Always wanted to ride around the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials?
Now you can — but without all the hard work of getting a horse up through the levels and to the event, or the stress and nerves of actually having to ride round the world’s biggest four-star track.
Headcams are currently banned at British Eventing fixtures, but their use at FEI events such as Burghley is at the discretion of the event organisers.
Riders were not allowed to wear the standard headcams for insurance reasons at Burghley, but William Fox-Pitt had special dispensation to wear a particular prototype in 2015, which was not commercially available at the time. This headcam is a tiny model, manufactured by Equine Productions, which is used in racing. William wore the headcam for training at home to make sure he was comfortable and familiar with it.
William and Fernhill Pimms were in equal first place after dressage at Burghley 2o15, having scored 34.2. He shared pole position with Michael Jung and FischerRocana FST.
The rider said before the cross-country that as Pimms is a young horse at 11 and inexperienced — this was his first four-star — he did not necessarily expect him to go clear in the time. His main focus was on the horse giving him a good ride and showing he has promise for the future.
The pair were having a brilliant round until they were held at fence 23, the Thomson’s Wall, as the back of the fence had been broken by a previous competitor. The pair had a lengthy hold and when they set off again, William decided to take the long route at fence 24ab, Discovery Valley.
But he jumped the alternative part a, the chest, and then forgot to jump part b. As he galloped on along the track he suddenly realised his error, pulled up and returned.
The pair finished with 20.4 time-faults for 13th place after cross-country.
One showjump down on Sunday left William and Pimms in eventual 10th.
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H&H magazine editor and eventing editor
