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Pippa Funnell, five-star winner, Grand Slam Queen, and pony book writer, will be meeting all her youngest fans at Badminton this year, courtesy of Pony Magazine! I personally did not know that Pippa was a children’s book writer, but that’s one of my life goals, so I just got a little bit closer to wanting to be Pippa when I grow up.
Before anything…you’ve checked out both our Badminton Ultimate Guide and EN’s Form Guide, right??
The competition begins in earnest today this year, with the first day of dressage beginning at 9am BST / 4am EDT / 1am PDT. For those of you Stateside who tune in live – respect! All hail the eventing superfans. It’s a full day of dancing on Friday before it all starts again on Saturday at 8am BST / 3am EDT / Midnight PDT.
That’s right – Saturday is NOT cross country day. I repeat – Saturday is NOT cross country day!
We start off Saturday with the second day of dressage, then there will be a break in the proceedings at 10:15am BST / 5:15am EDT / 2:15am PDT for the Coronation. The pony action gets back underway at 12:45pm BST / 7:45am EDT / 4:45am PDT.
If you can’t be there in person, the next best thing is watching all of the action on Badminton TV. This is a paid-for service and, as well as the live event and the option to watch on playback, you get a year’s access to all of the other brilliant Badminton content on the platform. Sign up here.
And whether you’re on site, at home, even at work (if you insert a sneaky earphone), keep up with all things Badminton on the event’s dedicated radio station. Headsets at the ready. Tune in here.
If you just can’t wait ’til Sunday (I repeat, SUNDAY) to get all up in cross country business, get up close and personal with all the fences on Eric Winter’s course here and read about Tilly’s course walk with the man himself here.
And once you’re up on all the stats and facts and form, use it to your advantage when picking your Eventing Manager team. The team at EquiRatings is giving you $10,000,000 to splash on 5* horses and the chance to top the leaderboard in your own right. Find out how to get your hands on the cash (virtually, anyway) here.
What will Chinch think of the British weather? Will he wangle an invitation with the King? Keep it locked onto EN for all of our Badminton coverage and follow @goeventing for all the news, frolics and stories from the event.
Badminton Horse Trials (Glos. UK)
[Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [Live Stream] [Badminton Radio] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Ultimate Guide]
U.S. Weekend Preview
Catalpa Corner May Madness Horse Trials (Iowa City, IA) [Website] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Riga Meadow at Coole Park Combined Test (Millbrook, NY) [Website] [Scoring]
Stable View Local Charities H.T. (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Entries] [Volunteer]
The Event at Skyline (Mt. Pleasant, UT) [Website] [Entries / Ride Times / Scoring] [Volunteer]
Texas Rose Horse Park H.T. (Tyler, TX) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
Waredaca H.T. (Laytonsville, MD) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
WindRidge Farm Spring H.T. (Mooresboro, NC) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]
News From Around the Globe:
Ohmahgawd baby Lexus has sent me into a spin. Did you know that Mai Baum was sent to an auction as a young horse in Germany because he was considered to be not a good enough jumper? Well, joke’s on them now! Lexus started his career in the states with owner Alex Ahearn, and she took him up through the Intermediate level before heading off to college and handing over the reins to Tamie, and then the magical career began. Check out his origin story here: [Alex Ahearn & Growing Up with Lexus]
Crown Jewels on Show and Goths on Tour?? Need I say more, really? You can only assume that you’re in for the best chuckle of your day with Tilly’s Golden Chinch Trot-Up Awards from Badminton yesterday. Try not to snort your coffee all over the place. [Golden Chinch Strikes Again]
With the Kentucky Derby looming, it’s integral to remember the forgotten black past of the run for the roses. Today, there are few African Americans involved in the US’ horseracing industry, but they once dominated the sport, working as jockeys, trainers, breeders and grooms. In fact, in the latter half of the 19th Century, when horse racing was one of the most popular sports in America, African Americans were considered some of the best horsemen in the world, a fact that has long since been forgotten or erased. [Kentucky Derby’s Forgotten Black Past]
Best of Blogs: Everybody Needs a Horse to Believe in Their Dreams
Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Christiansen felt “a bit guilty” after asking the public to help fund a horse she hopes will compete at Paris 2024. The Para-equestrian rider invested her own wedding fund in 12-year-old William last month, but needed the public to help make up a shortfall of thousands. Christiansen, 35, wants to add to her eight golds at her fifth Paralympic Games next summer. She missed Tokyo 2020 as her last horse, Innuendo III, was unfit. “My team and I went up and down the country searching, within my budget. William is the best I’ve seen in a long time. I really clicked with him and thought I have to do everything I can to get this horse. The owner didn’t really want to let him go – I tried so hard. I had my budget, I’d saved up, I actually used money I’d saved for my wedding – luckily my fiancé Peter understands and backs me all the way. In the end I had to fundraise.” [Paralympian Fundraises for Olympic Hopeful]
