Badminton 2023 thread

[DiNozzo]

Regarding the remarks about Ollie, maybe this someone who used to work there left on a bad note so is putting out something to get back at him.. I think he is very competitive and it sometimes clouds his judgement about how tired the horse is. Swallow Springs did seem to suddenly stop going and maybe Ollie thought he would get a second wind. I felt he should have pulled him up and it was a mistake to push the horse so much…

I think it was Gemma who said hers did the same thing, there was bits of ground where they seemed to struggle but then picked up again well on the next section. I still haven't seen it, but I wonder if that's why he didn't pull up? He's not a daft bloke, and he's responded to the (rightful) outcry in the past about his whip use and tired horses.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Another one here thankful for this thread today. I'm hoping a few videos pop up on YouTube later!!

 

[typekitty]

What a day of XC!

For anyone who didn't get to see the coverage, Eventing Nation's live commentary has some footage in amongst the text that might be of interest.

Tough Mudders: Live Updates from 2023 Badminton Cross Country - Eventing Nation - Three-Day Eventing News, Results, Videos, and Commentary

It looks like the sun should come out today over Badminton House, but will the drizzly weather of the past couple days mean our competitors will be doing a little tough mudding across the country

eventingnation.com

 

[Tiddlypom]

For those people who attended in person today, what time did you arrive and how long (if at all) did you have to queue for? Lots of reports of lengthy queues today and cars not moving for hours.

Wondering if aiming for an 8am arrival is too late?

ETA Final horse inspection is scheduled for 8.30am tomorrow.

 

[humblepie]

The queue on the M4 Bath junction from Bristol was about 2 miles at 9 this morning. I was going the other way.

 

[asmp]

For those people who attended in person today, what time did you arrive and how long (if at all) did you have to queue for? Lots of reports of lengthy queues today and cars not moving for hours.

Wondering if aiming for an 8am arrival is too late?

ETA Final horse inspection is scheduled for 8.30am tomorrow.

Looking beyond the XC on tv it looked as though cars were still coming in at nearly 2pm!

 

[Honey08]

Yes people on Facebook were still grumbling about being stuck in traffic at 1330. They’d been there four hours!

I think they’ll possibly change the trot up and sj start to later tomorrow. I vaguely remember them doing that last time they had half the field lost on Xc day - very similar conditions too, about ten years ago.


I was feeling sad not to be there, after having gone for the last 15 competitions, but am perhaps quite glad now!

But I agree, thanks for the updates everyone. I was reading in between customers at my coffee trailer. I’ll see what the bbc comes up with tomorrow and might buy badminton tv afterwards. I’m another that begrudges the £20 after watching it for free for years (dressage etc too).

Interesting that very few European riders come now. I guess it’s harder to do so now, post Brexit. I follow a few french riders on Facebook and they’ve had a few runs on the continent, where the weather/ground is more trustworthy.

 

[teapot]

Some stats, just for numbers going by xc fence results:

30 finished
6 withdrew before xc
11 retired on course
18 eliminated; of which at quick glance:

1 for horse welfare
1 for error of course
1 for three refusals
6 were horse falls
9 were rider falls

ETS: only three pins went, 2 at fence 19, 1 at fence 21

 

[Flowerofthefen]

What time are the highlights on bbc2 tomorrow please?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

What time are the highlights on bbc2 tomorrow please?

2pm till 4pm.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

!

2pm till 4pm.

Thank you!!

 

[LEC]

I enjoyed it as good horsemanship shone by several and on the whole it was a lot less uncomfortable than last year to watch. I thought the course was a lot fairer for horses who on the whole read the questions pretty well.

