All 38 Horses Plus 3 U.S. Combinations Accepted at Land Rover Burghley Final Horse Inspection

Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless. Photo by Nico Morgan.

All 38 horses that were presented before the Ground Jury this morning at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials Final Horse Inspection were accepted to move on to the show jumping phase.

Sadly first timer Imogen Gloag withdrew Brendonhill Doublet and Bill Levett withdrew 9th placed Improvise before the trot-up this morning.

It’s bright and breezy this morning and a cool wind made lots of the horses fresh but they all passed without incident. No one was held or even asked to jog a second time.

Holly Payne-Caravella and Never Outfoxed. Photo by Nico Morgan.

Several spooked at the Land Rover show jump right by the jog lane, especially Tim Price’s overnight 2nd placed Ringwood Sky Boy, and Kirsty Short’s Cossan Lad.

Frenchman Denis Meples trotted up Oregon De La Vigne in his show jumping clothes, complete with boots and helmet, and when we saw how naughty his horse was being we understood why he didn’t take his hat off. The ground jury excused him from halting, for fear perhaps of being ploughed over, and were happy to see him go, I think!

Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Fugitive. Photo by Nico Morgan.

The only nerve-wracking moment came when the Ground Jury took a minute to confer, and then passed Fernhill Fugitive, but apart from that it may have been the quickest, most trouble-free Horse Inspection I’ve been to.

Best Dressed Awards go, deservedly, to our Great Meadow International Team GB riders (hmm, lucky omen?!) Ben Way and Ros Canter. Best Cared for Horse was judged to be Becky Woolven’s Charlton Down River Dance, and the best shod horse Tom Crisp’s Coolys Luxury.

Sunday morning is a fashion spectacle. I admired lots of the outfits and it’s such fun to watch the horses and riders looking their absolute best. We’ll have lots more pictures to come on the EN Facebook later and you can decide your own Best Dressed and let us know.

Show jumping for the first division starts at 11: 15 am GB time, and our 3 U.S. riders are in the final division this afternoon which is due to get underway at 2:25 pm.  As always we owe an enormous thank you to Nico Morgan for supplying us with so many stunning images, and we’re trying not to get too nervous about the show-jumping this afternoon. It’s another exciting day here at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials – Go Eventing!

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