Henry, who lives in Haynes West End, and his Wootton teammate Harry Gates, 12, and pony Ice, were selected to represent England in the 12 nations competition held at the Centre Equestre Pastre at Marseilles in southern France.

The pair were selected after two national trials held back in April and May while Shillington's Thomas Kitchiner, also aged 11, was named as a non-riding reserve, the trio have already been crowned the Pony Club's National Junior champions.

Henry, who attends Robert Bloomfield Middle School in Shefford with Thomas, and Harry, a pupil at Marston Vale Middle, left Haynes by road with Henry's dad Les and mum Debbie on Saturday, July 11.

It gave them three days to get the ponies acclimatised to the Mediterrean climate and also allowed them to practice ahead of the competition which started last Friday, July 17.

There were five scoring sessions, the points then being carried forward into Sunday's final. And as the England team had won four of the five and only missed out by a single point against France, the final saw them in confident mood and in good spirits.

With their ten point advantage then extended to 15, it left them in the gold medal position with the French team as runners-up, fellow competitors from Norway, Holland, Wales, Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland, Italy Germany, Sweden and Northern Ireland all left trailing in their wake.

"It was a tremendous performance," said Henry's mum Debbie. "Henry started riding when he was three and has been in the saddle ever since. He's only 11 but has a wealth of experience and plenty of people have already asked if Disney is for sale.

"Although we've only just got back, we're now loading up to go to the Pony Club's World International Championships at Chepstow this weekend," she added.

Henry and Harry are both members of the Oakley Hunt West Prince Phillip Cup Team and are hoping to continue their success in Monmouthshire this weekend.