Lauren Innes was delighted by her ride’s progress during the dressage phase of the Defender Burghley Horse Trials.

Innes, 34, saddled Global Fision M for the second successive year at the famed 5* event, recording a respectable score of 38.6.

For New Zealand-born, Innes, her trip to Stamford was a welcome break from her full-time job as a chartered accountant which funds her love of eventing.

“I’ve taken all of this week off, it was really busy last week so I was working quite late and trying to fit all the last preparations in so I was quite exhausted,” said Hook-based Innes.

“It’s nice to have some time off. It’s a juggling act but I love doing it this way, he’s my horse, I’m in control of everything he does and I just prepare how I want, I don’t have any outside pressures. I have to pay for that somehow so I have my job!

“This is what gets me up in the morning. When it’s tricky and I think ‘why am I doing this’, when I get here I know this is what I’ve been waiting for. It’s such an amazing atmosphere to be here all week and I’m very lucky to have a horse that I can do it on.”

The dressage is the first of three phases in the Burghley challenge and while not as integral as Saturday’s cross-country, is still a good marker of a horse’s progress.

“We’re not troubling the leaders yet but we’ve made massive strides since Burghley last year, we made big strides at Badminton but this was another step forward,” said Innes, who finished 23rd at Badminton in May, the UK’s only other 5* event.

“It’s not been a completely uphill trajectory, few blips between Badminton and here, but definitely making progress with this new approach and it’s just giving him such good experience when before he’s got so nervous.”

Looking ahead to the four-mile cross-country test, Innes believes it will suit her powerful 14-year-old gelding.

“The course is big. I walked it the first day and was like ‘Oh gosh’ and then as I walked it and had my own plan I can think ‘ok that’s how I’m going to do this, that’s how I’m going to do that’,” she said.

“It’s much more jumpable when you have a plan. Still plenty of respect and all the way to the end but there’s a lot to do.

“He’s a 5* horse. He’s amazing. I cannot wait to jump around those fences because that is what he lives to do. He loves it so much and it’s amazing to ride a horse that just never doubts himself. He sees that flag and is like ‘Yes’ so really looking forward to tomorrow.

Defender Burghley Horse Trials (5-8 September 2024) has been a major international sporting and social event for over 50 years. It attracts the world's top equestrians and is attended by vast and enthusiastic crowds. For more information visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk