Burghley Horse Trials

The Defender Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September.

Defender Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the seven leading three-day events in the world (the others being the Badminton Horse Trials, the Kentucky Three-Day Event, the Australian International Three Day Event, the Luhmühlen Horse Trials, the Maryland 5*[1] and the Étoiles de Pau).

Run in conjunction with the event since 1990 is the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse final, which judges four- and five-year-old horses on their potential as future Olympic mounts.

Horse trials have been held at Burghley House since 1961 when its owner the 6th Marquess of Exeter, an Olympic gold medalist in athletics and IOC member, heard that a three-day event at Harewood House could no longer be held due to suspected foot and mouth disease.

1961 – 1983, Lt-Col. Henry Nicoll, D.S.O., O.B.E., 1975, Philip Herbert 1984 – 1988, Captain Mark Phillips, C.V.O., 1989 – 1996 and 1998 – 2000, Mike Tucker 1997 and 2001, Wolfgang Feld 2002 – 2004, Capt.