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Burghley Young Event Horse Qualifier at Badminton Horse Trials May 2023
Yesterday we headed to Badminton with our two 5YOs for the Burghley Young Event Horse class. Rewind 5 years, and we were actually heading to the main 5* event with our horse of a lifetime Fernhill Now or Never – so a slightly different vibe this time, but all the same exciting to producing the next generation at this world class event.
On the lorry was our homebred Meridianway Victory (Cevin Z out of Fernhill City Girl) and MBF Jackpot (Tolan R out of Limerick Girl). Both were lightly campaigned as 4YOs and have been progressing well with their training.
The class was being held across the road from the main site, alongside the Badminton Grassroots. It was a lovely big arena for them, but a fair bit of atmosphere.
Pictured wearing Close Contact European Cotton GP/Jump Square
Meridianway Victory
Vic was up first and put in a stellar performance. A lovely relaxed dressage phase and a classy jumping round too. The final part of this class sees us strip the horses off, present and then trot them up for the confirmation judge. This is a great education for the young ones, as it isn’t something they would do regularly at events. The judge took a real liking to Vic and gave him a score of 19/20 for suitability and type – the highest score of the day! Which is really rewarding, especially when you have bred them. He scored well across the board, and provisionally went into 3rdplace. We were so thrilled with his attitude and performance; he has come a long way already from being a very green timid horse last year! It is also quite fitting that he was born on Badminton weekend and named after Vicarage Vee! Hopefully a good sign of things to come in the future for him.
MBF Jackpot
Up next was Jack. He is a cracking type, who has matured even more over the winter. We kept him fresh for this class, and he was almost too enthusiastic! He kept his cool in the dressage and then showed his huge scope in the jumping, throwing some awesome shapes, but just having a few moments when he thought he knew best! However, the judges really liked him and again he scored well to go into provisional 10th.
Pictured wearing Kevlar Airtechnology Tendon Boots & Close Contact European Cotton GP/Jump Square
Results
The class saw huge entries, with some of the best young horses around, so we were delighted that Vic ended up in 5th and Jack just outside the top 10 in 11th. It was lovely to be part of the prize giving, and Vic made the most of his lap of honor!
A great day all round and we are excited to keep producing these promising young horses, to see where they will go.
- Kate Honey - PE Sponsored Rider
