The 2026 running of Mars Badminton Horse Trials will be held on 6-10 May 2026. The LeMieux Grassroots Championships at BE90 and BE100 level will take place on 5-6 May 2026.

Badminton Horse Trials is held in the grounds of Badminton House in Gloucestershire, UK. Badminton is located around 15 miles from Bristol and Bath, in the south west of England.

The list of Badminton Horse Trials winners is a true who’s who in the sport of eventing and we can’t wait to see who will add their name to the roll of honour this time. The most successful rider at Badminton is Lucinda Green, who topped the leaderboard six times during her outstanding career. Andrew Nicholson holds the record for the highest number of Badminton completions at 37.

The most recent winner of the Badminton Horse Trials title is Ros Canter with Lordships Graffalo. Second in 2025 was Oliver Townend riding Cooley Rosalent. Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue finished third.

Badminton Horse Trials dates back to 1949, when the 10th Duke of Beaufort hosted an event on the estate to help British riders train for future international events.

The 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Badminton has previously been cancelled five times, owing to bad weather in 1966, 1975, 1987 and 2012, and foot-and-mouth disease in 2001. Weather also forced Badminton to run as a one-day competition in 1963.

Badminton has hosted British Eventing’s BE90 and BE100 grassroots championships since 2010. It is typically held across the two days before the five-star action begins.

The current Badminton Horse Trials logo was unveiled in September 2019 and was developed by Claire Shand and Julian Seaman, who both worked for Badminton at the time. It has now been adapted to incorporate title sponsor Mars Equestrian.

The design features a horse and rider jumping over the wording, with the rider’s boot and the horse’s saddle forming the letter ‘B’. The new logo marked the start of a new era for the event after Mitsubishi Motors ended its support after 28 years.

Badminton Horse Trials is one of just seven five-star events in the world and one of the UK’s major horse trials. Five-star is the highest level of eventing competition, where the very best horses and riders in the sport compete against each other in three phases: dressage, cross-country and show jumping. The same horse and rider combinations take part in all three phases and their penalty scores are added up. The horse and rider with the lowest penalties is the winner.

• What is eventing?
• Guide to Badminton dressage
• Guide to Badminton cross-country
• Guide to Badminton showjumping