Pia’s horse had to be turned away while she went through the surgery, leaving her good friend who she rode out with regularly a little isolated. Pia knew that she hadn’t enjoyed her riding as much without her friend and companion, and felt terribly guilty that her riding enjoyment had been interrupted through due to the breast cancer. So she asked for a special treat that they could both do together to try and make up for the few horrible months they had both endured.

Of course the Wishes team were happy to oblige! Pia had asked if Burghley was a possibility for the day, but we made it a little more special than that. As we realised that they lived quite close, we gave our lovely ladies a four day pass to Burghley for two, plus radio headsets for extra insights into all three phases, so that they could completely indulge themselves and watch every little bit of the exciting competition!

We wanted to give them a touch of Willberrys magic too, and so we enlisted the help of the generous, kind and funny event rider Simon Grieve Event Team, who was competing at Burghley on Jo Rutter’s The Rutman. Simon met up with Pia and then took them inside the ropes for a full course walk of the huge cross country track. Along with Jo, our ladies were treated to VIP attention and given a fascinating insight into a rider’s mind and thoughts on the fences, together with an owner’s view alongside it. The sun shone, the sky was blue and they had the most fantastic day with some very special memories that money can’t buy.

Our huge thanks go to Simon and Jo for unequivocally giving their precious time and attention at one of the most auspicious five star events in the world, and Willberry will be cheering on the superstar The Rutman when he sees him next!