North American Horses Sail Through Burghley Jogs

Buck Davidson and Park Trader at Rolex. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Buck Davidson and Park Trader and Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master both passed the first horse inspection this afternoon at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials. Sixty-eight horses presented for the trot up, with all passing but one, as Emily Galbraith’s mount Timing was held and ultimately spun. Emily, 25, hails from the Scottish Borders and was one of 13 first-timers set to compete at Burghley this weekend. Three other horses were held and accepted upon reinspection — Matthew Heath’s mount The Lion; Wills Goodhew’s mount More Luck; and Mark Todd’s mount Ravenstar, who Andrew Nicholson actually trotted up because Toddy was nowhere to be seen. I haven’t seen any reports on why Mark wasn’t present at the jog, and I’m hoping it’s nothing serious. Perhaps he was just lost or late, as Eventing NZ speculated on Twitter.

The Horse & Hound did an excellent job of tweeting live updates, which you can scroll through here for a play-by-play. Rebecca and Rupert are also contesting their first Burghley this weekend, and we’ll be cheering them on from back home in North America. Burghley will be Buck Davidson’s first major test since he took a nasty fall off Santa’s Keeper at Richland Park two weeks ago, which resulted in a swollen ankle and pulled groin muscle. I suspect he’ll be sore this weekend, but Buck is an incredibly tough rider; we can definitely count on him to power through the injuries for the sake of Team USA. Samantha Clark will be your boots on the ground this weekend, and she’s set to arrive tomorrow in time to catch the afternoon’s dressage tests. Stay tuned this week for much more from Burghley!