Two Big Names Held But All Horses Pass First Inspection at Badminton

Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot. Photo by Jenni Autry.

All horses passed the first inspection on a teeth-chattering afternoon at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, giving us 83 combinations moving forward to dressage. While all horses ultimately passed, the afternoon wasn’t without drama as two big names found themselves in the holding box.

Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW. Photo by Jenni Autry.

The ground jury of Christina Klingspor (SWE), Anne-Mette Binder (DEN) and Martin Plewa (GER) sent Piaf de b’Neville, Rio individual silver medalist with Astier Nicolas, to the holding box, as well as Laura Collett’s fan favorite mount Grand Manouevre. Both horses passed upon re-inspection, but only after some very tense moments.

Our seven North American combinations all passed without issue and look fantastic. Per tradition Lynn Symansky’s mount Donner danced on his toes, though not as much as a very feisty Arctic Soul, who dragged Gemma Tattersall straight through the ironic arch. Longwood was wide-eyed as he trotted towards the photographers in his four-star debut, which had Katherine Coleman laughing along with the spectators.

Katherine Coleman and Longwood. Photo by Jenni Autry.

Dressage starts at 9:30 a.m. BST/4:30 a.m. EST with Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo as the first pair in the ring. Thursday ride times for our North American pairs are as follows:

Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo: 9:30 a.m. BST/4:30 a.m. EST
Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot: 10:42 a.m. BST/5:42 a.m. BST
Katherine Coleman and Longwood: 3:02 p.m. BST/10 a.m. EST
Lynn Symansky and Donner: 4:34 p.m. BST/11:34 a.m. EST

Friday ride times are:

Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless: 10:10 a.m. BST/5 a.m. EST
Kathryn Robinson and Let It Bee: 10:42 a.m. BST/5:42 a.m. EST
Lauren Kieffer and Veronica: 3:54 p.m. BST/10:54 a.m. EST

Check out photos of our North American pairs at the first horse inspection below, and be sure to check out a full photo gallery on Facebook here. The on-demand footage with commentary from Nicole Brown and Diarm Byrne is here:

While a lot of users experienced connectivity issues while trying to access the live steam today for the first horse inspection, I’ve been assured that all system are go for tomorrow’s live steam. You can watch the one demand footage watch live on Badminton’s website here. Go Eventing.

Go Eventing.

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