Well, today at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials has managed to turn into another day where we haven’t stopped for a moment.
“Louie” (Zero Flight) had his dressage at 11.30am this morning, which meant he was fed at 6am and I was on him at 6.45am for his first ride. He is the type of horse who needs to get out of his stable and see the world a bit before we do anything fancy! He worked very well and even better when I got on him at 8.45am for another ride round.
To be honest, I couldn’t have asked for much more from Louie in the ring. The only slight mistake I made was overriding his first change, which made it a little choppy. Despite this, we didn’t manage to get a score I was happy with, finishing on a 52.7. I am over the moon with how he went and felt in the ring — so much more grown up than he has been — but I suppose Louie doesn’t move like a dressage horse so I shouldn’t expect the marks to be given away.
After this, I stopped by at the Celebrity Talk Area, which is hosted by the ever charismatic Jonty Evans. I was there with Francis Whittington, who also posed in the Riders Revealed calendar. Claire Lomas was explaining the cause behind her calendar, and we all stuck around to sign a few after the talk.
Then it was another walk round the course — it was good to see it again and still feel happy with it. As of now, I am confident with taking Louie straight everywhere, so a nice clear inside the time is what Louie’s been instructed to achieve.
On the way back it was a mad dash round the shops to try and find a replacement dress for the drinks party tonight at Burghley House. Turns out there’s a lot of tweed at Burghley, and not so many smart dresses as I would have liked to have seen today! Never mind though, one was eventually found and now it’s time for a quick shower and a look at Burghley House…
Lauren
Lauren will be blogging from Burghley every day this week. Keep checking the homepage for her diaries or find them all at www.horseandhound.co.uk/laurenshannon.
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