When she starting eventing, many of the skills she’d learned on the hunt field proved invaluable on the cross-country course. Here she explains the merits of field hunting for preparing horses and riders for the challenges of eventing.
“My dad, Paul Burnett, was Master of the Bethany Hills Hunt Club, so from the time I was five years old my brother and I were out hunting. Unfortunately, hunting isn’t like it was then, as there isn’t the availability of land to ride on like there used to be.
Hunting is amazing training for cross-country, because you are travelling over the countryside, going uphill, downhill, dealing with water, creeks, open fields and woods, as well as jumping fences similar to what you might find at horse trials – coops and logs and natural ditches. I remember my dad even jumping over fencelines!