Gemma Stevens has taken the lead at Defender Burghley after an action-packed clear inside the time aboard Chilli Knight (‘Alfie’).

“Honestly, it was like a roller coaster. This way round [the course] is so up and down. It feels like you’re constantly climbing or going downhill, turning the corner to another humongous Burghley fence, round a corner to another humongous combination,” said Gemma.

“It’s so relentless, and I kept being down on my minutes. I was like, oh no, I’m never going to get the time. Then I managed to claw it back, and then I was down on the next one, and then I clawed it back again, and I went round the whole course like that.”

It was not always the smoothest of rounds, but the pair showed huge determination. The biggest ‘uh oh’ moment came at the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit (24).

“I thought, I actually think I’m on time, and then we had a seriously dodgy moment,” confessed Gemma. “Alfie just said, ‘It’s okay, I’ve got you. I’m gonna just try my hardest.’ And he just leapt as far and wide as he possibly could over that corner.

“I’m really sorry to all the people down there, because there was a lot of swearing, and then there was a lot of telling him how much I love him on landing. But that’s what a partnership’s all about.”

‘Come on, little man’

Gemma, second after dressage, will be the last rider to go in tomorrow’s showjumping finale, which runs in reverse order of merit, after dressage leader Nadja Minder brought her popular veteran, Toblerone, home clear but with 13.2 time-faults to add.

Gemma added that there were plenty of moments when Chilli Knight felt fantastic around Derek di Grazia’s cross-country track.

“He was super everywhere. It felt like he was really jumping so beautifully, and he’s just so straight as well,” she said.

“It never crosses his mind to to be anywhere but do the job, go between the flags, which is the most amazing thing to ride and trust, and you can just get out there and ride your best.

“I mean, he should never have jumped that fence in the Leaf Pit, but he just said ‘it’s okay, Mum’.

“That’s years and years of building trust and partnership. I’m the only one that’s ever ridden him cross-country. He doesn’t know any different than going between the flags. I screamed at him, so he said, ‘Okay, mum, I’ll take off.’”

Picking herself up after Aachen

This Burghley clear comes after a difficult World Championships at Aachen, where Gemma was pathfinder for the gold medal-winning British team but didn’t complete the cross-country phase.

She admitted that recovering emotionally from that experience has been difficult, but messages from fellow riders, including Piggy March, have helped get her head back in the game.

“Voice notes from Piggy March, which I can never replay, but it was the most hysterical, amazing voice note I’ve ever had in my life. Basically [telling me to] get out there and get on with it,” said Gemma.

“Of course, I do always get out there and want to get on with it, but after such a disappointment in Aachen, when your dreams are completely and utterly crushed, it’s really hard to pick yourself up after after something like that.

“I just thought, you know what? I’m coming here with this little horse who I adore. Get on with it.”

‘He’s only a little guy’

Chilli Knight is a stallion by William Fox-Pitt’s former Badminton winner, Chilli Morning, and is owned by Christopher and Lisa Stone.

“Bless that little horse [Alfie]. You know, he is what 16 hands, he’s only a little guy, but he just never ever stops trying,” added Gemma.

“He’s got this belief when he gets to a big fence and he grows a pair of wings.

“If you saw him jump round an open intermediate, you’d think, oh my god, you must be mad, but when he gets to a big one, this whole new little man comes out, and says ‘I can do this’.”

Image by Tim Wilkinson

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