THERE aren’t many more daunting places to make your senior international debut as a sportsman than the Olympics, but Reading dressage rider Spencer Wilton insists he feels no pressure ahead of next month’s trip to Rio.

Wilton has won 13 national titles in his 20-year career, but the 43-year-old’s selection for Team GB was his first senior call-up.

He will be part of a British quartet competing in the team and individual events and, after two of his teammates rode to team gold four years ago, Wilton is full of confidence looking ahead to his first ever Olympic Games.

“Apart from (my) face aching from grinning all the time, it feels amazing to be going,” said the trainer.

“From when I started thinking four years ago that it could be a possibility, it feels like an awful time.

“It’s really exciting, it’s my first Olympics and my first senior team competition, so I’m in at the deep end,; I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I’m old enough now.

“I’ve been doing it for 20 years so that’s quite a long time, even though I’ve not been competing at this top, top level.

“But I’ve been competing internationally, abroad, on this horse for the last two years – so I’ve competed against lots of the other people that will be there.

“Having got to this point I’m quite confident I can go in and reproduce what I need to.”

Despite his late introduction to the international scene, Wilton is not daunted by the task ahead of him, although he is still adjusting to being teammates with his compatriots, rather than competing against them.

And while Wilton said he will give his best for his team and for his country, he thinks the pressure is off slightly after admitting he expects to have the lowest of his team’s scores, meaning it will not be taken into consideration for the team competition.

“It already feels quite different, we’re all together and it’s a weird feeling for me. It’s an individual sport so it’s quite nice to be part of a team,” he added.

“I am definitely the newcomer. Carl (Hester) and Charlotte (Dujardin), and Fiona (Bigwood), have been high scoring for a long time, especially Charlotte on Valegro for the last four years, so there’s a strong possibility that I will be the dropped score.

“So I’m sneaking and enjoying the ride, and it’s a nice, comforting feeling.”

Wilton will be riding Super Nova II, part-owned by himself and Jennifer Goodman, and the Olympic new boy said his familiarity with the horse has given him confidence ahead of what could be a daunting task for him.

“I feel like I’ve got to this stage and it’s not that it doesn’t matter, but I genuinely, for the first time in my life, am going to a competition and really looking forward to it and cannot wait to get there – it feels fantastic,” he concluded.

The multi-award winning Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (September 1st - 4th) has been established as a major international equestrian and social event in the Autumn Sporting Calendar for over 50 years. For more information visit burghley-horse.co.uk.