Walk the cross-country course at Burghley *PICTURES*
This year’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (3-6 September) promises to be as challenging as ever for competitors.
Designed by Captain Mark Phillips and built by Philip Herbert and his team, this year’s course runs in the opposite direction to usual.
We take a look at what the course has in store for the horses and riders who will tackle it on Saturday 5 September.
The provisional total length of the course is 6,370m with a provisional optimum time of 11 minutes 10 secs.
Fence 1: Olympic Horseshoe
Fence 2: Lambert’s Sofa
Fence 3: Picnic Table
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Fence 4ab: Lion Bridge
View over 4a
Fence 4b
Fence 5ab: Anniversary Splash “In”
Fence 5b
Fence 6ab, 7: Anniversary Splash “Out” — riders have the option of a step up bounce on the right, bounce of hedges on the left
Alternative to fence 7 — only possible to jump if riders stop at the direct fence 7
Fence 8: Slate Mine
Fence 8: side view
Fence 9, 10: Capability’s Cutting — riders have the option of jumping either the left or right-handed option direct.
Left:
View over right-handed fence 9 to right-handed fence 10
Alternative fence 10
Fence 11: Rolex Grand Slam Viaduct
Fence 12: Winners’ Avenue
Side view of fence 12
Fence 13ab: Cottesmore Leap
Side view of 13a with 13b in the background
Alternative 13a
Fence 13b with alternative 13b in background
Course photos continue below.
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Fence 14abc: Land Rover Dairy Farm
View of 14bc landing
Alternative 14b
Alternative 14c
Fence 15abc: Rolex Combination — direct 15a with b in the background
Alternative 15a — ditch bounce to rail
Alternative 15c
Fence 16: Malting’s 360
Fence 17ab: Malting’s 360
View from 17a to 17b
Fence 18: Malting’s 360
Side view of fence 18
Fence 19: Captain’s Log
Fence 20abcd, 21: Land Rover Trout Hatchery
View from 20a to 20b
Fence 20b with view to fence 20 c and d
View from fence 20d to 21
Alternative fence 20d
Fence 21 with alternative in background
Fence 22ab: Herbert’s Hollow
View from fence 22a to b
Fence 23: Thomson’s Wall
Fence 24ab: Discovery Valley
View from fence 24a to b
Alternative fence 24a
Fence 25: Elephant Trap
Fence 26ab, 27: Leaf Pit
View from fence 26a to b to 27
Fence 27
Fence 28: Discovery Valley
Fence 29abc: Up and Under
Fence 29b
Fence 29c
Fence 30: Flower Frame
Fence 31: Land Rover Finale
You can keep up-to-date with all the action from Burghley with H&H Live every day this week on horseandhound.co.uk.
Don’t miss H&H’s Burghley preview, including a full form guide and a scorecard to fill in for every rider, on sale now (Thursday 27 August 2015), and you can read the full report in next week’s magazine (Thursday 10 September 2015).
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Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.