Katie Magee has pulled off the best top-level result of her career at Defender Burghley, finishing runner-up at the five-star aboard Treworra behind Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight.

“My main aim is just to do my best. I haven’t done many of these big ones so I still feel very much like I’m learning,” said Katie, who was contesting her fifth five-star.

She has produced the 12-year-old horse herself, giving him time to mature physically before stepping him up the levels before making her five-star debut with him at Badminton in 2025 and finishing 11th.

“He came out today really well [for the showjumping], really fresh. He had one pole but he tried his heart out and that’s all you can ask for, isn’t it?” added Katie.

“He was brilliant. He was actually quite fresh and a bit lit up by the crowd, so he was a wee bit tight at times, but he tried his absolute heart out, and that’s all any of us can ever ask for, isn’t it?

“I just wanted to ride as good a round as I could, stay on the tighter lines, and just make sure I made his job as good as easy as possible. I knew he’d try for me.”

‘He loved hearing the crowd’

They jumped clear across country with 2.4 time-faults to add.

“In my opinion he’s one of the best cross-country horses. The bigger and bolder the better. I think his face said it all [yesterday]. We left his ears off and he loved hearing the crowd the whole way. It’s something I’ll remember forever,” added Katie.

“He’s 17.2hh, but he is incredibly polite. He gallops, but he comes back to me. He looks at the flags. He’s so brave and bold, and he really wants to do it for me. It’s my lucky job to ride him, which is just brilliant.

“He just covers the ground, but I’m never fighting him really, which is very rare in a horse as brave as he is. It’s a lovely feeling.”

Holidaying with Claude

Magee has produced the horse himself.

“He was weak until he was 10, just being big, so it’s just been about giving him time, so we didn’t break him before he got to do what he was born to do,” said Katie.

“He’s almost a little bit too light sometimes. On the flat it’s been about getting him strong enough to take his neck out and and stay in a slightly more uphill frame. I have to be very light with my hand or he’ll come a little bit tense.”

Katie said the same approach applied for their final showjumping round.

“He was trying his absolutely hardest to keep the poles up. I just had to really keep my hands light so he didn’t have any tension because he’s got such a good mouth I have to be very light and try not to override and get a bit tight myself,” she explained.

“Somebody very wisely once said to me, when you get to the top level, if you can keep them sound, mentally and physically they just get better and better, so it’s just managing them and keeping them healthy and happy.

“And it’s a privilege to have a horse like that to do that with.

“He will have a very well deserved holiday now. He’s had an amazing season. He has a best friend called Claude, and he will be snoozing in the field by tomorrow.”

Related content