An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at Lincolnshire Horse Trials – order or view videos here
While many British riders decamped to Kronenberg in the Netherlands last weekend (more about that coming soon), three of the world’s best stayed on home soil to compete in the Open Intermediate (OI) at Lincolnshire Horse Trials on Sunday 22nd March.
Oliver Townend, Laura Collett and Ros Canter certainly stamped their authority on proceedings, with Oliver taking the top spot in the only Open Intermediate of the day on board Cooley Rosalent. They started on top with a fabulous dressage score of 20.2 and made sure they stayed there by finishing on the same number, adding nothing in the showjumping or cross country.
Despite the amazingly low score, Oliver needed to pull out everything he had, with 2025 European Champions Laura Collett and London 52 hot on their heels, scoring 20.9 in the dressage and also finishing on their dressage score. Laura also took third and fourth place on board Alex Van Tuyll’s Count Onyx (23.0) and Bling (24.8) while Oliver also claimed fifth on Dromgurrihy Gold (25.7).
Both OLiver on Cooley Rosalent and Laura on Bling are on the 2026 Badminton Horse Trials Entry List.
Keeping some very good company, the 2025 British Open Champion Katie Magee rounded out the top six on board Cushlas Indigo (27.7). Phew – what a line-up!
But it didn’t end there with double Badminton/Burghley champions Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo in 10th place at their first competition run back since Ros had her baby in January. They started on a dressage score of 23.0, showjumped clear but with one time penalty and strolled around cross country to add 16 time penalties, finishing on a score of 40.0.
One thing is for sure – we’re in for a very exciting year! We’ll be back with a full wrap up across all three days at Lincolnshire Horse Trials plus of course some fabulous cross country videos to watch!
Read our Friday update from Lincolnshire Horse Trials here
Read our Saturday update from Lincolnshire Horse Trials here