 

[Supertrooper]

Been out all day and a lot to wade through re thread so can anyone give me the lowdown on

Oli T
Both Pip’s rides
Emily King

For what it’s worth I really hope Ros C wins on Walter tomorrow

 

[CatInTheSaddle]

Been out all day and a lot to wade through re thread so can anyone give me the lowdown on

Oli T
Both Pip’s rides
Emily King

For what it’s worth I really hope Ros C wins on Walter tomorrow

I've just caught up on the thread after spending all day watching

Oli set off well on Swallow Springs but the horse seemed to tire quickly and they had a mishap at the Mars Tables - tried to bank the second one and the fence came crashing down. Up at the lake, the horse looked very leg weary, particularly on the turn back. Oli was presumably pulled up by the ground jury somewhere after that, though whether he was held first for Fiona Kashel's fall ahead of him or pulled up before he was held I'm not sure. Sadly it really harked back to other rides when Oli has pushed tired horses. Poor for him and poor for the sport. He did have a much better ride on Ballaghmoor Class.

Pippa had a good ride on Maja's Hope, seemed to eat up the ground and Pip was very determined. Billy Walk On balked at the log into the first water and she decided to retire, which was a shame as she looked good up to that point.

Emily seemed to be having a great round right up until she decided to retire. Valmy Biats looked keen but manageable, just right for the course - she jumped the alternative rail into the water, cantered past the corner and put her hand up. There was no obvious issue with soundness or tack. The only thing I spotted was she seemed to have to get behind and "shove" a bit on the approach to the water, so perhaps that was a concern for her and she didn't think he was up for the challenging pull home. Still no word on her social media, I hope she and the horse are ok.

 

[Tiddlypom]

The queue on the M4 Bath junction from Bristol was about 2 miles at 9 this morning. I was going the other way.

Traffic was queuing back along the M4 ?

 

[dominobrown]

I thought Emily king had been going well though she might have felt something we couldn’t see and made the decision for her and horses safety to retire before the were climbing over jumps etc which of that is the case is good and mature riding.

 

[lannerch]

I've just caught up on the thread after spending all day watching

Oli set off well on Swallow Springs but the horse seemed to tire quickly and they had a mishap at the Mars Tables - tried to bank the second one and the fence came crashing down. Up at the lake, the horse looked very leg weary, particularly on the turn back. Oli was presumably pulled up by the ground jury somewhere after that, though whether he was held first for Fiona Kashel's fall ahead of him or pulled up before he was held I'm not sure. Sadly it really harked back to other rides when Oli has pushed tired horses. Poor for him and poor for the sport. He did have a much better ride on Ballaghmoor Class.

Pippa had a good ride on Maja's Hope, seemed to eat up the ground and Pip was very determined. Billy Walk On balked at the log into the first water and she decided to retire, which was a shame as she looked good up to that point.

Emily seemed to be having a great round right up until she decided to retire. Valmy Biats looked keen but manageable, just right for the course - she jumped the alternative rail into the water, cantered past the corner and put her hand up. There was no obvious issue with soundness or tack. The only thing I spotted was she seemed to have to get behind and "shove" a bit on the approach to the water, so perhaps that was a concern for her and she didn't think he was up for the challenging pull home. Still no word on her social media, I hope she and the horse are ok.

I’ve seen something somewhere where Emily said he was unresponsive to the aids so she realised it was time to retire .
Very mature of her I was most impressed she’s obviously learnt from previous mistakes.

 

[NocturneNoel]

Any update on Fiona Kashel's horse? Course was held a while after their fall.

 

[neddy man]

On the Badminton website the results show 58 started xc, 30 finished, 11 retired, and 17 eliminated. Thanks tp I've enjoyed reading this thread as I'm sure many others have.

 

[humblepie]

Traffic was queuing back along the M4 ?

Yes - a long way. Wasn’t queuing from Swindon direction. Think the signs were trying to get traffic from that way to go the A419 via Tetbury.

 

[MuddyMonster]

How classy were Ros and the two Tom's? Amazing stuff.

I'm thrilled Francis Whittington had such a good round. He always comes across as such a nice guy with great horsemanship.

