There were anxious moments for Jonelle Price as her horse Classic Moet was sent to the holding box at the first trot-up at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials this afternoon (4 May).
Classic Moet, a 13-year-old mare who was fifth at Burghley in 2015, was re-presented from the holding box and after some deliberation was accepted by the ground jury of Marilyn Payne, Andrew Bennie and Angela Tucker.
Two other horses of the 77 starters were also held at the first vet’s inspection.
The first of those was Horse & Hound blogger Simon Grieve with his popular little horse Cornacrew. They were accepted upon re-inspection as were Tom Crisp and Coolys Luxury, who was the other horse to be held.
Tom Crips and Coolys Luxury at the first horse inspection at Badminton 2016. Picture by Peter Nixon
One horse was withdrawn immediately before the competition started. That was the first of Chris Burton’s rides, Haruzac, who was fourth at Burghley last year.
Izzy Taylor, who was entered on three horses prior to the competition, made the decision to start on the two mares KBIS Briarlands Matilda and Allercombe Ellie and not Orlando. Badminton rules state that riders may only start on a maximum of two horses.
Oliver Townend was entered on four horses but chose to start on his trusty four-star campaigner Armada. The other horse he has chosen to ride is Black Tie, who was originally entered for Kentucky, but was then withdrawn following a fall in the CIC3* at Burnham Market last month.
Jean Teulere fixes his bridle after it comes undone during the first trot-up at Badminton 2016
Frenchman Jean Teulere suffered a tack malfunction while he was trotting his mount Matelot Du Grand Val up. The horse’s cheekpiece on his bridle detached from the bit on the right-hand side (pictured above). Unlike some sprightly horses that trotted up, Jean’s horse calmly let him do the bridle up again at the top of the trot-up in front of a large number of photographers, before they continued with the matter in hand.
You can keep up-to-date with all the action from Badminton with H&H Live on horseandhound.co.uk
Don’t miss the second part of H&H’s Badminton preview, including a full form guide and a scorecard to fill in for every rider, on sale tomorrow (Thursday 5 May 2016).
