But Piggy French says the question most people ask her is whether her unusual moniker is her real name.

For the record she is actually called Georgina and Piggy was a childhood nickname which has stuck.

The 28-year-old, who lives at Allexton, said: "When I was born my sisters had never seen a baby before and they thought I looked like piglet from Winnie The Pooh. People often ask me where it comes from and if it is my real name."

Piggy has just competed at the Burghley Horse Trials just down the road at Stamford.

Unfortunately she had to retire on 15-year-old What A Performance during the cross country section.

She finished 14th there in 2006, 12th last year and had high hopes for a top 10 finish this year.

Piggy treasures the video from her first experience of Burghley in 2002 when she rode Flintlock. "I still get a funny feeling watching it with my family in tears after I went clear in the cross country, she said.

"Now I don't get the same buzz out of just getting round the course. I go there now wanting to do well because it is my profession and there is a much bigger picture."

Piggy grew up in Norfolk, the youngest of three girls. Mum was an eventer at two-star level although her Stamford-based property developer father does not come from a horsey family.

After riding at pony club competitions as a teenager, Piggy took up eventing at the age of 15.

She said: "My heroine was Mary King and I used to love watching her compete. I was mad keen on eventing but I never really thought I was good enough to go on and do it successfully.

"I was not very competitive as a young rider but once I had a little success it started to go well."

By the time she left school, Piggy knew she wanted a career in the equestrian world. She took a variety of jobs in yards around the country, mucking out stables and working with horses.

Eleven years ago her first big event was at Weston Park in Shropshire but it was not a pleasant experience

"It started quite well but rapidly deteriorated, culminating with me falling off in the showjumping," Piggy recalled ruefully.

The chance to ride at Burghley for the first time six years ago came about through a friend, who loaned her Flintlock when she could not compete herself.

Piggy describes that horse as an old fashioned hunter type with a heart of gold. The combination got round the course and Piggy felt she had arrived in the sport.

She clearly loves the job but is painfully aware of the dangers. She broke some ribs after being unseated in a competition last year and has been knocked out twice following falls.

Piggy was competing at the Mitsubishi Hartpury Horse Trials in August when Emma Jonathan was killed in a fall.

She was just the latest in a series of eventing fatalities – 23 riders have been killed in the last quarter of a century with around a dozen in the last two years.

It is much safer for Lewis Hamilton to drive a Formula One racing car at more than 200mph or for ski jumpers to launch themselves from a mountain.

"It is very sad when someone is killed and it is tragic for members of their family," Piggy said.

"We are all aware it is a very high risk sport and it affects us all when something like that happens.

"We are dealing with animals. They are not machines and anything can happen.

"It is up to us to make sure our horses are trained properly to try to prevent out-of-control accidents from happening."

Piggy gets on well with all of her competitors and she looks up riders like Pippa Funnell and Zara Phillips, the Queen's grand-daughter, who has done so much to raise the profile of the sport.

"Zara is brilliant for the sport and she is such a normal, down-to-earth girl as well," said Piggy, who has a stable yard team of five people assisting her at Allexton.

Her ultimate ambition is to represent Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics. Piggy was long-listed for the squad for Beijing but her chances ended when her nominated horse, Paris, went lame.

The search is on now for a mount which could help her realise her dream in four years' time.

The key elements she looks for in an eventing horse are their movement, the ability and technique over the jumps and, most importantly, the animal's attitude.

Piggy competes against her boyfriend, Market Harborough-based rider Oliver Townend.

She insists they are not competitive and will congratulate each other if either does much better than the other.

Of course many people who attend the horse trials in the grounds of the majestic Burghley House estate go purely to browse the 600 shops .

Not Piggy. She added: "The shops are great at Burghley but I hate shopping so I don't go near them."