Little Gatcombe 2012 | Success & Luck Can Change In A Second

Lucy Jackson | Leading The CIC** After The ShowJumping Only To Lose The Lead By 1 sec. On Cross Country

Princess Anne (who I nearly bumped into literally today!) , hosts one of my favourite horse trials, The Whatley Manor Horse Trials, at her home in Gloucestershire, which is affectionately known as 'Little Gatcombe'. Held in both April & September the events run Novice & Intermediate classes and in September these include a CIC* & CIC**.  These courses use less demanding terrain than the main Gatcombe festival event held in early August, but still make use of some steep hills, woodland, and established pasture. They also have some great hedges to jump!

Lucy Jackson & Wellshead Munnings | Chasing Time On The XC

With a beautifully ridden & scopey clear show jumping round, Lucy Jackson was poised to maintain her lead going into the cross country in the CIC**, but one second over the optimum time left the door open for Kitty King to steal the lead by the narrowest of margins (0.1pt) if she went inside the time, which she did - one second inside the time to win the class on her lovely little horse, Persimmon.

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!).