Horse Connection

evalyn bemis

By the close of entries on July 29 there were four American riders planning to compete in the 44th running of the Land Rover Burghley International Horse Trials. It would be the last time the CCI**** was held using the “long format”, including steeplechase – the end of an era.

Cindy Collier Rawson was originally a pony-clubber from Oklahoma. She has been living in England since 1997 and has previously competed at Burghley. Cindy needed a good run on her horse Davey in order to qualify for Badminton in the spring of 2006, which in turn would serve as a selection trial for the World Equestrian Games.

Amy Barrington was looking to take her horse Platinum for the first plane ride of his life. What more could a horse whose early days were spent in the dry, dusty Southwest want then to gallop around the green hills of England? Amy had persevered with Plati, bringing him up the grades, building his strength and confidence, channeling his exuberance, and believing in his ability. Amy even went so far as to move with husband Greg Schlappi and son Ben from Arizona to South Carolina, to better pursue her dreams. Now a place had been booked on a transatlantic flight for mid-August.

Buck Davidson had a dragon to slay. At Burghley in 2003, Buck suffered a fall and serious injury on steeplechase. Breaking your neck can be a career-stopper but Buck had proven he was made of the same tough stuff as 1974 Burghley winner, dad Bruce Davidson. He had a lovely horse, Private Treaty, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Allens, and he was ready to roll.

Kim Severson is an eventing superstar, with uncanny talent and a total dedication to success. She was the #1-ranked rider in the world in 2004. Suffice it to say the hot money was on Kim to add a Burghley Trophy to her collection of Rolexes and Olympic Silver Medal.

After scoring a third win with Winsome Adante (Dan) at Rolex Kentucky in April, Kim and Plain Dealing Farm owner Linda Wachmeister had a pow-wow on what other challenge might suit Dan. Why not a visit to Dan’s home country? The pair had won the *** at Blenheim in 2000 and were in England in 2003 preparing for Burghley when Dan had to undergo emergency colic surgery. Now that much more experienced, in his prime at 12 years old, and fit as a fiddle, Dan was “locked and loaded”.

Looking to share the airfare were three others riders based in the U.S. – Emma Winter (GBR), Imtiaz Anees (IND), and Phillip Dutton (AUS). Emma and Imtiaz were both going as first-timers to Burghley, while Phillip was taking two horses with hopes to snag a large part of the $250,000+ prize money on offer.

To badly paraphrase an old adage, there are many slips ‘twict the entry and the start box. The first to fall by the wayside was Amy Barrington. The paperwork necessary for Plati’s acceptance into England was not correctly prepared. When it was redone it came back with a positive report for exposure to Vesicular Stomatitus. Even though Platinum showed no symptoms of the illness, he would not be allowed to enter the UK. End of trip.

Next to pull out was Cindy Collier Rawson. Davey’s on again/off again foot soreness made for an uncertain preparation for a major 3-day. A final cross-country schooling practice resulted in some heat in a hind leg and Cindy chose to redirect Davey to Boekelo in October. Davey’s co-owners, Bob and Sally Futh, took the news in stride and went on to enjoy Burghley without their horse.

Buck, Kim, Imtiaz, Phillip and Emma individually arrived in Stamford at the start of the week to get their horses settled into the show grounds. The first order of business was to get the horses through the inspection and jog-up. That accomplished, it was time to take a peek at the world-renowned course.

Phase A, Roads and Tracks, was just under 3 3/4 kms long, to be ridden at a speed of 220 meters per minute for a total of 17 minutes, which means mostly at the trot. A nice tour of the Burghley estate, past the deer park and cricket grounds, brought the riders to the start of Phase B, Steeplechase. The steeplechase course is a permanent one, with race course style railing, and riders circle the track twice at a speed of 690 m/m, covering the 2 3/4 kms in just 4 minutes while jumping 9 fences. Phase C followed, with a 10-minute box for cooling and checking the horses. One loop of the track included a spectacular view of Burghley House. The speed on C was 160 m/m, a pace which allows for a fair amount of walking and an unstressful recovery. Total distance of C was 5 3/4 kms, to be completed in 36 minutes.

