Horses and poetry have proved a winning combination for 18-year-old Laura Craigen, whose poem about the Queen's horse, Burmese, was placed top in its class in the Golden Jubilee Poetry Competition.

Laura Craigen, who won a medal in the Golden Jubilee Poetry Competition Laura, who is a weekly boarder at Wychwood School in Banbury Road, Oxford, was one of only nine medal winners in the nationwide competition.

She has been awarded the Gold Medal for the 14-18 category, and will travel to Buckingham Palace next month to be presented with it by the Queen.

With four members of her family and a teacher from her school, she will be given a tour of the Royal Mews and the Queen's Gallery.

Laura, who rides a skewbald cob called Saracen, and used to work as a polo groom near her home in Pusey, near Faringdon, said: "I've been riding almost all my life, and the horses have always been the bit about the Royal Family that interested me."

Laura, who is taking A-levels in English, psychology and photography, hopes to study English at university. She said: "I write a lot of poetry, but I've never entered a competition before."