Burghley, As Only Burghley Can

This year's Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials cross country day, lived up to all my expectations as the best Burghley for many years. Probably the most international line up of any CCI**** I've ever seen, with horses and riders having travelled from as far afield as Australia, California, and of course Europe.

I've spent most of the day out on the cross country course, partially succeeding in fine tuning my camera skills, although I have to confess to being a little ill prepared by not having a course map with me until I blagged one from an official, but not before I'd walked far more than I needed to.

Germany Leads, But Andrew, William & Mary Still Own Burghley

Dressage Leader | Simone Dietermann

With only 6 points separating the top 10, and a much needed clear run over tomorrow's Land Rover Burghley cross country course, the current leader Simone Deitermann, has quite a task ahead of her if she is to maintain her lead. A fast clear round, even with a few time faults should still aid her primary aim of gaining an olympic qualification after a few disappointing runs at 3 & 4 star recently.

This pair were so impressive at Badminton in 2010, only to have an unfortunate tumble, crashing literally into the last fence at the WEG in Kentucky last autumn.

The next 5 horses in the pecking order are all ridden by previous Burghley winners, with William Fox-Pitt less than a point behind the leader, and no doubt eager to make an historic 6th win to equal Lucinda Green's record at Badminton. Andrew Nicholson, Mary King  and William all have two chances in the top ten, and last year's popular winner, Caroline Powell with Lenamore is poised in equal fifth. It is possibly these riders who know Burghley like the back of their hand and where to shave that vital second or two that will own this competition.

Two 5 Timers In The Burghley Field | 6 Anyone?

William Fox-Pitt

Day One of Dressage complete at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, and one of the three people to have won the event 5 times, William Fox-Pitt, is in the lead with the decent chance of getting his second ride, Neuf De Coeurs, in front or close to the leading score of 39.7. In a what might almost seem like a re-run from last year, Fox-Pitt had an error of course, in an otherwise exemplary test to sit 3 point clear of Andrew Nicholson on Avebury.

Another Burghley 5-time winner, Mark Todd, is also in the field, only a lot further down the pecking order on 56.5. When I asked Mark back in the beginning of August, about his chances of making it 6 Burghleys, he said " Realistically No. Last year he [Major Milestone] was there and he finished 11th, and we were really pleased with it. He's a very good cross country horse, and he's normally a pretty reliable showjumper, but he struggles a bit in the dressage, and although I think he's going better than ever at this stage it depends on what the track is like and what effect that has on it [the competition], but with the sport today you really need to be in the top five after the dressage to have a realistic chance of winning, I don't think we're going to be doing that." (but he is Mark Todd, and anything can happen, can't it?)

Probably The Best Burghley For 50 Years

Could there be a more exciting place to be than England right now? Less than one year to what promises to be the most exciting Equestrian Olympics we've seen for generations. The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials entry list illustrates the influx of foreign riders, basing themselves here or simply visiting to step up their competition experience in the run up to the games. This event or Pau is likely to be the last 4 star event where any of the big Olympic certainties are given a run, and there are more flags from other nations next to the names in the entry list than we've seen for decades. So perhaps, more than any other, celebrating 50 years of Burghley, makes this year all the more special.

Hamish Cargill

The draw is always a little tongue in cheek at these big events; one, because riders often run two horses, so these two mounts need to be spread down the running order, and two, because what better way to hold the crowd for the entire day than to slip one or two of the very best in at the end. I predict this will be a Burghley to remember, not necessarily because there is an exceptionally strong field [there is every year], but because there are so many new foreign faces, many of whom have never ridden over what looks to be the most imposing course we've seen at 4 star for some years, so we're bound to see a few run outs and refusals throughout the day.



