The dressage phase at the Mars Badminton Horse Trials is done and dusted, and we have a new leader taking over from Bubby Upton at the head of affairs. Last year Ros Canter won the event on Lordships Graffalo; this year she has returned with his younger stablemate Izilot DHI, and we could have a new star in our midst as he waltzed into the lead ahead of cross-country.
Here’s a full round-up of all the action under the warm Gloucestershire sunshine.
Ros Canter proved a worthy favourite on Badminton debutant Izilot DHI to go into pole position on 25.3.
And there have been a couple of high-profile withdrawals with David Doel and Pippa Funnell – on one of her two horses – among those electing not to run across country.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
