It was a swift first horse inspection at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials this afternoon. The ground jury accepted all 83 horses, with no horses being represented.
Riders from 15 nations came forward, with competitors from Australia and New Zealand to Sweden and the USA.
Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon — one of the favourites for this year’s competition — withdrew Borough Pennyz prior to the trot-up after finding the mare had a bruised foot this morning.
Wind and rain put a stop to any overly extravagant displays of fashion from the riders — a warm jacket was the order of the day.
But America’s Tiana Coudray braved a floaty summer skirt, while New Zealand’s Megan Heath donned a glamorous all-black ensemble with heels.
Viktoria Carlerback from Sweden and Tim Lips from the Netherlands brightened up the grey skies with some electric pink and orange trousers respectively.
Dressage kicks off tomorrow morning at 9am and you can follow all the action using our H&H Live interactive written commentary service.
Don’t miss tomorrow’s issue of H&H magazine (8 May 2014) with our pull-out guide including our horse and rider form guide, course map, what to see in the shopping village and discount vouchers
