Lily and Killinghurst will have competed at the three-star event," said Tumbridge. "Those two horses are the ones I am strongly campaigning for the Pan Am Games. I find it a little disappointing that the eventing will be in the US this time around for the Pan Am Games but I understand the reason why they will be held in Maryland. Last time when I won the gold in Winnipeg it was great because all the sports were together - they were all in one place and the whole games were very well organised."

Tumbridge knows that she will face some of the best riders in the world at the Pan Am Games this year. "I know that people like David O'Connor and the other top US riders will be there because it is on home turf - and it is also a stepping stone towards the Olympics in Athens in 2004. I am definitely going to qualify my horses for it. My focus for this year will be the Pan Am Games. Once it becomes closer I think Bermuda will be very much behind it and send a few riders - who knows?"

Fair Hill in Maryland is a top quality equestrian facility and is set in 5,613 acres. It boosts facilities for eventing, a training centre for race horses and a turf course where both steeplechase and flat races are held.

From October 23-26 Fair Hill will host the Pan American Games Eventing Championships, the USET Fall Eventing Championship (CCI three star), the FEI Advanced Combined Driving and the FEI North American Challenge.

If Tumbridge manages to qualify both Lily and Killinghurst she will make the decision of which one to take to the games as the date gets closer.

But until the Pan Am Games roll around later this year Tumbridge is going to be extremely busy.

"I did a lot last year but this year will be even more busy because I have eight horses to compete. They all range from really young ones to advanced ones. It is going to be very busy. I am going to be out every weekend and sometimes mid-week in competitions. We will get a much better idea of how it is all going once we get into April," she said.

"The season starts in two weeks. It has been so cold here - I have been suffering with cold feet! It has been quite difficult (training) because the ground is still frozen. You just have to alternate your horses and your schedule. In the morning you hack some horses and in the afternoon you school them. Then the next day you change them around so you can keep your horses doing some work.

Hopefully it will soon warm up a bit."

Tumbridge has very high hopes for Lily. "I own a portion of her - not the whole portion," she said of the eight-year-old mare who was purchased from renown New Zealand eventer Blyth Tait last September. The other owners are Tumbridge's good friends Patrick and Amanda Rolfe on whose horse farm the Bermudian is based.

All of the eight horses Tumbridge will be competing on this year are mares. In fact Tumbridge rides nothing but mares. "Mares are very good and at the end of the day they give you more than a gelding. I think they always say that you tell a gelding, ask a mare and then with a stallion you are even more polite because you are dealing with hormones. Some people however simply will not buy a mare no matter what the quality is - they will not buy one. If you try to dominate a mare too much it is probably better that you stay with a gelding. A mare and a stallion will work with you but you cannot tell them what to do. And I like that. At the end of the day I feel that they give you more."

Tumbridge herself is in good shape. She said: "I am doing fine. I am riding a bike to get myself a bit fitter. I am losing weight - I am trying get to be the fittest I can be. All that is really going well."