Now to the heart of the course - Phase D. After a hiatus of a few years Capt. Mark Phillips was once again in command of the course design. While incorporating many of the classic Burghley fences, such as Capability's Cutting and the Trout Hatchery, Mark had chosen a new layout and created many new obstacles, all of **** dimensions, meaning maximum everything. Mark provided many option fences for less-experienced pairs but expected most riders to take the straight routes. Riders were to be excused if their eyes popped out of their sockets upon first viewing. Even Kim Severson remarked that the course looked big.

The course was 6 1/2 kms in length and designed to be given, in Mark's words, "a forward, attacking ride.” Anything less would mean coming in over the time allowed of 11:30 minutes, thus incurring costly time penalties of .4 per second. There was nowhere to make up time, only a few open galloping stretches but many twisty turns and hills and tricky combinations to navigate.

After surveying the 11+ miles of Phases A-D, the riders might have found the whirlpool at the stables a welcome sight. Cash therapy was also available, in the form of a spectacular trade fair. A tent city surrounded the main arena, with 600+ trade stands, restaurants, information booths, a mobile police station and mini Barclays Bank. All the latest in equestrian gear was on offer, plus English country goods, high fashion items, and of course, Land Rovers from the title sponsor.

Competition commenced on Thursday morning, September 1, at the civilized time of 10am. First to go were riders with two horses in the competition. Phillip Dutton on The Foreman followed lead-off rider Polly Jackson and despite being just the second to be judged, achieved a good score of 53.1. Imtiaz Anees rode Freetown after the morning coffee break for a mark of 69.6.
Buck Davidson watched some of the early rides with his dad and friends then went to prepare Private Treaty for a 2:08 ride time. A steady ride gave them a score of 69.1, putting them about 2/3 of the way down the 62 starters.

Day Two saw tests from Emma Winter, Kim Severson, and Phillip on his second horse, Amazing Odyssey. Emma's ride was not what she hoped for but at least the dread dressage was behind her. Kim wowed the judges with a relaxed and fluid test on Dan, earning the leading score up to that point of 42.8. In fact, the judge at C, Angela Tucker, rewarded Kim with the highest individual mark of the competition - a 74.44. Remember that in Eventing dressage scores are converted into a low score before final posting, with the lowest score being best.

Phillip must have had high hopes for Amazing Odyssey, as normally riders put their better horse on the second day, but his mark of 59.3 was only good enough for 29th place. The flying changes were a sticking point with the horse, as they were with many.
The 2005 **** test asks some tough questions of fit event horses, such as shoulder-in down centerline immediately following the medium and extended trots. With the mowed stripe in the grass it was quite easy to see if the haunches remained on the line and the shoulders moved off. Likewise it was easy to see if transitions happened at x or the quarter lines. There was no fudging.
William Fox-Pitt earned top marks on Ballincoola with a test showing incredible precision, obedience and a certain joie de vivre expressed with flashes of tail. His 42.4 put him ahead of Kim by a mere 4/10ths.

Ah, but then Eventing is not a sport of dressage. Cross-country day dawned with near perfect conditions: enough moisture in the ground, moderate temperature, clear skies; a light breeze.
Phillip Dutton was on a mission to add a Burghley Trophy to his collection of Olympic medals and prove why he is the current ranking rider in the world. With only Polly Jackson on Limestone Rise out on the course ahead, he had no idea if the course could be ridden within the optimum time. Phillip is a never-say-never kind of guy, so he just went and did it. And did it in awesome fashion to boot, on a 9-year old horse!

