Formula One (F1) driver Michael Schumacher and BBC motorsport presenter Lee McKenzie are swapping racing cars for a different type of horse power to take part in a reining competition.
The “Celebrity Challenge”, involving six riders, takes place on Saturday (3 July) at the CS International European Championships held at the Schumachers’ CS Ranch, in Switzerland.
Lee has ridden for most of her life and used to present for racing channel Attheraces and Winning Post on Sky Sports.
She has trained with world reining medallist Francesca Sternberg and describes the sport as “thoroughly exhilarating”.
“Due to the travel involved in F1, I have only had time for three one-hour reining lessons. But I will be riding a fabulous little palomino called Lexus,” said Lee.
The class will be shown on the BBC 1 F1 show on either the weekend of 10/11 July or 24/25 July.
Lee expects a combined audience of about 13million to tune in to see Michael and the other celebrities compete.
Peter Lane, chairman of British Reining, said: “This is a great thing for reining and will hopefully enable more people to see the sport who haven’t before.”
This article was first published in Horse & Hound (1 July, ’10)
