Badminton 2011 | Hugh Thomas - Cross Country Morning

The Men From The FEI & The Best Job In Eventing

Finalising The Course Design | A Team Effort

For me the job title Technical Delegate makes the job sound about as exciting as being a Chief Actuary in room full of accountants. It is however probably one of the best jobs in eventing other than that of "being Mark Todd".

Each year Badminton, along with every other horse trials running under FEI* rules has a TD assigned or approved to ensure the detail of an event from every aspect  is being taken care of, whether it's the height of fences or the level of medical support in attendance. Part of the role, checking the Cross Country Course, is an area that impacts the job of getting the course animations out onto the website, and quite often adds time pressure when changes are made.

Progress In Safety Initiatives Continues To Gather Pace

Frangible Fences| Further Innovation

Badminton has always been pleased to help the industry and sport of eventing with any new initiatives, particularly those related to the safety of horse and rider, and has implemented frangible pin technology for many years now, on numerous cross country fences.

As technology and innovation in this area gathers pace, Hugh Thomas and many other course designers have played a wider role in helping the industry improve it's overall understanding of the issues related to this aspect of safety on the cross country course and the challenges it brings to the sport.

In this short video, Hugh discusses the recent international seminar on these types of 'deformable' fence, where the industry is making some headway in standardisation, and what some of this means for the sport.