Competing at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials has been a dream for Cornelia Dorr since begging her parents for horse riding lessons at the age of four.

Two decades years later, Dorr is within touching distance of fulfilling her ambition as she prepares for first ever 5* event in September.

Dorr, who began competing aged nine, arrived in the UK from Massachusetts in January and has since been based in Surrey with Kevin McNab.

And the prospect of making her big-stage bow at the iconic Lincolnshire venue is one the 24-year-old is particularly relishing.

She said: “It's really wild because I definitely dreamed of competing at Burghley. I still feel like I'm dreaming about it.

“It's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I'm on the doorstep of Burghley now.

“The ‘big b’s’, Badminton and Burghley in England, everyone from all over the world aspires to ride at them.

“It is definitely a dream of mine to go to Burghley.”

Dorr is competing at the iconic Burghley Horse Trials for the first time and has been looking to gain familiarity with the venue by seeking advice on how to manage the course from those who have been there and done it.

Dorr added: “There's a young Australian girl, Isabel English, also based with Kevin. She's his main rider and she rode around Burghley right before COVID.

“So having her and Kevin both here has been very helpful.

“They've been helping me a lot with Daytona Beach 8’s fitness plan and advising me on things, giving me little titbits of information.

“Over and over again, they just said the horses have to be really, really fit.

“The jumps are big, they're relentless and the terrain is equally as relentless.

“You just have to have them fitter than you think you need them to be. And it still probably isn’t quite enough.

“So it’s been helpful for them to both have ridden around it and understand it, and their advice has been very useful.”

Dorr, who warmed up for Burghley with an 18th-placed finish aboard Daytona Beach 8 at Aston-le-Walls in August, is fully aware of what her main difficulty is likely to be – handling the big crowds.

“I think the most challenging thing will mostly be making sure that the two of us are in the right mental space for it,” she said, speaking ahead of the event that is back for the first time in two years - due to the Covid-19 pandemic - better than ever, with renewed impetus, a top class field and additional activities on offer.

“I do think it'll be interesting to see how we handle the crowds, in America we don't have crowds like you guys do over here.

“It will be interesting to see how we handle the crowds in all three phases of the event - hopefully they don't affect us, but it is on the forefront of my mind for sure.”

Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (1-4 September 2022) returns after a two-year hiatus, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A major international sporting and social event for over 50 years it attracts 80 of the world’s top equestrians and over 170,000 visitors. For more information visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk