The Ultimate Guide to Burghley Horse Trials

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s here: we’re smack in the middle of Burghley week, and the biggest five-star event in the world is back with a bang, a new organising team, a new designer, and plenty of those iconic, enormous fences that make the Lincolnshire, England competition so fearsome. We’ll be bringing you wall-to-wall coverage throughout the week here on EN, and to help you stay up to date with all the info you need, including the latest reports, schedules, live-stream info, form guides, and more, we’ve created a handy guide that you can bookmark and refer to throughout the week. Want to see the latest news? Just refresh and scroll to the coverage section at the bottom of the page for the freshest articles as they’re published. But first: the fine details.

THE COMPETITION:

We’ve waited since 2019, and the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is finally back. The iconic CCI5* competition, which began in 1961, is the third Rolex Grand Slam leg of 2022 — but there’s a fresh slate here, as Badminton winner Laura Collett doesn’t have a horse entered. The dressage test will be FEI CCI5* B, the same used at Kentucky, Badminton, and the forthcoming World Championships.

WHAT’S AT STAKE:

Most crucially? A shot at the highly-coveted Burghley trophy, a slew of extra prizes and awards, and a share of the £323,500 prize pot, which has been off-limits since 2019 due to the pandemic. Beyond that? There’s also a battle for FEI World Rankings points as the likes of the Price family and Pippa Funnell work to topple Oliver Townend from the number one slot.

THE LINE-UP:

Seven nations will come forward to fight for the coveted Burghley title, including a slew of entries from the US and France, an Aussie double header, some very good Irish hands, and a single entry for The Netherlands. In total, we’ve got 57 entries across 53 riders, and you can meet them all in our jam-packed form guide, which is in drawn order for maximum ease of use.

THE OFFICIALS:

There’s a truly top-notch cast of ground jury members on duty at Burghley. New Zealand’s Andrew Bennie will serve as president of the ground jury, while Austria’s Katrin Eichinger-Kniely and Great Britain’s Judy Hancock will work alongside him. The FEI Technical Delegate for the week is Great Britain’s Philip Surl, assisted by Andrew Temkin of the USA. The cross-country course will be designed for the first time by Derek di Grazia, who has been in charge of Kentucky for years and takes over from Captain Mark Phillips, and will be assisted by Adrian Ditcham. On Sunday, the remaining field will tackle a tough course on grass, designed by Paul Connor.

[Times are listed in local time as well as EST, when they pertain to live-streams]

Wednesday 31st August

16.00 (11.00 a.m. EST) Main Arena: First Horse Inspection

Thursday 1st September

7.30: Gates Open

8.00 – 9.30 Members Only: Breakfast served in the Members’ Enclosure

9.00 – 17.30: Shops Open

9.45 – 15.45 (4.45 a.m. — 10.40 a.m. EST) Main Arena: Dressage

12.30 approx. Main Arena: Yogi Breisner Jumping Masterclass

9.00 – 17.00 Ring 2: LeMieux Pony Club Team Jumping Competition

18.00: Showground Closes

Friday 2nd September

7.30: Gates Open

8.00 – 9.30 Members Only: Breakfast served in the Members’ Enclosure

9.00 – 17.30: Shops Open

10.00 – 16.00 (5.00 a.m. — 11.00 a.m. EST) Main Arena: Dressage

12.30 Main Arena: Carl Hester Dressage Masterclass

9.00 – 17.00 (4.00 a.m. — 12.00 p.m. EST) Ring 2: Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse Final

18.00: Showground Closes

Saturday 3rd September

7.30: Gates Open

8.00 – 9.30 Members Only: Breakfast served in the Members’ Enclosure

9.00 – 17.30: Shops Open

10.30 approx: Shetland Pony Grand National

11.30 – 16.00 (6.30 a.m. — 11.00 a.m. EST): Cross Country

18.00: Showground Closes

Sunday 4th September

7.30: Gates Open

8.00 – 9.30 Members Only: Breakfast served in the Members’ Enclosure

9.00 – 17.00: Shops Open

9.30 (4.30 a.m. EST) Main Arena: Final Horse Inspection

11.00 (6.00 a.m. EST) Main Arena: Showjumping

12.00 Main Arena: The Fell Pony Society Display

12.20 Main Arena: Racehorse to Riding Horse (HOYS) Qualifier

13.55 Main Arena: Military Band

14.30 (9.30 a.m. EST) Main Arena: Showjumping

15.25 Main Arena: Parade of Hounds

15.40 (10.40 a.m. EST) Main Arena: Presentation of Prizes

9.00 – 17.00 Ring 2: BSPS Gold Cup Sports Pony Competition

17.00: Showground Closes (No admittance to Burghley Park after 15.30)

HOW TO FOLLOW:

For the first year, the BBC won’t be broadcasting Burghley — well, not in its entirety, anyway. You’ll be able to watch all the action, including trot-ups, by subscribing to BurghleyTV for a one-off price of £20. This gives you access to the livestream, wherever you are in the world, as well as hours of archive footage from prior events, peaks behind the scenes, course previews, and profiles. If you’re in Britain, you can turn to BBC2 to watch a two hour highlight programme on Sunday, September 4.

You can also sign up for our FREE Burghley Daily Digest email — full of updates, links, photos, and stories — which will begin sending on the evening of Wednesday, August 31. [Click here to sign up]

#lrbht, #burghleyhorsetrials, #burghley, #rolexgrandslam

Accounts: Burghley Horse Trials, CrossCountry App, Horse&Hound, FEI Eventing, and Equestrian Team GBR. Don’t forget to follow EN, too – we’ll be bringing you all the insanity in the middle you could possibly need! (And if you’d like to see the real behind-the-scenes life of an EN journo on tour, you certainly can. #shamelessplug) Want to know the juiciest stats throughout the competition? Make sure you follow EquiRatings.