Turkey says he’s ready for the trot-ups. Photo by Kate Samuels.
Every year during this week, I’m shocked at how fast Badminton follows Kentucky, even though that’s an entirely predictable situation that repeats itself annually…I’m still surprised. I didn’t even go to Kentucky, and I’m still emotionally exhausted, never mind being one of those insane riders who actually compete at both! This year’s Badminton looks a little different, with everything delayed one day due to King Charles III’s coronation. Badminton will be celebrating both, with a break in the competition and the royal shenanigans shown on big screens at the event.
Before anything…you’ve checked out both our Badminton Ultimate Guide and EN’s Form Guide, right??
The competition begins in earnest on Friday 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:
Stella Artois is doing much better after her injury on cross country last Saturday. Jennie has posted videos and photos of Toddie looking well as she left Hagyard Equine Medical Institute yesterday and headed for her temporary recovery home with Liz Halliday-Sharp. Toddie suffered a severe tendon injury to her right front leg late in the course at Kentucky, and was not weight bearing at the time of her transfer to the hospital. The mare had spent a significant amount of time rehabbing for a tendon injury to her left front leg last year. [Toddie on the Mend]
There’s a whole bunch of Badminton videos available to watch for free on the website. From the 2019 highlights program and winner’s interviews, to a virtual ride round the cross country and a short history of the event, there’s everything you need to get your Badminton fix while you’re waiting for this year’s action to kick off. [A Ride Round the Archives]
Zara Tindall blessed us with her attendance to Kentucky last week, and finished 15th, because she has rather important events to attend during Badminton. You know, the coronation of her uncle, or whatever. She did a surprisingly decent interview with People (not surprising that she was decent, surprising that a non-horse publication didn’t massacre all the details of our sport) about her time in Kentucky, and how she always grew up with horses as a common denominator in the family. The Royal Family. [Zara Talks Horses]
There will be access to on-site mental health and wellbeing support for all riders and grooms at Badminton this year. Provided by Riders Minds – a charity dedicated to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of equestrians – there will be a wellbeing hub and on-site counselor for the duration of the event. [Let’s Talk Mental Health]
For the first time in known history, a female horse has been born from a cloned male donor. The filly, which lacks a Y chromosome and has normal female external genitals, is otherwise a healthy, exact DNA clone of a confirmed XY male, said researchers in Argentina. She is also a twin sister to an XY clone from the same donor, born at approximately the same time from a different surrogate mare. The phenomenon appears to have occurred due to the spontaneous loss of the entire Y chromosome, the researchers revealed in their PLOS ONE publication. Therefore, the animal is not a standard “XX” female but, rather, an “X0” female. [Cloning Gone Weird With Argentinian Foals]
