A Gallant Effort from The Rutman A Very Tough Burghley Cross Country :Simon Grieve
Image Courtesy of Julian Portch Photography – all rights reserved and is subject to copyright
Not the day Simon had in mind, to be fair not the day for a lot of riders. This was one of the toughest Burghley cross country courses I have seen in a long while and it was catching horses and riders out everywhere, but what courageous effort these two made of it.
They had a great start to the course and Simon rode The Rutman really well through their first look at Discovery Valley and the horse started to grow in confidence as he was super bold off the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit and made it easily through that combination. They got a huge jump over fence 9 the flight Hangar, a big fence in itself .
Coming into the Land Rover Trout Hatchery The Rutman gave a big jump over the first oxer in and Simon decided to take the long route and rode him really well through it giving the horse confidence with a positive ride.
The Joules Maltings however saw Simon have his first run out at the final element the corner on the way out but they jumped it beautifully the second time which I am sure was frustrating for Simon seen as he made the whole thing effortless. Then the Rolex Combination at fence 14 seemed like the horse had just switched off and the first corner posed problems for the combination with The Rutman running out twice which unfortunately meant Simon was eliminated.
I have to say though that Simon gave this horse a great run and rode him aptly considering he is a young horse at this level and it was his first attempt at a 5* he was kind to the horse and they certainly have a fantastic partnership, they certainly showed their future potential and I am sure we will see their return.
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