The English language may have one of the richest vocabularies, but we’ve run out of superlatives to describe the brilliant partnership that is Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo.

Their historic third victory at Mars Badminton Horse Trials last weekend was emphatic; their sizeable lead in the dressage simply grew with every phase. 

Such is their partnership that Ros is confident to tackle the biggest tracks in the world with ‘Walter' whether four months pregnant (as she was at Defender Burghley last year), or while nursing a three-month old baby at Badminton last week. That’s because she knows how easy he (Lordships Graffalo) finds it, how much natural ability and respect for his rider he has, and how much he loves his sport. Ros is also very disciplined about giving herself enough time to prepare mentally.

“There is nothing normal about going in there and doing a showjumping round with all those people watching and the pressure on,” reflected Ros, “but I’ve got used to that feeling.” 

Walter had already made history for doing “the double double” of winning both Badminton and Burghley twice, and now he’s made history again as the first horse to win Badminton three times.

In a statistic which makes the head spin, in six five-star starts, Lordships Graffalo has won five and finished second at the other. He is still only 14 which means, with luck, he will have a number of five-star competitions still to come.

Equally heartwarming is the knowledge that, as you read this, Walter will most likely be out in his field in Hallington near Louth, rolling and grazing without a care in the world. Ros is a huge believer in letting her horses go about their daily life as naturally as possible.

Our sincere congratulations to Ros, Walter, to his owners Michele and Archie Saul, to his competition groom Sarah Charnley, Ros’s tireless mother Heather, and the whole team at Hallington who work so hard to make it all look so incredibly easy.  

Made of tough stuff.

While event riders have horse welfare always at the front of their minds, they’re not beyond pushing through their own pain sometimes when they’ve got a great horse but an injury of their own to deal with.

At Defender Burghley last September, Harry Meade’s heroic clear rounds on THREE horses just weeks after a bad cycling accident was one of the stories of the event. At MARS Badminton it was Burghley Ambassador, Tim Price, who was nursing an injury. He managed to put in a superb ride on Falco despite a shoulder injury, to finish runner-up. An outstanding achievement. 

Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse Qualifier

British double Olympic Gold Medallist Tom McEwen did not have a five-star entry at Badminton this year, but he won the first Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse (BYEH) five-year-old qualifier which took place there, with Caunton Pollyanna, an elegant chestnut mare. “I’m absolutely delighted with her,” he attested. 

In a sport that was once very biased towards geldings, mares are now far better represented at every level of the sport including five-star — with four of them in the top 15 in the CCI5* at MARS Badminton this year.

Hayden Hankey won the four-year-old BYEH class with MSHI Rockstar Le Tot, and also qualifying for the finals at Defender Burghley were Holly Woodhead with MSHI Grennanstown High Hopes, Dani Evans with with Mon Beau Cavalier and Jodie Amos with Khaira Z in the five-year-olds.

From the four-year-olds class, Hayden is joined by Harry Horgan with HHE Logmore Candy Boy and Becky Allman with N-Samba BLH Z.

We look forward to seeing them at Burghley on Friday 4th September.

Don’t get the Badminton blues…

There are just 16 weeks to go until Defender Burghley Horse Trials, one of the UK’s major sporting events, set within the breathtaking parkland of Burghley House.

Take advantage of Super Advance Prices on General Admission Tickets and 2026 Memberships. The best prices are available online now for one of the highlights of the five-star eventing calendar.

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