Chris Burton has grabbed an unexpected individual eventing silver for Australia at Chateau de Versailles, competing with a loaned horse he has only been riding for five months.

The 42-year-old Queenslander had ditched show jumping for another shot at eventing this year, and his switch paid off handsomely as he steered his brilliant new partner Shadow Man to second place on Monday.

Toowoomba's Burton, now based in Great Britain, was lying third overnight after the dressage and cross country sections but moved into the silver-medal position after Monday's qualifying round.

Then on a blazingly hot afternoon against the majestic backdrop of the Chateau, Burton and Shadow Man had no fences down again in the finale to put the pressure on the last rider to go, three-time Olympic champion Michael Jung.

Burton was in sight of earning Australia's first individual eventing triumph since Matt Ryan piloted Kibah Tic Toc to victory in Barcelona 1992.

But the 41-year-old German great Jung, on Chipmunk FRH, thrived under the ultimate pressure, going clear over the 12-fence course himself inside the 60-second time limit to win on 21.80 penalty points, just 0.60 clear of Burton.

"It hasn't sunk in," Burton told the Nine Network.

"You sort of keep your head down and, try to just stay focused on the job at hand, but I'm sure it'll sink in later on.

"It's amazing. It's a dream come true. I don't know what happens when you get old, you get emotional all of a sudden."

Laura Collett, who had earlier led Great Britain to the team title, finished third on 23.10.

Burton and Shadow Man only had their first competition together in March, when British owner Ben Hobday – believing he had no realistic chance of making the Olympics himself amid huge competition in the UK – loaned the horse for six months to his Australian pal.

"He's a really special animal," Burton said.

"I'm just blessed to get to ride a horse like that," Burton said.

Burton, a former eventer who won team bronze in Rio eight years ago, had moved into show jumping but decided in recent months to have another bid for eventing gold, partnering the horse Hobday was convinced is "the best in the world".

ABC Sport is live blogging every day of the Paris Olympics