22-year-old Nathalie Bouckaert has completed her first four-star event. Riding Mr. Mullins, an Irish Thoroughbred who competed for Ireland in the 2000 Olympic Games at Sydney with rider Nicola Cassidy, she performed a dressage test that was a pleasure to watch and put her in thirteenth place. On Saturday the pair braved the horrific weather on cross-country with a refusal and 22.8 time penalties, where World Champion riders later scratched because the course deteriorated through the day. On Sunday they pulled only one rail in the demanding stadium jumping course, finishing in a final twenty-first place.

While the Burghley three-day event in England may be in her plans, Bouckaert is focusing on finishing her senior year at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA where she is working on her Business degree. "I don't know that I would want to work with horses professionally, but they're what I want to do right now," she said. After graduation she plans to spend the summer working with Grand Prix dressage trainer Jules Anderson, of Australia, who is based in Georgia and has been working with Nathalie's father Carl, an International event rider who competes for his native Belgium.

"I'm focusing on school and on riding, but I'm not making any long-term plans right now," she said. "I would like to take a couple of years and just ride."

Bouckaert won the Individual gold medal at the North American Young Riders Championship in 1999, and she has been competing at the Advanced level ever since. She said that because the Young Riders program doesn't cater to Advanced competitors, she hasn't noticed a difference since graduating from the Young Rider ranks. Training with David and Karen O'Connor in Virginia, she said that their advice to her at her first four-star was to "Be smart and ride every fence for what it is."

By Amber Heintzberger for HorsesDaily.com