It is only now that I feel I'm coming back down to earth after our Burghley debut. Dennis is chilling in the field after his mega performance, I couldn't have hoped for anything more from him, he gave the whole three phases his all.
We were so pleased to complete the full competition, especially as just 50 per cent of the field managed this. It was also great being one of just a few local riders competing. I was very chuffed with the support out there for us, thank you to everyone for their good wishes.
We set up camp at Burghley on Tuesday and Dennis immediately took to his new temporary stable. Dressage day was nerve-wracking, he was quite a handful in the warm up and traditionally this is the phase we find most difficult. But our training with Ian Woodhead and all the rehab schooling I've put in paid off - we did a super test putting us in 9th place after the first day and then 23rd on Friday.
Over the week I walked the cross country course five times and felt as prepared as I could be when we got to the starting line. That countdown to the start seemed to take forever! The course was big but not unkind and Dennis didn't seem bothered by it at all, taking everything in his stride including the noise and thousands of spectators. With it being our first four star since Luhmuhlen, I wanted to take things steady and we picked up some time faults taking three long routes. But to finish safely with no jumping penalties was a dream come true. I was disappointed with our show jumping round, Dennis put in a stop at one of the fences which isn't like him so that was definitely my fault! We had a few poles down too, something to work on for next time.
It was an awesome experience and thank you to my fantastic team who made everything run so smoothly - Kelly Aldous at Burghley and then Mel helped out too and kept everything running smoothly back at the yard. So now to start preparing for Badminton..!
