The Ultimate Guide to the 2023 Badminton Horse Trials

EN’s coverage of the 2022 Badminton Horse Trials, presented by Mars Equestrian, is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products. Click here to learn more about Kentucky Performance Products and its wide array of supplements available for your horse.

THE COMPETITION:

The iconic CCI5* competition, which began in 1949, is the second Rolex Grand Slam leg of 2023 — though the new live leader, Tamie Smith, isn’t entered, which means we’ll start a new round of Grand Slamming (no, that’s not the official way of referring to that) here, with arguably the sport’s most coveted prize. The dressage test will be FEI CCI5* Test A, the same used at Kentucky last week. That’s a nice change from 2022, where we saw B in use at every single five-star, including the World Championships.

WHAT’S AT STAKE:

Most crucially? A shot at the highly-coveted Badminton trophy and a share of the £360,750 prize pot. But this is also a pivotal opportunity for riders to impress their respective selectors ahead of this year’s European Championships (and Pan-American Games!). Beyond that? There’s also a battle for FEI World Rankings points, particularly as the current World Number Two, Jonelle Price, is conspicuous here only by her absence.

THE LINE-UP:

There are 65 total entries spanning 56 riders, and covering ten nations: of course, there’s a strong British contingent, plus a good showing from Australia, France, New Zealand, and Ireland, two solid entries from the US, and an entry apiece for Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Lithuania.

THE OFFICIALS:

There’s a truly top-notch cast of ground jury members on duty at Badminton. Great Britain’s Angela Tucker will serve as president of the ground jury, having just collected some frequent flyer miles with a trip to Kentucky, while France’s Xavier Le Sauce and New Zealand’s Andrew Bennie will work alongside her. The FEI Technical Delegate for the week is the USA’s Andrew Temkin, assisted by Marcin Konarski of Poland. The cross-country course will be designed by Eric Winter, who has been in charge of the action since 2017. On Sunday, the remaining field will tackle a tough course on grass, designed by Phillip Bywater.

This year’s Badminton follows a slightly different schedule, owing to the coronation of King Charles on Saturday, May 6th. In order to accommodate a stop in play to allow spectators to tune in for this historic event, which will be broadcast in part on screens around the venue, the entire competition has now shifted back a day, with the first horse inspection on Thursday and the showjumping finale on Bank Holiday Monday, May 8th.

Wednesday, 3 May:

9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. (4.00 a.m. – 12.00 p.m. EST): Voltaire Design Grassroots Championship Dressage – The Slaits

Thursday, 4 May:

8.30 a.m – 4.00 p.m. (approx.) (3.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m. EST): Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse Class – The Slaits
9.00 a.m – 4.30 p.m. (4.00 a.m. – 11.30 a.m. EST: Voltaire Design Grassroots Championship Dressage, Showjumping, and Cross Country
4.30 p.m. (11.30 a.m. EST): First horse inspection – North front Badminton House

Friday, 5 May:

9.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m. (4.30 a.m. – 7.30 a.m. EST): Morning dressage session
12.30 p.m. (approx.) (7.30 a.m. EST): Dressage demo
1.30 p.m. – 5.00 p.m. (8.30 a.m. – 12.00 p.m. EST): Afternoon dressage session
Following dressage: Stallion display

Saturday, 6 May:

8.00 a.m. – 10.15 a.m. (3.00 a.m. – 5.15 a.m. EST): Morning dressage session
10.15 a.m. – 12.45 p.m. (5.15 a.m. – 7.45 a.m. EST): Coronation of King Charles III
12. 45 p.m. – 5.00 p.m. (7.45 a.m. – 12.00 p.m. EST): Afternoon dressage session

Sunday, 7 May:

10.30 a.m. (5.30 a.m. EST): Shetland Pony Grand National
11.30 a.m. – 5.00 p.m. (6.30 a.m. – 12.00 p.m. EST): Cross-country

Monday, 8 May:

8.30 a.m. (3.30 a.m. EST): Final horse inspection – North front Badminton House
11.30 a.m. (6.30 a.m. EST): First showjumping session
2.40 p.m. (9.40 a.m. EST): Parade of athletes
From 2.55 p.m. (9.55 a.m. EST): Final 20 to jump
4.15 p.m. (11.15 a.m. EST): Prizegiving

For the second year running, the BBC won’t be broadcasting Badminton — well, not in its entirety, anyway. You’ll be able to watch all the action, including trot-ups, by subscribing to Badminton TV for a one-off price of £19.99. This gives you access to the livestream, wherever you are in the world, as well as nearly 100 hours of archive footage from prior events, peaks behind the scenes, course previews, and profiles. If you’re in Britain, you’ll need to turn to BBC2 to watch the final competitors show jump live on Monday afternoon from 2.00 p.m.

We also recommend tuning in to Badminton Radio, which is broadcast live from the event all day, every day from 8.30 a.m. Helmed by a team of experts and riders alike, it features live commentary, interviews, insights into the competition, and much more. You can pick up a headset to tune in on site at the event, or tune into 87.7 FM locally or listen online here.

#badmintonhorsetrials, #badmintonbound, #rolexgrandslam

Accounts: Badminton Horse Trials, CrossCountry App, Horse&Hound, FEI Eventing, and Equestrian Team GBR. Don’t forget to follow EN, too – we’ll be bringing you all the insanity in the middle you could possibly need! (And if you’d like to see the real behind-the-scenes life of an EN journo on tour, you certainly can. #shamelessplug) Want to know the juiciest stats throughout the competition? Make sure you follow EquiRatings.