Here we are at Land Rover Burghley Horse Trails 2018

Well here we are at Land Rover Burghley Horse Trails 2018.

I'm BGA member David Burton, a freelance groom based in Lincolnshire. This week I'm grooming for Kirsty Short who rides Cossan Lad - no. 43!

Today has been trot up day and with us both being fairly local we only arrived this morning. This gave chance for Kirsty to have a lesson this morning before she arrived. Once they were both here went to the Stable Managers office, got my welcome pack and found our stable and gave him a chance to get him settled while I sorted out the kit and got everything organised. The welcome packs are such a nice touch for any groom at an event and they are always really appreciated.

Burghley for me, is one of my favourite events. I've been coming here now for over 15 years and first groomed here for Alex Postolowsky in 2013. Through volunteering I know Philip Herbert and Anne Whitton very well, so it's nice to see some faces you know. I've been on the circuit for a few years and so at events there are now lots of familiar faces and its usually only the events that we get to see each other and have a catch up.

Once I was organised I then started to plait and get ready for trot up. With Cossan Lad, aka Bouncer, being a grey it always takes that little bit extra to keep them clean. Once I'd plaited, he had a nice brush and I was able to get some super quarter markers on him which can be tricky on a grey. I'm not one for using lots of products and things, but I did use some quarter marker spray to help keep it in place.

Turn out is really important for any competition groom and you want them to look their best but even with time spent on making them look fantastic you know that they are bound to do a dropping on the way to the trot up and arrive with green legs!

I always have a wet sponge in my rucksack just in case of events like this, although I am very lucky really as he a nice horse to look after and keeps very clean.

Once I'd walked him round to the trot up passing some very scary umbrellas (even though it wasn't raining), we had the final touches up there and took off bandages and rugs, then we sailed through the trot up.

We had a quick turn around and got tacked up for the arena familiarisation as we are doing dressage tomorrow at 15:59 in the main arena. Tomorrow we start with an early dressage lesson and then Kirsty will have a first look around the cross country course.

Tonight we are all going to the ERA BBQ at the stables canteen where they present the ERA hall of fame awards, which I’m really looking forward to and it will be lovely to catch up with some more friends.

I will let you know how we get on in my next blog.

You can join the BGA like David, have a look at our membership options and what we can offer you.

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