Glad Commander VG got round with the Lithuanian rider too. I've never willed a horse down the centre line so much in his dressage test He did look tired though so will be interesting to see how he vets tomorrow.

Felt sorry for Richard Jones & Emily King as they seemed to having good rounds but they made very sensible decisions.

Oliver Townend makes it hard to like him sometimes, doesn't he? I'm not necessarily convinced his horse was the most tired horse I saw but he does have previous form. He's done a lot for the sport and on a good day is probably a good ambassador (and is always one of the first to acknowledge his team, which I like a lot) but then he does things like not pull up and it makes you wonder ...

Has an update on Fiona's horse that got trailered off the course been given? Hope they are OK

 

[Supertrooper]

What happened to Kitty K

 

[splashgirl45]

Kitty K fell , both horse and rider looked ok.. I think she had set off a bit quick but her luck ran out, shame as I really like this combination

 

[Honey08]

I was just coming on to ask about Kitty. What a shame. I had high hopes for her.

Ros Canter would be my rider of choice nowadays if I had a top class horse (used to be Tina Cook). She’s very caring towards her horses, despite being driven too. And she was so humble and a sport to be reserve at the Olympics.

 

[shortstuff99]

Tom Crisp, you are our sportsman of the day. We are gutted you didn't get to complete your round but you will no doubt be remembered for your swimming... | By Badminton Horse Trials | Facebook

0 views, 343 likes, 144 loves, 59 comments, 98 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Badminton Horse Trials: Tom Crisp, you are our sportsman of the day. We are gutted you didn't get to complete your...

fb.watch

 

[Bernster]

We came via the backroads and only hit traffic right at the end into badminton itself. Took about 10 mins of queuing and we arrived around 11.30. Ended up in the car park over the road at the grass roots area. So very lucky not to have many issues with traffic.

Upsetting arrival as the first fence we got to was rider no 2 Fiona Kashel who had the fall and horse injury. Horse injured his left fore. Got bandaged up and they took him away in the horse ambulance. Hope it was not as bad as it seemed and that horse and rider are ok. Does anyone know?

Missed the drama about Oli but saw some comments on Facebook, which explained why we didn’t see his round. No discussion on badminton radio interestingly. Wonderful to be in the arena to see Ros Canter start and finish on Walter.

Seemed like carnage today with so many withdrawals, retirements and falls, and very difficult ground conditions. For spectators it wasn’t as muddy as I thought it would be, and not like yesterday, but the mud was very sticky so I can imagine how energy sapping it was for the horses. The ground crew must have been working so hard to keep the course in as good a condition as possiblel

Tons of dogs! More so than in previous years and everyone seems to have multiple dogs although all the ones I saw were well behaved. But I did worry they could have been easily trodden on at the busier places.

Didn’t do much shopping this time around but the drinks and food stalls were great.

Very illuminating interview with Eric Winter at the end of the day on badminton radio about the clips. Clearly not happy with WFP’s criticism!

 

[teapot]

Good write up here, including Pip not having a front shoe!

MIM’s the Word: Ros Canter Leads Badminton After Influential Cross Country Day - Eventing Nation - Three-Day Eventing News, Results, Videos, and Commentary

There was a palpable air of trepidation ahead of cross-country day at Badminton, and fairly so: yesterday, the heavens opened heartily throughout the day, turning the grounds into a veritable mud bath — and a

eventingnation.com

 

[Maddie Moo]

The only Badminton I’m ever going to jump round Think my horse needs to be fitter with all those time penalties!

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

The only Badminton I’m ever going to jump round Think my horse needs to be fitter with all those time penalties!

View attachment 113083

I played that game for a while! Loved they had the real life courses

Just fired it up again to try - it didn't go well!! Missed a few due to a steering malfunction

 

[Maddie Moo]

I played that game for a while! Loved they had the real life courses

I haven’t played it in months but when I went on the Badminton site this morning it had a link to it saying they have a live competition coming up on Equestriad so I figured I’d give it a go.