Thea Horsley places at Burghley Young Event Horse with APH New Sensation

By Equestrian Life

Australian rider Thea Horsley has placed second in the five year old class with APH New Sensation at the Burghley Young Event Horse virtual competition.

With the 2020 edition of Burghley cancelled due to Covid, the event opted to run a virtual version of the Burghley Young Event Horse Competition. Open to four and five year olds, judges were looking for “an athletic, loose moving horse with a promising jumping technique and attitude which, with correct training and production, will develop physically and mentally into a strong three-day event horse.” The rider and the facilities were not judged, only the horse’s potential to make a top class three day eventer.

Horses were asked to perform a simple dressage test (30 marks available), and a jumping round of 7 or 8 jumping efforts to include 3 at maximum height (1m for 5yo and 0.90m for 4yo) and a double combination (40 marks available). Finally, the horse was also judged on conformation and quality (marks out of 12 for conformation and 8 for quality). The highest overall marks from three sections was announced the winner.

You can watch APH New Sensation's workouts and judging in the below video.

“I was hoping to compete at Burghley (CCI5*) this year on Riley (Kelecyn Supernatural), so to be able to still compete ‘at’ Burghley was very special,” says Thea, who is now back in Australia after a stint in the UK.

“My journey with Riley sadly finished at the beginning of the year. My family and I bought Charlie (APH New Sensation) when he was 18 months old, and I have been riding him since March when I got back from the UK,” she explains.

“Charlie is such a nice horse to be able ride and train and I consider myself extremely luck. I am so excited for the future with this horse!”

APH New Sensation is Aussie-bred and was born at APH Sporthorses. He is by Prue and Craig Barrett’s stallion, Sandhills Sensation, out of the Australian warmblood mare Sandhills Jazz (by Jive Magic).

The five year old class at Burghley was won by Russian horse K. Cosmo, owned and ridden by Oxana Ryk. The four year old class went to Shannondale Casper of the UK, ridden by Stephen Heal and owned by Jill Gibson and Heather Chapman.

You can view the other young horse finalists here.

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