Unsurprisingly, my money is on the back end of the field. Although I don't think I'll be taking too much of a break in the middle of the day as there will be some very interesting combinations going through, some of whom have travelled the furtherest to be here. The witty and amusing Australian, Hamish Cargill, will be on course mid afternoon, and this fiery little brown horse has flown all the way from Australian, via Kentucky, and a number of other obscure locations to be here (Anchorage?, was that really necessary!).

Lost In Translation - Luhmühlen Or Bust

Highclere Horse Trials This Weekend Too

I keep telling myself I planned it this way, but the truth is I've been procrastinating over this particular holiday weekend for while. It's the Europeans at Luhmühlen, and I've not been there since I lived in Aachen when Thatcher was in power, and continental Europe still had controlled borders, where they made you unload travelling horses on a whim (what a pain that was, when you lived literally 50 yards the wrong side of the border). Highclere is also running this weekend, one of my all time favourite events. I've competed there every year for a while now, and with the prospect of my horse's imminent retirement, Highclere was high on my bucket list. Add to this a commitment to look after the children at least one day over the weekend, and hopefully you're starting to see my dilemma, or at least I hope you are. Can I do all three? That's surely pushing it!

Burghley In Your Pocket

Burghley App

The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials has released (or possibly leaked!) it's official iPhone App in preparation for what promises to be one of the greatest Burghley's of all time! Whether you're sitting in the relative comfort of your saddle or armchair, or attending the event to gaze in awe at the sheer size of this year's retro cross country course, provided you have one of those new fangled 'i' thingys in your pocket  you will be able to keep right up to the minute on all the goings on at Burghley, as the press tent spills the beans on who's leading who down winner's avenue or who's being dragged through the leaf pit as the action unfolds.

Sitting neatly beside your official Badminton App, you can now take pride in being joined at the hip with the world's two largest 4 star 3 day events. Burghley's App whilst very similar to the Badminton one, will let you remember where you parked your car, enter an amazing competition to win a 'Nordic Adventure' courtesy of the title sponsor  which presumably involves driving a 4x4 across frozen wastelands, something us Brits are used to in recent winters, and will give you plenty of ideas on where to spend your hard currency. Social media integration is inherent in the app too, and if you're a tweeter, you'll be pleased to see the app even saves you the hassle of constructing a suitable hash tag, it automatically puts #BHT2011 in for you.

The Europeans Seemed To Have Arrived From Nowhere

All The Aussies Are Over Here!

It seems to have been a quirky year for eventing. A number of top horses are out with injury, we've had a southern hemisphere invasion, Badminton ran over Easter weekend, a few Germans ran their Badminton mounts again at Luhmühlen in June, and now it's back to Luhmühlen for the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships, which doesn't see to have got as much air time as it usually does.

Perhaps I've just been spending too much time in the States (which is about to increase!), and have missed all this, but I think it's more likely being over shadowed by talk of the Olympics and all the Antipodeans who have been rifling through their ancestry to satisfy visa conditions or residency status, and are pitching up in the UK for pre-Olympic prep, or just to get caught up in the general euphoria that's erupting here at the moment. Whether it's Hamish on his English adventure or the entire Kiwi squad, there are Antipodeans everywhere!

Anyway, back to the European Championships.... From the freshly updated list of entries (see below), hot off the press this morning, the first thing that strikes you is the number of new names on the list. Team GBR has only one new name on the list, Laura Collett, who is no stranger to the championship podium, with a medal haul of what seems like everything from tiddly-winks right up to Young Rider Europeans, having been hung round her neck.

Burghley Horse Trials - A Great Result

Caroline & Lenamore | Burghley 2010 Winners

As you will have read all over the internet already, Lenamore is a very popular winner, and an extremely well deserved win it is too. I've always liked this horse and rider, since I first saw them at Badminton in 2005, and I'm probably a little bias as Lenamore is a lovely grey!

A win like this is bound to lift the spirits going into the World Equestrian Games, and I've long thought the New Zealanders are on song this year, and have an excellence chance of at least a team medal, and Andrew Nicholson should be able to drum up a good dressage score without the day-to-day distractions he would usually face here at home.

