Popular combination Alice Casburn and Topspin scored a new five-star personal best in the Defender Burghley Horse Trials dressage this morning (5 September) to take a top-10 position at this stage.
The 17-year-old Topspin, owned by Alice’s mother Caroline, scored 31.4 today to better his previous top best mark (from his 2022 debut here) as this level by 2.2 marks. The pair made significant gains on their 37.9 from Badminton Horse Trials this spring and 36.6 here last year; Alice was clearly shocked when she looked up and saw the score as she finished.
Alice, 23, and the second generation home-bred have become regulars at five-star over the past few years and have finished in the top 10 at Burghley three times, but they are more accustomed to moving up the leaderboard with great jumping performances than starring on dressage day.
“I was really emotional coming out, I’m absolutely thrilled with him,” said Alice. “It felt good when I was riding it and I almost enjoyed myself. Then I looked up at the scoreboard and I was like, ‘31 wow’.
“He’s a credit to everyone around me and especially Judy Hancock, who’s stuck with my dressage for a very, very long time. We’ve felt quite frustrated because he’s producing that sort of work at home and then he gets hot in the arena.”
Surprisingly, Alice said she has never had Friday dressage before in the nine or so years she’s been eventing Topspin, even at the lower levels.
“I was in a little bit, ‘What do I do the day before?’ And I thought, ‘You know what? We’re going to go jumping and we’re going to go for a canter. I thought it would settle his mind, but it was going to go one way or the other. So I’ll definitely be bearing that in mind for the future.”
Alice Casburn’s short and sweet warm-up
Alice also talked about her pre-test routine with Topspin, saying he is “quite frightening” to ride in the warm-up and if she does too much he becomes hotter and can blow up.
She said: “I walk for 20 minutes, put him on a long rein, do some leg yields and just keep it really easy. Then 10 minutes before I go in, I pick up the reins and say, ‘Ok, we’re in a frame now’ and he does 10 minutes of proper warm-up, with a couple of flying changes. Today I really focused on the walks, doing long rein, short rein, long rein, short rein, getting him to accept we’re all ok.
“When I come around the outside of the arena, I also just try and breathe and give him a scratch on the neck.
“Less is more with him. Some horses are better if they come out in the morning and have some proper work – they feel like it’s out of their system — whereas he’s much better if we pull him out and say we’re just going to trot around in a couple of circles and he’s like, ‘Oh ok then.’”
With fifth, seventh and 10th on their record from previous Burghley runs, Alice said: “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have expectations. I have tried to come here and think, yes, he’s fit and sound and well, but he is an older horse now – and to try and enjoy it.
“But when your horse is more than capable, and you’re more than capable, and I’ve always said he loves it here… I’d like to go out there and give it my best go.
“The pressure is horrible, but I try and have the mindset that you have to believe it’s going to be ok and you have to believe you’re going to have a great round and a great time. So that’s what I’m believing at the moment.”
Alice Casburn was the first into the Burghley Horse Trials dressage arena this morning and she was followed by Max Warburton with the Paske Syndicate’s Deerpairc Revelry, who scored 29.1 to go into fifth at this stage.
To stay up-to-date with all the breaking news throughout Burghley and other major shows this year, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website, from £1 a week. Horse & Hound’s 20-page magazine report on Burghley is published in 11 September issue, including full analysis and exclusive comment from six-time Burghley winner William Fox-Pitt.
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