Looking at Burghley House (and Laine Ashker and Anthony Patch) through Luckaun Quality's ears. Photo by Tim Bourke.
Happy Burghley week! We’re waiting with barely suppressed impatience for the big fall CCI4* to begin, which it will on Wednesday with the First Horse Inspection. This weekend, the U.S. and U.S.-based pairs made their final preparations and started their journey to the grounds where all of the magic will happen this coming weekend.
Anthony Patch and Luckaun Quality survey their kingdom. Photo via Laine Ashker on Facebook.
After super-groom Lauren Sherrill headed to England this past Friday, Laine and her family followed the next day and are now safely settled in on the other side of the pond. While this is all a very big deal, we think Anthony Patch has other ideas…
Photo via Laine on Facebook.
Never you mind, Al. We know this is just another day at the office for you!
Draw number 68! Photo via Laine on Facebook.
U.S. based Irish rider Tim Bourke has also made the trek with Luckaun Quality for their first crack at Burghley. “Obie” appears to have also traveled well and we can’t wait to see this pair tackle the big Capt. Mark Phillips course on Saturday.
Ready for boarding! #BOURKEley
Posted by Bourke Eventing on Friday, August 28, 2015
Meanwhile, a certain Flying Deer is already in Europe, having competed at Aachen earlier this month, and he and pilot Lynn Symansky had their final cross country tune-up yesterday before heading over to Burghley.
Donner had his last cross-country school before Burghley today. The Deer, Lynn, and Kendyl head to the event on Tuesday to get settled before the jog on Wednesday kicks things off.
Posted by Lynn Symansky Equestrian on Sunday, August 30, 2015
Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights are also in Europe after Aachen and have been enjoying the scenery during their final pre-Burghley gallops:
As always, the community of eventers is already sending their well-wishes to the North American pairs — I think we’ve all already got our alarms set to live on British time this weekend so we don’t miss a single second of the action!
We’ll be keeping you up to date on all things Burghley this week — Samantha Clark will be on the ground for EN and I will be running open threads for the cross country and show jumping phases this weekend. Stay tuned for a guide on how you can watch Burghley live all week long (trust me, they have one of the best live streams out there) coming your way this week as well.
Go Burghley!
Burghley Links: Website, Entries, Course Preview Video, Fence Photos
