Lauren Shannon’s blog: cross-country at Burghley Horse Trials
Well, it’s a big sigh of relief that yesterday at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials went well.
I woke up before my alarm (it could have been excitement, it could have been nerves) at 6am. I went for a quiet course walk with my boyfriend, Alan, before walking it again with Mark and Tanya Kyle.
I had already decided to go all the straight routes when Mark told me to think about it and maybe give the course a bit more respect and play it safe. I understood where he was coming from, but I know “Louie” (Zero Flight) so well now, and was confident enough to feel that we could have a nice round going straight.
So I headed back to the lorry and kitted myself up for my round. Luckily I was on at 11.56am so I didn’t have time to wait around and worry about the course. I warmed Louie up the same way I always have, lots of showjumps at a decent height to get him thinking and a few cross-country fences with angles. He felt great, if not a little too full of himself.
The course rode so well, being attacking everywhere. I was over the moon with how Louie took it on and took care of me. I will say my riding wasn’t 100%, but he picked up the slack. To be fair, I’ve helped him out in the past so he was re-paying the favour! I feel that if I had been riding more and competing more the past 4 weeks, I would have kicked him up more, but it didn’t help that I lost my whip after the Rolex Combination so didn’t have any back-up!
At the end of the day, Louie finished so well, with only 2.8 time-penalties, in 20th place. He was iced, saw the physio to make sure everything is ok, and was given loads of congratulatory cuddles.
So then it was time for a shower and bed — and a good jumping round today!
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Lauren
Find all Lauren’s diaries at www.horseandhound.co.uk/laurenshannon.
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Event rider Lauren Shannon blogged on Horseandhound.co.uk from June 2011 until September 2014. Born in Brighton, she lived in America from the age of three to 16, returning to the UK to go to university after she finished school. After university she worked for Mark and Tanya Kyle before setting up her own yard in Leicestershire. Her best result to date was finishing 9th at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials with her top horse, Zero Flight.