A lost boot at Burghley, and what it cost

The facts

Presented

28 horses at the final inspection, Defender Burghley CCI5*

Continued

27, after one was held and then not accepted

Not accepted

FE Lifestyle, Jennie Brannigan's 16-year-old gelding, lying 12th overnight

Cause

Boot came off in the Trout Hatchery; horse overreached on the right fore, reported as otherwise fine

Withdrawals overnight

None, with good ground cited

FE Lifestyle came to the final trot-up in twelfth place after a cross-country round that cost only time. He was sent to the holding box, looked at again, and was not accepted. Jennie Brannigan, who is still managing an ankle injury from last year, had her chef d'equipe Leslie Law present the horse for her.

Her own account afterwards was simple enough. An overreach boot came off while the gelding was going through the water at the Trout Hatchery, and he then caught himself on the right front. She said the horse is fine. But a boot that leaves the leg partway round a cross-country track stops protecting anything, and the damage does not always show until the horse comes out cold the next morning.

That is the part that travels down to a grassroots ODE or a Pony Club cross-country day. Water pulls at boots. So does deep going and a horse that moves close in front. A boot that spins, gapes at the heel or sits low enough to be trodden off is not doing its job, and the loose boot itself becomes something to tread on or trip over.

Two other Burghley results are worth noting for the people who do the unglamorous work. Paige Watson took the Spillers prize for best cared-for horse with Max Warburton's Deerpairc Revelry, with Erin Jarboe runner-up for her care of Will Coleman's Very Dignified. That same horse earned farrier Russell Deering the best-shod award. Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight led overnight by seven penalties from Tim Price and Global Quest.

What this means for you

Anyone who boots up for cross-country

Fit and fastening matter more than the brand. A boot that comes off mid-course leaves the leg bare for the rest of the round.

Owners running at unaffiliated and Pony Club level

You have no trot-up to catch a problem. The check the following morning is yours to do.

Horses that go through water

Water and deep ground are where boots shift. Check them at the first opportunity after a water complex if the format allows it.

Grooms and farriers

Turnout and shoeing are judged at this level for a reason. Clean, correctly fitted shoes and clipped heels reduce overreach damage.

What to do

1. Put your overreach boots on your horse and check them cold: no spin, no gap at the heel, sitting where they should when the leg is loaded.

   Before the next cross-country outing

2. Replace boots with stretched, slack or perished fastenings rather than tightening them one more hole.

   Now

3. Run your hands over both front legs, heels and coronets the morning after any fast or wet work, and trot the horse up on a hard surface.

   Day after every competition

4. Ask your farrier whether your horse's shoeing is making him more likely to overreach, and what can be adjusted.

   Next shoeing

5. Pack a spare pair of overreach boots in the lorry so a lost one does not end the day.

   Next time you load up