Burghley Horse Trials hosted a very successful training day for more than 30 British Eventing cross-country course-designers, technical delegates and technical advisors on Wednesday, 10 December.
The day started at Burghley House, with presentations from former Burghley course-designer Mark Phillips, CCI5* course-designer Mike Etherington-Smith, course-designer, course-builder and technical advisor Adrian Ditcham, technical delegate Philip Surl and national safety officer Jonathan Clissold, who reported on the 2025 season data.
Later the group moved out into Burghley’s parkland for practical demonstrations and discussions around course-design, innovation, safety and frangible technology.
Burghley’s Event Director Martyn Johnson said: “The day created good conversation and provided an opportunity for people to share their experiences, with great insight from some of the top designers and officials in the sport. We all never stop learning and as the sport evolves it is important we continue to do the same. Hopefully, this can act as a real springboard for our national training and education programme for our officials.”
British Eventing Chief Executive Rosie Williams said: “It was a fantastic day at Burghley, with really rich discussion, plenty of healthy challenge, and brilliant practical insight into what happens on the ground. The hands-on sessions – complete with tractors and moving fences – gave everyone a real chance to learn from each other, from long-standing experts to newer designers and advisors coming through.
“We had a great geographical mix too, from Scotland to the South-West, and a strong blend of course-designers, builders and technical advisors. A big theme was clarity of roles and responsibilities on event days, and how course-design can genuinely influence the development of both horse and rider across all levels.
“There’s still work to do, and we’ll now take some of this forward through the Cross-Country Advisory Group, particularly around daily data collection. But overall it was hugely collaborative and constructive.
“My thanks to Burghley, to Martyn Johnson and the whole team for hosting, to Mark Phillips and Mike Etherington-Smith for their time and expertise, and to everyone who took part. We’re already looking forward to doing it again next year.”
