How a horse ‘like a spaniel on speed’ earned a perfect 10 at Burghley
D’Artagnan gives Tiana Coudray “his entire heart and soul” – even if that means testing her nerves along the way
Tiana Coudray scored 33.8 aboard D’Artagnan to sit 11th after the second day of dressage at the 2026 Defender Burghley Horse Trials – in a test that included the first 10 of the competition, awarded by judge at C Xavier Le Sauce (FRA) for their halt before the reinback.
The 12-year-old gelding gives Tiana, in her own words, “his entire heart and soul” – though, as she explains, that enthusiasm sometimes works against her.
Indeed, getting D’Artagnan settled enough to produce a dressage test at all was, by Tiana’s own admission, the biggest challenge of the day. “He’s been really tricky – he’s normally such a good boy, but he has an incredible vigour for life,” she laughed.
“To get up here [to the arena], you have to ride through the middle of the Leaf Pit and Discovery Valley, and for him that’s game over – he’s like a spaniel on speed at that point. So trying to get a dressage test out of him was not looking promising – I didn’t have high hopes.”
But in the end, the test went better than she dared expect – perhaps even missing a little bit of the flair he was showing in the warm-up.
“If anything, he was maybe a little too quiet, which meant we missed some changes which on another day he wouldn’t have. But look, we’ll take it – he was obedient, he was listening... he was perfect.”
The pair’s journey up to the main arena the day before had also been eventful.
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“We had a bit of a disaster getting up here yesterday – and I thought that’s it, our weekends over!” she said. “They make you walk right past the cross-country jumps, and then you hit the hill, and he was three strides up the hill and into the warm-up at about 700 metres a minute.
“So today we put a fly mask on him to try and block out the noise, led him with someone on each side, and fed him Polos the whole way up, like ‘Look here, look here, look here!’ I’ll try anything, and to be fair, it worked."
D’Artagnan’s rapid rise through the levels is part of what makes him such a compelling ride.
“We bought him when he was rising eight, so it’s not really a long-standing relationship yet,” explained Tiana.
“He’s flown up the grades very quickly – he’s 12 now, but factor in that he was basically starting out at eight, and that’s incredibly young. He’s come on so much in the last four months – I can only imagine where he'll be in another six.”
Talk of D’Artagnan’s talent pricing him out of Tiana’s hands has followed the pair for a few seasons now. An offer arrived around 18 months ago, turned down by then-owner and Tiana’s groom, Annabelle James: “She said no, life’s too short, you need to have fun.”
A fresh approach this spring brought new co-owner Kyrle Arscott into the picture instead. “It’s slightly secured the situation, which has been amazing, and it’s been so fun to have her along.”
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).