Badminton Horse Trials – Cross-Country Day

This weekend was the weekend of the annual Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials three day event which is one of the best three day events in the world, it also happens to take place 3 miles from where I live which means that I have been every year it has taken place bar one since I was tiny. So this year I headed over on the cross-country day as usual.

This year the weather was stunning and the best conditions I have ever been to Badminton in that I can recall, it was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze to keep the temperature down to a pleasant level and despite there not having been any proper rain here for over a month the course was still not too hard for the horses due to the careful maintenance by the course builders.

We started the day as we always do by walking the course before the riders are riding it and while it is less crowded so a better view of the jumps can be gained and so when we head back later and there are crowds everywhere we know where to try and stand. When we got around to the quarry it was time for lunch just as the first few competitors started coming around so we headed back to the car to collect the picnic before having an extremely pleasant lunch watching the quarry.

After lunch we started walking around the course again and headed back to the lake to start, before following the large loop of the cross-country course around in jump order watching at least two riders at each jump, by the time we got back to the late there were only a few more people left to go so we headed to the arena to watch them finish.

This year I had one of the best Badminton experiences that I have had for years and saw some very impressive riding, it also happened to be my first cross-country photography of this season and I am now itching to get out again as soon as possible.