British Eventing Horseheath Horse Trials

Horseheath has built a reputation for delivering professionally organised events with a warm welcome, challenging course design, skilled ground preparation and knowledgeable support.

The venue is unique in offering excellent views across almost the entire cross country course from a single vantage point. It's easy to get to from the M11 with no small approach roads to negotiate, and Horseheath eventing attracts hundreds of competitors from across 5 counties.

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HORSEHEATH 2022 HORSE TRAILS DRAWS INTERNATIONAL BADMINTON-BOUND STARS

Horseheath welcomed over 580 competitors to its sixth British Eventing affiliated event in April – the highest entry to date for the Thurlow estate's much-anticipated annual Horse Trials.

It was not just the attendance figures that were up on last year - the fences were bigger too, with a higher-grade Novice event added to the competition for the first time. Horseheath's organisers were delighted to secure the addition of a British Eventing Novice class for 2022. They were further rewarded when it attracted entries from top international eventers, with Badminton 2019 winner Piggy March, Team NZ Olympian Caroline Powell and 4* international eventer Emily Lochore among the competitors.

Riders completed three disciplines, including dressage, showjumping and cross country (XC). As well as the new Novice and Open Novice classes, with XC fences of up to 110cm, there were BE80, BE90 and BE100 classes, including those for u18s, where British Eventing youth coaches were on hand to walk the course and offer guidance.

With an open and flowing XC course designed by British Eventing Accredited Coach and Course Designer Tina Ure and built by BE's David Carpenter, spectators enjoyed the course's excellent views, which gave horses and riders inviting and educational tracks as well as technical combinations and challenges for the more experienced competitors.  

The Novice track extended into a new site area, with custom-built earthworks providing the ideal venue to produce future talent for top-level eventers.   Badminton-bound Piggy March had four horses out at the weekend competing in the Open Novice and BE100open classes - the stunning gelding Brookfield Carnvan producing the best performance of the day with a 2nd in the BE100open. Norfolk's Gillian Mason was the winner of the section with an impressive dressage score of 16.5 and a double clear on her own Trinity O'Reilly. Gillian commented: “It was a super course which rode extremely well. I was extremely impressed with the ground conditions. There had obviously been a huge amount of work put in to ensure good going, which horses and riders very much appreciated! I will most certainly be back next year."

Mary Pearson from East Renfrewshire was the winner of the Open Novice class on her own 17hh gelding, Je T'Aime Fandango. "I really enjoyed my first visit to Horseheath. The XC was a proper test and required strong riding early on. I was fortunate to have my trainer, Alex Tordoff here, so I felt more confident that I knew how approach the trickier fences as I set off."

With a 7-week dry spell in the lead up to the event, the efforts of the Horseheath groundwork team were indeed commendable. Over 2.5 million litres of water from the estate's reservoir and many hundreds of man and machine hours aerovating, irrigating and dressing the course meant that competitors were treated to great going. "The team at Horseheath had obviously spent a lot of time preparing the ground giving us perfect going!" said Kelsey Love, winner of her BE100 section on Ballyengland Midsummer, owned by John Kirkham. "It's only the horse's second BE100, and we came away winning the section. The XC course rode as nicely as it walked, and we had a great round!"

Paul Burgess from Northamptonshire rode all weekend at Horseheath and was a BE100 section winner on Watermill Cruise, owned by Julia and Stuart Westmoreland. "He is a big 6yr old - 17.2hh - and just starting his eventing career this year," said, Paul. "I've slowly produced him since he was bought last autumn. This was his first BE100, so I'm absolutely thrilled with his result."

Organiser Tim Barling was grateful to everyone who made the event a great success. Tim said, "On behalf of the Vestey family, I would like to say a huge thank you to the many competitors who travelled to Horseheath this weekend. It was a privilege to see so many here, and we are so pleased that many had a wonderful round. In addition, I must thank the army of volunteers who did such a brilliant job and the wonderful groundwork team who put in so much effort before and during the event to provide a great weekend of sport. With the addition of our new Novice course, Horseheath has been bigger and better than ever this year, and we look forward to an even brighter future for the event."

Tim Barling also took the time to thank all the event sponsors. Horseheath sponsors for 2022 include: Binder, Newmarket Equine Hospital, Nicholsons Lockhart Garratt, Baileys Horse Feeds, Rossdales, NFU Mutual, Cartar Jonas, Lettergold, Cadenza Eventing, Herbs, Andrew Hodge Contracting, Duck Plumbing and Heating, Crow's Hall, Saffery Champness, Buzzacotts and Teversham Motors with prizes donated by Equine Products UK Ltd, Tiggas Saddlery, Well Gel Products and Top Spec.


“The team at Horseheath had obviously spent a lot of time preparing the ground giving us perfect going!” 
Kelsey Love

“I was extremely impressed with the ground conditions at Horseheath Horse Trials. There had obviously been a huge amount of work put in to ensure good going which was very much appreciated by horses and riders!"
Gillian Mason  

“Had a lovely day at Horseheath. Well organised, friendly stewards, lovely educational courses, and the ground was great. You can tell a lot of effort has gone into running this event. I will certainly be coming back again”
Paul Burgess