But Megan Bryant, 22, looked past the fear in the eyes of this gelding and saw his good bloodlines.

At 16.3 hands high Mr Jackson was born with dressage lines, but ended up a trail horse and over time grew more fearful of his surroundings.

“He was six years old when I got him and that’s quite old to start [dressage], most are around four years old,” Miss Bryant said.

“It’s not really what people are looking for with a horse, he was six but was like a horse that was three.”

Mr Jackson is one of 97 horses who competed in the annual Dressage with Altitude at Bradgate Park on the weekend.

Three years and countless hours of riding and training later, Mr Jackson is growing more confident every day.

“He’s one of my favourites, even though he’s very scared, he wants to do his best for me,” Miss Bryant said.

“He’s getting a lot better just coming to these competitions.

“It’s taken him a long time but hopefully in time he’ll trust me even more.”

Cowra-born Miss Bryant has competed in dressage since she was 10 years old and believes the time and effort she has put into Mr Jackson will be worth it.

“Because I trained him all up myself it’ll be more special when he gets to the highest level because I’ve done it all myself,” she said.

“He’s quite talented and he just needs to be a little bit braver in the arena.

“He needs to show off a little bit more ... he’s got to trust me.

“I hope in around two years time he’ll compete in the grand prix.”

Dressage with Altitude event director Cath Drury-Klein said this was the largest number of entrants for the international dressage event.

“It’s the only international event in a regional area ... [there are] only seven international dressage competitions held in Australia each year,” she said.

Judges flew in from New Zealand, Great Britain and Germany to sit alongside five from Australia for the weekend’s competition.

“We’ve got some very, very good horses here this year and some of Australia’s best riders,” Mrs Drury-Klein said.

nadine.morton@fairfaxmedia.com.au