Lifelong horsewoman Elizabeth Busch Burke died on Dec. 20. She was 76.

Mrs. Busch Burke, who resided at her Fox Lair Farm in Free Union, Va., was a daughter of August A. “Gussie” Busch Jr., the legendary patriarch of the Anheuser-Busch brewing empire, and Elizabeth Overton Busch. She grew up in St. Louis, Mo., and inherited her father’s love of horses. He had been an avid foxhunter and carriage driver and owned many horses for the U.S. Equestrian Team.

Mrs. Busch Burke showed hunters extensively in her youth, and her family owned the famous hunters Stocking Stuffer and All The Way. She also modeled a bit before marrying legendary hunter rider Bobby Burke in 1959. She continued riding and showing hunters for Burke in under-saddle classes.

In 1967, Mrs. Busch Burke initiated Anheuser-Busch’s long-term sponsorship of show jumping, and they provided first the Michelob, then Budweiser, names to classes across the country. The jump standards of Budweiser bottles and Shamu SeaWorld whales are emblems of American show jumping, and Mrs. Busch Burke designed them.

She was also instrumental in bringing show jumping to television, arranging for Budweiser grand prix show jumping to be shown first on the BudSports cable channel in 1987 and then on ESPN and Outdoor Life throughout the ’90s.

She was one of the driving forces behind bringing the FEI Show Jumping World Cup Final to Las Vegas for the first time in 2000. Budweiser was the title sponsor for the 2000, ’03 and ’05 FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas.

While her heart lay in the hunter ring, Mrs. Busch Burke also took great joy in owning top jumpers, and she had a long relationship with John and Beezie Madden, owning many horses for them. She bought Authentic for Beezie to ride in 2001 and witnessed his team gold medal performances in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Though Authentic was sold the next year to Abigail Wexner, Mrs. Busch Burke always took joy in watching him.

“It’s a sad loss to the whole sport,” said John. “On a more personal level, she had so much to do with my and Beezie’s career that we could never be grateful enough. It was so many years ago she supported us, and she was always 100 percent behind us. She never cared about anything but the horses. Winning was part of the fun of it for her, but it didn’t matter if they did well or didn’t do so well. She loved the horses and watching the process. She set an example for the owners of today to always put the horse first.”

Mrs. Busch Burke also served on the boards of many horse shows, including the Upperville Colt and Horse Show (Va.). She was inducted into the Show Hunter Hall of Fame and served on the board of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame.

Mrs. Busch Burke was known for her kind heart, thoughtfulness and open smile. “She treated me the same from the first day she met me, when I was just a groom, to the last day I spoke with her,” said John. “She was a very classy lady.”

Mrs. Busch Burke particularly enjoyed watching her daughter, Lysa Burke Horkan, compete in the amateur hunters and jumpers. And in recent years, her trademark ‘Yii, yii, yii” cheer in appreciation of a nice hunter round could be heard after her granddaughter, Ashley Burke, finished a trip in the junior hunters.

“She was a great friend, and she was lots of fun. She’ll be sadly missed,” said George Morris. “Her family was a great patron of the sport, the greatest patrons of the sport. She was a great sportswoman, a great exhibitor, and a loyal and patriotic supporter of U.S. show jumping. She represented the owners of old, of the highest class.”

Mrs. Busch Burke and Bobby Burke had divorced, but they reunited. She is survived by Burke, her brother, August Busch III; her daughters Lysa Burke Horkan and Robyn Burke; her son, Robert “Bobby” Burke; and four grandchildren.