The origins of the The Land Burghley Horse Trials, are owned mainly to the Marquess of Exeter, an Olympic athletics gold medalist and International Olympic Committee member. In 1961 he heard the autumn three-day equestrian event couldn’t be held at Harewood House near Leeds, so he invited the British Horse Society to transfer the event to his estate. And the rest, as they say, is history!
.jpg)
In the meantime, it has established itself not only as one of the top six world equestrian events, but also the longest, continuous, running one, with no other international site succeeding in staging as many Championships. In total Burghley has run two World Championships (1966 and 1974), six European Championships (1962, 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989 and 1997) and one Young Riders European Championship (1978) – a quite enviable record.
The current Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three day event and is one of the three events in the Annual Grand Slam of Equestrian Eventing. Since 1990, there has also been the Young Event Horse final to judge 4 and 5 year old horses on their potential and suitability as future Olympic mounts.
.jpg)
Three disciplines combine to form the 3-day event. Designed very much as a complete test of horse and rider, Thursday and Friday are the Dressage days and Saturday is Cross Country day, recognised as the most exciting day of the competition. The final day, Sunday, sees the Show Jumping Event, with a combination of elegance and skill of both horse and rider coming to the fore, as they compete for first place.
.jpg)
Some facts and figures:
• Virginia Elliott is the most successful rider at Burghley winning five times (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989 - 1985 and 1989 were European Championship titles)
• Priceless is the only horse to have won the event twice (1983 and 1985)
• Princess Anne, riding as an individual in only her second Three-Day Event, became 1971 European Champion. Her daughter, Zara Phillips is the only child of two former winners to compete at the event, finishing second in 2003.
• Over 40 x 20 tonne lorry loads of tentage, worth in excess of £1,650,000, are brought in and out for the event, with more than 5875 man-hours involved setting up and breaking down.
• Over 130 tons of general equipment will be transported.
• 6,000 metres of rope are used to lay out the car parking areas.
• The equivalent of 10 x 7.5 tonne lorries transport 2440 plants and flowers over 5000 miles in journeys for set up.
• 26 generators, 18,000 litres of fuel and 25 kilometres of cable are used delivering 2.5 megawatts of power, enough to supply a small town.
• Some 11000 Baguettes, 40,000 cups of tea and coffee, 7000 Glasses of Pimms and 2000 Bottles of Champagne are consumed during the event.
Click here for further information on The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials 2009
