Lauren Shannon’s blog: Louie’s Burghley Horse Trials dressage
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
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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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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.