Imtiaz Anees wasn't having such fun. He completed phases A-B-C and was given the go ahead to move to the start box but felt that Freetown wasn't quite right. It is as brave a decision to withdraw for the horse's sake as it is to press on and Imtiaz chose to save Freetown for another day.

Sadly, Buck didn't get any further than the steeplechase, where Private Treaty stepped on a bell boot and tripped, pitching Buck to the grass. Buck chose to retire. He might be one who is glad to see the long format disappear.

Emma Winter was next for the US fans, on her 13-year old Mahogany Chief. She had a great ride taking all the straight routes except at the Trout Hatchery, where she went the longer, slower option. Finishing clear but with 44.4 time penalties meant a move up four places.

Great anticipation proceeded Kim and Dan's round. Dan was raised in England, and then sent as a 6-year old to Jan and Craig Thompson, who sold him to Plain Dealing Farm. England is where the sport of eventing started. Only two Americans had previously won Burghley - Bruce Davidson in 1974 on Irish Cap, and Stephen Bradley in 1993 on Sassy Reason. To win this prestigious event would be a feather in Kim's cap.

Kim started with exactly the sort of forward, attacking ride called for by course designer Capt. Mark Phillips, who also happens to be the U.S. team coach. Unfortunately, Dan's enthusiasm meant trouble at the log out of Capability's Cutting North, where he galloped up the slope to arrive on a long stride. He made a valiant effort to put in the needed step but chested the jump, flipping Kim over his neck to the ground and barely missing her as he tumbled over himself. He immediately sprang to his feet but a fall of the horse means automatic elimination.

Kim got a helicopter ride to the hospital for a check of her shoulder. Luckily it was deemed to be just bruised and she was allowed to return to the stable that night, where her first priority was to check on Dan. He was in fine form, having ended his work week early.

Another fantastic display of riding was put on by Phillip with Amazing Odyssey, finishing just 3 seconds over the time in the horse's first ****. Only five finished cross-country on their dressage scores.

Two from "across the pond" remained in the competition on the final day - Phillip and Emma. Their horses easily passed the final horse inspection and indeed, looked as though they had merely been resting in their stalls the past few days. Others were less fortunate. Five horses of those that completed cross-country were withdrawn prior to the jog-up, one was held and then withdrawn due to an overreach, and one was declined by the ground jury. Altogether 40 horses were ready to show jump.

The stands were filled to capacity and flags were aflutter in the main arena, giving the horses much to look at in addition to the brightly painted jumps. Starting in reverse order, there were 16 rounds before Piggy French achieved a double-clear on Done To Order. At 15.2 hands, the dun Connemara-cross gelding was one of the smallest in competition but an unflappable character more than made up for stature. By the way, Piggy's given name is Georgina but she prefers the childhood nickname.

Peter Thomsen of Germany, riding 9-year old The Ghost of Hamish, followed Piggy's example with a clean round of his own. They both vaulted 11 places as a result. These will be two to watch for the future.

Another impressive performance came from 23-year old Burghley first-timer Harry Meade. With his father, individual Olympic gold medalist Sir Richard Meade watching at the in-gate, Harry left all the rails in their cups, including the dreaded flat panels at the final fence. One second over the time was all he added for a final score of 76.8, good enough for 13th.

Only one more clear round was delivered, by the ever-cool Phillip Dutton on The Foreman. This earned him the distinction of being the only one to finish on his dressage score (53.1), good enough for second place. Prize money of approximately $54,000 no doubt helped with travel expenses.

Last to go was William Fox-Pitt. Entering on a score of 42.4, he had an allowance of two rails and used them both, to hang on for the win. He confirmed his place in the stratosphere of superstar riders with his third victory at Burghley, a record surpassed only by the greats Ginny Leng and Mark Todd.

Thus another brilliant running of the Land Rover Burghley International Horse Trials concluded, with planning for the 2006 edition already underway by Liz Inman and her capable staff.

For complete photos of the competition, visit www.imageevent.com/evalyn87508.