Brave eventer Holly Richardson jumps back in the saddle

Just to compete in the Defender Burghley Horse Trials was an amazing achievement for injured three-day eventer Holly Richardson. But to come so close to a podium finish with 15.2hh Irish Sports Horse Ballyneety Silver Service would have made it an even more extraordinary feat for the Richmond-based rider, as many of the world’s leading eventers were in the international field.

When Holly had a crashing fall in late May while schooling a horse at home on the family farm – dislocating and fracturing her kneecap and her fibula and rupturing knee ligaments – it initially looked like a season-ending injury.

But the 32-year-old, who started riding out for British Olympian Karen Dixon from the age of 12 and has a first-class honours degree in biomedical science from Durham University, showed her Yorkshire grit and, incredibly, was back in the saddle a fortnight later.

She said: “I missed a couple of events before deciding to try and ride, having had physio treatment and strapping my knee. I have previously broken my shoulder and carried on, but this was different. When I initially put my foot in the stirrup, I thought maybe not.

“It was just walking around on a horse to start with and then stepping things up gradually. It was quite tough, but I am glad I managed to do it.”

Holly, who said she would probably need surgery at the end of the season, explained she was driven on by the desire to compete on her two five-star horses, the 11-year-old Ballyneety Silver Service, whose stable name is Butler, and the seasoned campaigner Bally Louis, who is now aged 16.

“They are both amazing horses, and I didn’t want to leave them in the stables. They need to be out there competing,” she said.

Holly, despite her injuries, added that she managed to stick to her plan for both horses, which included runs at Burgham and Hartpury in the build-up to Burghey. Butler, a 16.2hh grey gelding, is owned by mother and daughter Fiona and Issy Saxby, from Ripon and Newcastle, respectively, and was initially competed with Issy.

But when she went to university in 2023, Richardson took on the ride, and they were placed 14th at Burghley in 2025.

It promised to be even better this time around when they had a decent dressage test and jumped clear with an impressive run on the cross country to lie third with just the showjumping phase remaining.

But then everything crashed with a disastrous round with 20 jumping faults and a 0.8 of a time penalty, seeing them slide from the podium to 15th place.

It was a mirror image of what happened at the MARS Badminton Horse Trials in May when the combination achieved the first clear inside the time, before accumulating 20 showjumping faults.

They finished 27th, but had they jumped clear, they would have been 11th. Holly said: “To be third after the cross country at Burghley was an amazing position to be in.

“He is an incredible horse, really awesome and so good at five-star cross-country courses.

“He has struggled with showjumping, and that is something we train quite a lot at.

“It is more about sticking to the system we have and getting him stronger without changing so much.

“He is a big galloping horse, and he finds it difficult to sit on his hocks for the showjumping.”

Bally Louis, whose stable name is Louis, was produced by eventer James Sommerville at his Boroughbridge base in North Yorkshire.

The 17hh black gelding, who is owned by Andrew, Julie and Sarah Wingfield, who live near Newcastle, completed Burghley in 25th place.

“I was thrilled I managed a completion with the older boy who has had an injury. We are all thrilled how he has come back – it was quite emotional,” she said.

“It is amazing to have two five-star horses. Both are fantastic, and I am proud of them.”

Holly’s season is drawing to a close, as she only has two events remaining: Askam Bryan, near York, this weekend, and Oasby in Lincolnshire.

Butler and Louis will then have an eight-week holiday before work starts preparing for the 2027 season.

Holly, who is based at Helen Bell’s yard at Breckenbrough, near Thirsk, has a string of 12 horses.

They include two rising stars, Rock N Roll Star, 12, and Ballymolloy Roscoe, 8, who are currently at three-star level and hopefully will step up to four-star in 2027.

Holly also has a lot of four-year-olds who are just starting out on their eventing journeys.