We take a look back at some of the highs and lows, best interviews, event highlights and top training tips of 2015 from the world of international eventing, month by month, in our series of articles. Click on the highlighted text to take you to any of the articles mentioned to read in full
UK Event Coverage
Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials
Surveys show that nearly 50% of attendees at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials come for the shopping and each year more than 600 carefully selected exhibitors offer everything from artisan cheeses and local produce to luxury goods such as diamond jewellery, cutting-edge fashion and stunning safaris. Event Director Elizabeth Inman explained what it takes to get it all together even before the first horse trots down the runway for the first horse inspection
Andrew Hoy’s blue suede shoes were stylish and Burghley debutant Michael Jung had a slight mishap on the runway when he discovered that his flies were open, fixing the problem literally ‘on the fly’ up the runway much to the amusement of the spectators
We talked to Michael, one of the hot favourites with his two horses La Biosthetique Sam and fischerRocana FST about how “We make a little plan but in the end it’s the horses that make the plan” as fischerRocana FST and La Biosthetique Sam FBW, who had already competed in the 4*at Kentucky and Luhmuhlen were about to start at Burghley
Michael and the 11 year old fischerRocana FST went into the lead during this first session of the day with a score of 34.2 so two first timers from Germany and a past winner from Australia made up the top three after the first day of dressage. There wouldn’t be many occasions when two first timers are in the top three at Burghley and, added to that, was the fact that one of them was the youngest rider in the field; at 20 years old Niklas Bschorer is the same age that Andrew Hoy was when he won at his first attempt at Burghley in 1979, as Andrew pointed out
On the second day of dressage William Fox-Pitt joined Michael Jung in equal first place and Sam Griffiths was once again in third as the riders headed into what was generally agreed as the toughest cross country ever seen there and what a day the Saturday turned out to be!
Dunkings, mental blanks, bee stings, tack failures and a huge course that saw even the great Michael Jung take a dip. We let the riders tell you all about it in our interviews with Murray Lamperd, Sam Griffiths, William Fox-Pitt, Bill Levett, Chris Burton and Michael Jung.
Jonelle Price riding Classic Moet moved up from 19th place to third on 44.9 penalties, just behind her husband Tim in second place on Ringwood Sky Boy with 41.5 penalties. We talked to each of them as they finished their cross country ride
Tim and Jonelle joined the leader Michael in the press conference and the cross country course designer Capt. Mark Phillips also gave his thoughts on the day's action in our Press Conference video
On the final day the prize winning groom Susie Aromando told us about keeping the best presented horse Sylvia spotless (it's all about lots of washing!) but it was Germany's Michael Jung who took home the big prize of the day, winning on his first visit to Burghley and the Antipodean riders proving dominant with second to sixth places all claimed by riders from the southern hemisphere
Longines FEI European Championships at Blair Castle
It was nippy as the horses pranced and kilts were on show for the start of the Longines FEI European Championships at the beautiful Blair Castle in the Scottish Highlands and and before the action started we checked out the local area, the sweet shops and the town of Pitlochry
21 year old British rider Holly Woodhead stormed into the lead of the dressage during the Thursday morning session and five of the British lady riders were in the top ten by the end of the day
But the next day the smile on Sandra Auffarth’s face said it all as she finished her test to lead with a score of 31.40 and although the start of Niklas Lindback’s test looked as if it could beat her and had everyone watching the Swedish rider, one of the last to go, he finished in eighth place overall
The rain started as the cross country phase began on Saturday and was relentless all day. "I hate the rain!" admitted Michael Jung when we talked to him after the cross country round that has put him and fischerTakinou into the individual lead and his team mates also put on an impressive display of riding in difficult conditions. Others had less of an easy time on Ian Stark’s tough course but there were some that jumped up the leader board on cross country day – we found out what they thought about their rides
In the end it was Germany that puts on an impressive display of show jumping to become the 2015 European Eventing Champions at this right royal event at Blair Castle and once the victory laps were over, the perfect spot to celebrate or commiserate was the Pol Roger Champagne Lodge
Blenheim Palace International
Germany’s Sandra Auffarth decided to stay on for Blenheim Palace International and she made a good start in the CCI3* on her first visit while New Zealand’s Jonelle Price had some valuable points up her sleeve after the first day of the CIC3*
Aussies Andrew Hoy and Chris Burton were chasing the leaders the next morning but it was the USA's Clark Montgomery who moved into the lead of the CCI3* at the lunch break and stayed there. Clark wasn’t the only American rider - it was a multi-national affair in both the CIC and CCI classes with riders travelling from near and far including Australia's Kate Chadderton popping over from the USA
As buggies hurtled around Blenheim (the only way to travel), the horses hurtled around the CCI3* cross country course on Saturday before spectators enjoyed late afternoon CIC3* show jumping with a few drinks, providing a perfect day of eventing
It was certainly perfect for Jonelle Price with a very good cross country round giving her back to back wins in the CIC3*8/9 Year Old – we had a chat with Jonelle on video about the win
The next day it was Clark Montgomery celebrating the win saying “We’ll ride the wave as long as it stays”. Clark become the third American winner of the CCI3* at Blenheim ahead of Australia’s Chris Burton and Britain's Kitty King and six countries were represented in the top three of the CCI3* and CIC3* at Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials and all are rising stars of the eventing world
Kitty also had tears in her eyes during the weekend as she watched her former GB squad ride, Five Boys, win the BE90 Arena Eventing Championship Final ridden by her friend Holly Cowley
Australia/NZ
Equestriad
Shane Rose was back with a bang after an enforced layoff through injury when he and the 'crankypants' CP Qualified won the 3* at the September Equestriad CNC at Camden. The incredible team of the Equestriad committee, headed by Shane and Niki Rose, run two events every year and while this is the smaller show of the two – only 550 plus riders – they still manage to deliver the very best of eventing from EvA60 through to 3 Star.
