Kirista Rabain relished the experience of competing in her first international competition at the FEI World Jumping Challenge in Zhitnica, Bulgaria.

The 23-year-old was eliminated in the first round of qualifying, but overcame illness and a difficult horse to finish third in the farewell competition with a time of 69.19sec.

“It was a dream to compete at the international level,” she said.

“The love of the horses keeps me going.”

Rabain, like all the competitors, had to adjust quickly after being given her horse, Rubine, through a deciding draw to ensure fairness in the competition.

“The horse I had was probably the most difficult there.” she said.

“Over the six days she changed each time. The first day we got along great and it felt like we had connected. Then the second day she ran uncontrollably.

“The third day we changed the warm up but when we got in the ring she was even worse than the day before. On the fourth ride I ended up slowing her down after every jump so she stayed focused.”

The first-time competitor struggled with sickness on the second day of the competition.

“One thing you can never prepare for is being sick. On the second day I came down with a really bad flu and was taking meds every hour. That lasted only two days, luckily,” said the Bermuda College graduate, who qualified for the event at the top of her group, which included countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad, and the Cayman Islands.

Davood Pourezal of Iran took first place overall, wining a three-way jump-off, with Simon Hendry from South Africa taking second, and Michelle Kuenzle of Nambia third.

According to organisers the purpose of the FEI World Jumping Challenge series and Final is to introduce less experienced riders in comparatively remote countries to international-level competition.

“The thrill of jumping is the fire under my belt.” added Rabain, who works at Hinson Hall.

“After riding in Belgium with Patrick Nesbitt for a few days its definitely something I’d like to go back and do again.”