What a contrast from 2023! The sun shone down on the first day of the Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage phase, and spectators were treated not only to blue skies but hot competition.
At the end of day one, scores are tightly bunched, with the top 10 covered by just over six penalties. There were only three scores under 30, with a Brit and two Americans in this trio.
Bubby Upton holds the lead after the first 35 riders, on Cola – a remarkable achievement given Bubby’s career-threatening injury last year.
There was a disappointment for two-time Badminton winner Pippa Funnell, when her experienced partner Majas Hope found the whole occasion far too exciting.
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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.
