Twenty-year-old Jemima Howden scored her first ever international victory in the NIS Group Services Ltd CCI2*-S on the final day of Burgham International Horse Trials, supported by Project Pony.
Riding her father David’s seven-year-old grey Van Kaunitz, Jemima was third after dressage with a mark of 25.2. She picked up just 0.8 of a time-fault in the showjumping, and was clear inside the time allowed across country to hold off second-placed Tom Woodward (My Lady RV, owned by Team Joey) by half a mark.
Jemima, whose Oxfordshire family home hosts Cornbury House Horse Trials in September, said: “I got Van Kaunitz from Sara Squires, who has produced him beautifully, at the start of the season. It has taken a while to bond with him, but his potential is really clear and he’s an amazing horse, so I’m really excited for his future.
“He’s very nice but quite quirky – he can be cheeky and a little bit naughty. He’s got a lot of presence about him and looks very beautiful; like your typical textbook pony!
“He’s quite hard to keep calm enough in the dressage while getting him active enough to show his cadence, so I was really happy with our score and he’s now produced four sub-30s in a row. The cross-country was amazing – [course-designer] David Evans had done a brilliant job of the track, like he does at Cornbury as well. I really loved it – you needed to be forward and attacking, and he was awesome.”
“We will hopefully step up to CCI3* by the end of the season. And I hope to have all of the three horses I have competed here at Burgham at Cornbury in September.”
Runners-up Tom Woodward and My Lady RV remained on their dressage score of 26.5, and 17-year-old Araminta Spencer-Churchill also added nothing to her first-phase mark of 26.9 on Ned’s Legacy. Burgham was the final selection trial for the British teams for the upcoming Young Rider and Junior European Championships, and both Jemima and Araminta will be hoping to be announced as members of those squads in the next couple of days.
Willa Newton and Kingsman – the live contenders in the big-money Northumberland Challenge, which unites the three Northumbrian international events of Belsay, Alnwick Ford and Burgham – led the dressage, but a pole down in the showjumping meant they dropped to fourth in the final reckonings.
Burgham’s Event Director Craig Anderson said: “We have had the most fantastic five days of sport – mostly in superb weather! I cannot thank our amazing volunteers, officials, sponsors and organising committee enough. It takes a great deal of hard work to put on an event of which we are very proud and which receives such great feedback from riders and owners. My biggest thank you must go to our landowners, the Hogg family, who are so incredibly generous to us and who work so hard throughout the year to help us stage Burgham.”
In 2025, Burgham International Horse Trials will take place from 25-27 July. For news, information and ticket sales, visit www.burghaminternationalhorsetrials.co.uk
All four days of cross-country from Burgham – Thursday, 25 July to Sunday, 28 July – have been livestreamed on ClipMyHorse.tv – visit www.clipmyhorse.tv/en_GB/ to watch on catch-up.
The attached picture of Jemima Howden and Van Kaunitz is courtesy of 1st Class Images.
Release supplied by event.