Burghley Horse Trials - Cross Country

Mark Phillips | Burghley Course Designer

I've always thought the course at Burghley rides so much better than it walks, which I think is all credit to Mark Phillips, whereas the course at Badminton walks better than it rides, which is no bad thing and makes it all the more interesting. There is so much to play with at Burghley with regards to terrain and natural features, and whilst there are always a fair few fences where, if you're not careful, you can be on the horse's mouth a lot, it does always deliver a nice flowing ride.

Quite apart from all the ooh and aah moments, it's been very interesting reviewing all the cross country footage and seeing all the different styles of riding and the differences between the horses.

Burghley Horse Trials Dressage

Mary King | A little too relaxed in the Burghley Dressage

I almost forgot about Burghley this year, with all the noise around the World Equestrian Games, and whilst the dressage hasn't really produced any shocks, apart from the two senior GBR Team members (Mary & William) getting additional penalty points, due to lack of concentration! Let's hope they're a little more switched on at the WEG.

Ruth Edge leads after the dressage, which is not that surprising, and all credit to her as I think she's made a good choice to concentrate on pure dressage when she can. At Badminton this year she had a very unlucky elimination which could possibly have been avoided but that might be a little harsh, but if she can find a good rhythm cross country at Burghley, Ruth will have a good chance of maintaining her lead and picking up a top prize in championship year, something she's very good at doing.

WEG 2010 Eventing: British 4 Stars Provide Best Individual Medal Indications

More Foreign Riders Are Moving To Britain Chasing Medals

Someone now based in the states, recently told me she really missed the eventing circuit back here in the UK, and trawling the web last night looking at photos and videos of events from around the globe got me thinking about how lucky we are in the UK to have an eventing circuit with such depth and variety.

As anyone knows the British circuit attracts more talent from around the world, than any other eventing nation, thanks to a number of factors; climate, geographical proximity of events,  number & variety of events, and a long history and experience of running large events. I'm lucky enough to live in an area of the UK that is home to a number of top foreign and domestic event riders and have several events running all manner of classes within a 50 mile radius, where as in Germany, France or America you would have to travel 100's of miles to experience the same variety and quality of events. Unlike some in the British ranks I welcome the diversity of nations we have based here eventing, it spices things up.

Carry your bag sir?

Carry your bag sir?

Does anyone need a groom or an extra pair of hands at Blenheim, Burghley, WEG or any other event for that matter?

It's been a very long time since I worked as groom or pupil, or mucked out for that matter, but having recently sold my business I find myself with a fair bit of spare time on my hands over the next few months, so in between riding, blogging, annoying the wife and helping out with the children, I thought why not "see how others do it" [eventing that is], I should actually end up learning something that will help me with my own horse.

WEG 2010 likely to be dominated by Yanks and Aussies

But who will get the selectors' call.....

I know it's probably a little early to be discussing team selections for the World Equestrian Games but I really couldn't wait for Barbury before speculating a little from whispers I've heard. There must be a number of national team selectors around the world scratching their heads as to how they are going to break the strength of the Americans, and particularly the Australians in the forth coming WEG festivities. That is any other nation that might otherwise has a reasonable chance of collecting a medal!

Paul Tapner's Badminton win is guaranteed to promote him off the Australian subs bench to first squad, and he could take either (or both) of his Badminton rides to Kentucky, and with a small battalion of other horses in reaching distance of winning at 4* it would be foolish to leave him off the team. Whilst I think of it, doesn't Paul Tapner remind you of the young Andrew Hoy? (laidback, but serious and focussed, likeable too) And what has happened to Andrew Hoy? I'd thought he dropped off the planet, but then remembered he jumped the channel to Germany. Seems to have the odd entry here though ( Houghton 2* in a few weeks time). Needs to update his website.

Anyway I digress.....back to WEG....