New warm-up pays off as horse who ‘shuffles rather than trots’ takes the early lead in Burghley dressage
Gemma Stevens tried a new preparation strategy with Chilli Knight in the Burghley dressage today and was rewarded with the first sub-30 score
Gemma Stevens tried out a new warm-up in the Defender Burghley Horse Trials dressage today – and it paid off, with the first sub-30 score and the lunchtime lead.
The 16-year-old Chilli Knight, owned and bred by Christopher and Lisa Stone, was the Bicton Horse Trials one-off five-star winner in 2021, but he is not a natural dressage horse.
“He can’t trot. I just said, ‘We’ve done our best shuffling’. But he makes up for the fact he can’t trot because his heart is always trying his best,” said Gemma after scoring 29.6.
“We razzed him up a bit here before he went in, which is not a normal thing for a five-star event horse.”
Gemma Stevens tried out her new Burghley dressage warm-up strategy this morning with trainer Ian Woodhead.
“Ian Woodhead said ‘Come on, let’s do it because what can it hurt?’ Chilli Knight is so reliable in the arena, and at Badminton he was a bit of a monkey, dropped off and was behind my leg so we made some stupid mistakes and had our worst score ever. He’s an old boy now. He’s such a little cutie, he knows his job so well and only does what he’s going to have to do.
“So we razzed him up a bit outside, gave him a couple of little touches with the whip and he’s actually very sensitive, so it works. And then I gave him a pat – I’m not telling him off. It really worked because then he stayed lovely in front of me, kept his frame in front of me and was really nice to ride.”
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Gemma said there is little risk in this warm-up strategy because “Alfie” isn’t a horse who will blow up in the arena.
“The worst thing he’s going to do is spook at a flower pot. He’s not going to get goey or whizzy. He’s not really like that in the dressage.
“He’s goey cross-country, but [he thinks] dressage is dull. Jumping is much more fun and galloping fast, which is what he loves to do.
“He obviously absolutely loves it when we come to these big ones because he knows that I’m not going to have the handbrake on. When he goes to other events, he knows I’m going to have the handbrake on, and he gets a bit cross with me, to be honest. He’s going to be well happy [on Saturday].”
Gemma Steven’s hopes for Defender Burghley
Chilli Knight had some bad luck at Mars Badminton Horse Trials in May when he lost a shoe while going well across country, so Gemma says she’s aiming to keep all four wheels on this week.
“We have to have a bit of luck – not to stand on ourselves in a ditch and pull a shoe off like we did at Badminton. We’re not very good when we haven’t got our wheels because he’s got such flat feet, so it’s just like being on an ice rink,” she said.
Gemma is looking for a good result this week after elimination in the eventing World Championships at Aachen – and said she has no idea why Flash Cooley stopped three times at the coffin there.
She said: “I think I’ve made it three days so far since Aachen without crying. I have absolutely no idea why it happened. None of us do. We’ve watched the footage back. I genuinely have no idea. The horse is 100%. He’s actually wild. He’s full of himself. He’s sound, he’s fit, he’s happy. I took him schooling the other day and he was felt unbelievable. He’s never stopped before.
“He’s jumped so many coffins. He jumped that coffin last year at Aachen when he was third. I genuinely do not know the answer to everyone’s question, other than it’s horses and it’s rubbish and we have to try to move on.
“It’s really really hard. I’m not going to lie; it has been a pretty low point in my career. But it was really great to get back on last weekend at Scone and have three fantastic rides cross-country and be in the top 10 on all three of those horses. It gave me a big boost. I remembered that I could actually ride and I have to somehow put it in a box and move on.”
The Burghley dressage continues at 2pm.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.