British-based New Zealand rider Samantha Lissington has slotted into fourth place in today’s Defender Burghley Horse Trials dressage on Lord Seekönig (5 September).
Samantha and this 12-year-old gelding, owned by Sharon Honiss, Annabelle and Robin Greville Williams, Neil Robert and Samantha’s husband Brayden, scored 24 with a polished and accomplished, accurate test.
Their highlights were the flying changes, two of which scored eights across the board from the judges.
“That was amazing – I came here with a bit of a different plan,” said 33-year-old Samantha, who has been based in the UK since 2019. “This horse can get strong and I ride in a double bridle usually, but I got slammed in Aachen for having his frame too low. So I went away and worked on my IPP – individual performance plan – and have been trying him in a snaffle bridle.”
Samantha explained that until she was just entering Burghley’s main arena today, she still wasn’t sure whether she should ride Lord Seekönig in a double bridle.
“Even in the warm-up, I wasn’t sure, and was uhmming and ahhing util the last minute. In the end, I opted for the snaffle bridle and I was delighted with how it went,” she said.
“Basically, it’s actually not the be-all and end-all here this week – the goal is the World Championships next year and then the LA Olympics beyond that. So actually, if I wasn’t going to test out riding him in a snaffle this week, when was I going to do it? I thought I would actually sacrifice a test for knowing which one way or another.”
Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and the much-loved grey Colorado Blue performed a super test for a mark of 27.8 – the first time this pair have scored in the 20s at five-star level. They are in eighth following the 2025 Burghley Horse Trials dressage.
Austin had a change in tactics during his warm-up; he got off “Salty” for 10 minutes, then remounted a few minutes before they entered the main arena.
“I had a very good feeling in the warm-up and he’s a bit like me in that we lose concentration pretty quickly,” explained Austin. “So I thought I’d try something different and get off his back for 10 minutes and hopefully I would get back on and pick up where I left off, and it worked very well.”
Austin was deservedly over the moon with his 2023 Maryland 5 Star winner.
“We’ve produced our best test ever – Tracie Robinson has been a great help with our training and she probably deserves this result more than me,” he said. “And the horse deserves it too. He’s known as a good cross-country horse, but he’s never done a bad test. I think going in there on the Friday afternoon, the atmosphere lifted him as he likes to show off to the public.”
Burghley Horse Trials dressage top 10 results
Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent lead the way on a score of 22, Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo are second on 22.4. New Zealand’s Tim Price and Vitali are third on 23.1 with day one leaders Piggy March and MCS Maverick fifth on 25.7. Emily King is sixth with Valmy Biats on 26.1, Germany’s Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH are seventh on 27.2, Alex Bragg and Ardeo Premier are ninth on 28.4 and Tom Crisp and Dassett Rock Star round off the top 10 on 28.5.
The cross-country gets under way at 11.30am tomorrow.
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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