Make the most of Badminton’s shopping

Fabulous freebies

First stop, Horse & Hound at stand 17, where you could win some great prizes, including a £3,000 quad bike from Jets Marivent, a Jeffries bridle, £1,000 worth of Harry Hall gear, a Funnell range fleece rug with matching set of fleece bandages, a Maxwell Scott Leather bag worth £399 with a wash bag, and much more.

Derby House has two stands at Badminton — saddlery (25) and stabling (133). Both stands will be running a prize draw for five winners to receive £50 of Derby House vouchers.

Visit HorseHage (stand 155), fill in a “horse owner survey” and you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win 10 bags of HorseHage.

Best of the bargains

Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine (stand 17) and you will receive a 30% discount, plus a great free fleece.

Sederholm Selected (stand 232) will have a sale of up to 50% off some of its finest-quality Italian leatherwork — including stirrup leathers (down from £52 to £26); girths (down from £60 to £40) and half-chaps (down from £99 to £65). Contact: (tel: 01844 339221)

Be safe and be seen: Equafleece at stand 246 is offering its fluorescent yellow water-repellent fleece exercise sheets for £35 (normally £49). Contact: (tel: 0845 1235296)

A three-day event can be exhausting and if it’s all getting too much, how about a hammock from Kit Stone Ltd at stand 164? The hammocks will be specially reduced from £49 to £29 for Badminton only. Not that we’re advocating using any of Badminton’s trees to tie them to. Contact: (tel: 0870 7770099)

Badminton Horse Feeds will sell its Triple Top-Up feed for less than half-price from its stand (208). A 5kg tub usually retails at £11.70, but if you visit the stand you will be able to buy it for £5. Contact: (tel: 01425 658450)

Celebrate that direct route on the cross-country with some champagne — with every magnetic rug sold at Badminton, Armadillo Products Ltd is giving away a bottle of its own commemorative bubbly. See stand 234. Contact: (tel: 01980 629796)

You’ve got the coloured wellington boots and the Jack Russell/Labrador/Springer Spaniel to walk the course with, now all you need to look the part on cross-country day is a hat. Try a genuine Stetson from hat maker James Lock (stand 18), reduced from £95 to £79. Contact: (tel: 020 79308874)

Meet the riders

Throughout Badminton, event rider Captain Richard Waygood and dressage guru Christopher Bartle will pay visits to the Jeffries stand in the World of the Horse pavilion where you can catch them for an autograph

Leslie Law will visit Jumpers Horse Line (stand 225) for book signings — ask at stand for times

Meet eventing star Pippa Funnell and other top riders, who will take part in the daily chat shows at the World of the Horse pavilion. Hear the riders’ views as each phase of the competition gets underway. See the board outside the stand for times

Mary King, Athens Olympic team silver medallist, and Australian triple Olympic gold medallist Matt Ryan will be dropping into the Badminton Horse Feeds stand (208) during the event to sign autographs. Times will be shown on the stand noticeboard

Visit the Equissage stand (168) to meet top event rider William Fox-Pitt and get his autograph. See stand for times

Armadillo, who produce a range of magnetic products for horses, humans and dogs, will be having a visit from Matt and Marie Ryan, after the cross-country on Saturday. See stand 234

• Find out whether it’s wax jackets and wellies or t-shirts and trainers that you will need while walking round the trade stands by checking out HHO’s new weather forecasting service, in association with Weathercall and the Met Office, at www.horseandhound.co.uk/weather

For more tips on top trade stands to visit during your visit to Badminton see the current issue of Horse & Hound (28 April, ’05)