Caroline Powell and Greenacres Special Cavalier at Badminton in 2024. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
The competition hadn’t yet begun at the 2025 MARS Badminton Horse Trials this morning when a major change was wrought upon the leaderboard: New Zealand’s Caroline Powell, who won last year’s iteration with Greenacres Special Cavalier, opted to withdraw the mare from contention ahead of her early-draw dressage test.
“We’re devastated to have to withdraw Cav ahead of Dressage today,” writes Caroline in a post on her social media channels. “Following her final piece of work before the start of the competition, she’s not feeling quite right and having discussed this with her owners, we’ve taken the difficult decision to save her for another day.
“Naturally we were so excited to be defending our title, but Cav’s welfare is our first priority and we are enormously grateful to everyone who has helped and supported us on our journey to Badminton.“
Caroline remains in the competition with her second ride, High Time, who will come forward for his dressage test in tomorrow afternoon’s session.
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