The weather gods also put on their best performance with a lovely clear day for Saturday’s dressage activities, a little bit of misty rain overnight and a cool, overcast day on Sunday – a perfect backdrop for some great cross country riding.
It is rarely a dressage contest at Equestriad, with the show jumping and cross country phases being influential right across the board. In the six classes from EvA105 up, only Jess Rae and Sandy Lucas took home a blue ribbon AND a double clear!
EV Horse Trials
It was a new date for the event and a new horse for the 2* winner Amanda Ross at the Eventing Victoria Horse Trials but further north the 2015 Queensland International Three Day Event was cancelled due to issues with the privately-owned Noosa Equestrian Centre and in New Zealand Emily Cammock kicked off the new season in fine fettle leading from start to finish to win the CNC2* at Eventing Canterbury’s inaugural event of the season at the NEC McLeans Island
International
CICO3* Waregem
Earlier in the year we had interviewed Nana Dalton and discovered that Chris Burton was her trainer – at Waregem Chris might have thought he had trained her too well when the British team member won the individual title
Chris didn’t go home empty handed however, winning the CIC2* on the impressive Santano II while Germany reigned supreme in the team competition of the FEI Nations Cup Eventing
Videos
Burghley may have been over for another year but there was still plenty to talk about, photos to catch up on and videos coming out. Here are two wrap up videos we really loved as well as a look behind the scenes with William Fox-Pitt’s right hand lady Charlotte 'Charlie' Walker
Enjoy the fun of the presentations and victory laps in our videos from the Longines FEI European Eventing Champions at Blair Castle and see how it all unfolded in this quick video recap of the four days of competition
"I was told I would never ride again" but he's competing at Blenheim this week - Harry Meade talks about recovering from his career-threatening injury to once again excel at top-level eventing
Also check out the CCI3* and CIC3* cross country action from Blenheim Palace International Horse Trialsand Harry Meade talked about recovering from his career-threatening injury to once again excel at top-level eventing as he headed to Burghley and Blenheim
Interviews
Warren Lamperd last rode at Burghley in 1999 but he was back at 4* level in 2015 – we caught up with him after dressage to talk about his expectations
Australian dressage coach Gareth Hughes reviewed how the Australians had fared in the dressage phase at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials and it was good news all round with several Personal Best scores being achieved
British rider Nicky Roncoroni told us about her talented young horses that were second and third in the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse 5 Year Old and 4 Year Old Championships and we found out what does the Burghley Young Event Horse 5 Year Old winner, Cavalier Crystal, had in common with Glen Innes Pony Club, Australia and America
At Blair Castle the German team coach Chris Bartle told us what the German rider had been doing in the Yorkshire hills to prepare for Ian Stark's cross country course at Blair and, although the terrain may have been tough at Blair, there was a great team of vets on hand to take care of all of the horses on cross country day
AEL blogger Christopher Elliott was part of the team caring for the horses at Blair Castle and he told us of the preparations in place for cross country and why the course at Blair is unique
It was a nerve wracking day for course designer Ian Stark, who was very sad to see his 'pet' Haggis fence being forklifted off the course on Saturday as the rain fell, but thought it was the right decision when he reviewed how the course rode at Blair Castle and we caught up with Irish rider Sam Watson, competing as an individual at Blair who finished the best of the Irish competitors in 12th place
At Blenheim Gemma Tattersall told us about her busy day, moving up the CCI3* leader board into seventh place then dashing off to compete, and win, the High Jump Challenge and we found out more about Sam Griffith’s lovely young horse On The Brash that competed in the CCI3* at Blenheim
But it was Lissa Green who stole our hearts and won our award for the happiest rider after completing her first ever three day CCI3* event at the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials
Top blog of September
Alice Hirst came up trumps again in September with the most read blog being about hopping back on her ‘Devil Pony’ Sherbet
“This month I decided that being an adult was far too hard. So I went back in time and got on my childhood pony, Sherbet, and played pony club games. And it was great”
Top photo gallery
Cross country day at Burghley was our most viewed gallery but Eventing Victoria’s Horse Trials was close behind!
