Emily King’s top horse Brookleigh will be out action this year and next after an injury at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials.
“He has a tendon strain,” said Emily, whose mother is double Badminton winner Mary King. “There are no holes, it’s more that it’s pulled and we like to give our horses lots of time to come back. He’s out in the field now and looks a bit fluffy. It’s a real shame.”
The injury is to the horse’s near fore.
Emily, 20, was second after dressage at Badminton in a dazzling start to her debut and had a great cross-country round until she and Brookleigh fell at the angled logs at the penultimate fence, the Rolex Crossing.
“He drifted right — he was tired, but it could also have been that his tendon was getting sore and he didn’t want to land on it again,” said Emily.
Brookleigh is a 14-year-old by Rockwell and belongs to Jane Del Missier. He and Emily were fourth at Pau together in the autumn last year on their first four-star start and were considered outside chances for the British team for the Rio 2016 Olympics until their fall at Badminton.
Emily told the press about Brookleigh’s injury this evening at the Equi-Trek Bramham Horse Trials, where she is currently lying second in the Bishop Burton under-25 CCI3* with Lord Patrick Beresford’s Charlemagne.
The leader is Tom McEwen, who won this class back in 2013 on Diesel. Bert Bolton is in third place on the ex-racehorse Purple Sands.
The under-25 competitors will run across country as the second class at Bramham tomorrow, after the senior CCI3*.
The CIC3* competitors, many taking part in an important British selection trial for Rio, will be third to tackle Ian Stark’s track, with the Event Rider Masters (ERM) finishing the day.
