An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Burnham Market (2) 2021 - order or view videos here
“Burnham Market is a real favourite of mine; I think I have been every year for the last 15 years. The organisation is great and it’s well run but with a friendly and laid back atmosphere,” says Suffolk eventer, Mary Edmunson.
A grassroots event with an international feel, competitors were excited to be out enjoying a weekend of eventing full of thrills, spills and, as some riders noted, quite a few hills.
Based on the Norfolk coast, Burnham Market (2) is hosted by Musketeer Events and is the grassroots sibling of Burnham Market International held earlier in the eventing calendar.
Riders from BE90 up to Open Intermediate enjoyed the atmosphere at the event with Olympic eventers such as Ros Canter hitting the cross country course to compete in BE100 Section E for the win riding Parklodge Side By Side.
Ros also placed third in Novice Section A riding Destiny, a class won by Anthony Clark, Open Novice Section D saw a win from Alexander Tordoff on a dressage score of 25.5 with Joe Wise leading Novice Section C and Caroline Day taking the win in Novice Section B.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t had the best season so far, but I have definitely learnt a lot about the various and unexpected ailments that horses can suffer from. It was nice to get some good results this weekend, so hopefully I can get going with a clear run for the autumn,” says Mary Edmunson, winner of Intermediate Section H riding Jubilee Cruise.
“The cross country rode well, and the ground was surprisingly good given the lack of recent rain. The organisers had made a good effort and the courses were a nice combination of straight forward galloping jumps mixed in with a couple of trickier combinations to fill horses with confidence ahead of their autumn goals,” she says.
Wills Oakden added another host of fabulous results to his record this season, finishing in second, third, fourth and fifth place in Intermediate Section H following two wins at Richmond (2) the week earlier.
Ahead of Osberton International, Franky Reid-Warrilow was competing her mares Dolley Phantom, owned by sponsors Pegasus Arenas and long-standing supporters Mike and Jeanette Nutall, and Guilty Pleasure, also owned by Pegasus Arenas and Liza Austin.
“Both mares have stepped up to 4* level this year, it’s always a big leap and you’re never quite sure how the horses will respond. Although on paper they’ve had mixed results at 4* level they’ve proven to me and shown a huge amount of capability and potential,” says Franky.
“Being careful mares, and the fact I had a mid-season wobble mentally, it was perfect timing to drop down to Intermediate level to regain some faith and belief in myself and my horses. After only one horse was accepted in the 3* at Cornbury I re-routed to Burnham Market for a 14-hour round trip hoping that I could try and make it worth it.”
After a win in Open Intermediate Section I riding Dolley Phantom, Franky was satisfied to be performing where she felt she should with the two mares, seeing room for improvement but also thrilled with her results.
“They both felt fabulous, and the cross country felt like a cruise around as I was trying to channel my inner Sir Mark Todd who has been so generous and kind to help me the last couple of months whilst I’ve been in a mental lull about my cross country riding. My inner Toddy worked,” Franky laughed.
Zara Barber took the win in BE90 Open Section M riding Kildromin Champ, with a win for Joanne Watts in BE90 Section L and BE100 Section N as well as placing second in BE90 Section K behind Jo Ingle. Anna Taylor also took the red in BE90 Section J riding 12-year-old mare, Irish Encounter.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with quirky horses, when you make even the slightest bit of progress the reward feels so much bigger,” says Katherine Illingworth, winner of BE100 Open Section G, riding Philip Adkin’s ITZ Chinatown, who Katherine is also head girl for.
“I feel very lucky to get to ride some very nice and talented horses. The aim for next season would be to take Jake up to Novice and hopefully some Internationals. Jake has had a very quiet year and I’ve only competed him three times over two years. He’s a very opinionated horse and definitely not the easiest ride however when he’s on your side he really is fantastic,” she says.
Although happy with her dressage test Katherine wasn’t expecting to lead at all, so was pleasantly surprised to see herself with a dressage score of 22, which continued with the pair’s double clear.
“I was quite concerned about the hills out on the cross country as we live in a very flat area however he absolutely cruised around, he really did feel top class. Taking the win makes all the hard work and long hours feel more than worthwhile!”
Noble Son and Paul Burgess took the win in BE100 Section O on a fantastic dressage score of 21.3 with Ruby Johnson and Rittersporn leading BE100 Open Section P.
It was also the first win of hopefully many more to come for Mollie Harris and her 8-year-old gelding, Lord Samson by Shannondale Sarco, in BE100 Section F.
Having only owned the horse since the start of June and having not evented previously, the pair have been working hard on their dressage which saw its reward last weekend with a dressage score of 25.
“We’re hoping to progress up the levels together and we’re making the step up to Novice soon before I head off to university,” says Mollie.
“It was a nice cross country course, the hills always bring an extra challenge but he was full off running even at the end.
“I was very pleased with the result as I wasn’t expecting to win, I just wanted to give him a nice confident run so winning was the icing on the cake and he definitely deserves it,” she smiles.
Mollie’s result added to a host of smiling faces that left Burnham Market (2) last weekend after another great couple of days out supporting British Eventing.
Article by Kelly Aitkin
