KITTY King believes she is in with a realistic shout of making the Great Britain team for the Olympics next year.

Her fourth place finish on Persimmon at the Longines FEI European Championships at Blair Castle not only helped Great Britain to team silver, but has also put her foot firmly in the door for a place on the team to represent her country at Rio.

However with a long winter ahead, the Lower Stanton St Quintin-based rider is not taking anything for granted and hopes the pair can keep up their good form come the spring.

“That (the Olympics) is a real big aim and it is not unrealistic now,” she told the Gazette & Herald. “The horse put in a great performance and he hopefully has done us no harm at all.

“It is a really long old road to Rio. It is just around the corner in lots of terms, but equally with horses anything can happen to them from day to day. It is a real case of trying to keep them sound and keep them in top form.

“I really hope to be at the forefront of selectors minds come next year.”

As well as collecting team silver, King was just 0.1 of a point away from securing individual bronze medal.

Despite riding for the team ultimately costing the 31-year-old, with a superb clear in the showjumping stage, King said the experience more than made up for her disappointment 10 years ago when her European debut was curtailed by a poor cross-country section.

“I’m completely over the moon and still in shock to be honest,” she added.

“It was a super week and I couldn’t be more delighted with how my horse performed for me. He was a superstar from the first day onwards and he really couldn’t have gone any better.

“To be part of the team and to go out as pathfinder on Saturday morning it was a great experience doing that.

“It was wet and quite slippy but I probably had the better ground so I was actually very fortunate with that.

“I had to go the long route under team instruction, which cost me quite a few time faults because it was longer than the team managers thought, which is why the majority of the remaining riders went straight.

“I would have been at least 15 seconds quicker, if not more, and I was only 20 seconds over the time.

“We would have been in at least bronze medal position individually, but that is being part of a team and it is nice to be able to help get the team silver. It was just a great experience to have and there was a great team spirit amongst the camp.”

King will now turn her attention to Blenheim Horse Trials this weekend where she will be riding Tattersalls CCI*** winner Ceylor.

“He is qualified for the Olympics and if he can have another good run around Blenheim then hopefully I can have the two horses that could be potential Rio horses for next year,” she said.