Mark Todd Bringing Two Of The Best To Badminton

NZB LAND VISON

Mark Todd returned to the 3-Day-Event scene in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, and since then has had the most successful 'comeback' in the sport, recently picking up a bronze team medal at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky last autumn riding Grass Valley, the horse he rode at Badminton earlier that year.

This year Mark hopes to return to Badminton, not only with Grass Valley, but his favoured London 2012 prospect, NZB Land Vision, on whom he won both an Advanced class at Highclere, and a CIC*** at Blenheim.

I remember seeing this lovely grey horse for the first time at Highclere last year, and being completely in awe at how graceful he looked in the dressage warm up and how athletic he was cross country. Mark's faith in this horse is not idle chest beating, but well deserved praise for a horse that didn't really put a foot wrong last season, and only dropped one rail all year, (on wet ground at Boekelo, to finish second).

Tapner Plans Return To Defend Badminton Title

Whilst the Canadians and New Zealanders have been making the news with their plans to head to Badminton this spring as part of their preparations for an assault on the London 2012 Olympics, last year's Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials Champion, Paul Tapner, has been quietly making his own preparations.

We talked to Paul and his wife Georgina about their roller-coaster ride through 2010, and their plans for the coming season. Here's the video interview, complete with outtakes!

Badminton Now Accepting Entries

Thumbs Up | Entries Are Open

Calling all Olympic eventing challengers from across the globe! Entries for the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials are now open. With next year's Olympics being hosted in London, this is possibly the most important Badminton we have seen for many years, even decades, as riders from all nations set out to prove to their selectors they have both the talent and the horse power to represent their country at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Britain is already host to numerous foreign riders, but this year in particular we can expect to see a further ground swell from abroad as campaign trails towards London 2012 build momentum. The entire New Zealand team has already declared their intention to camp in the UK for the coming year, and team coach Erik Duvander is due to arrive next week, followed closely by Jock Paget and Clark Johnstone. A number of riders from the Canadian WEG silver medal team have also declared their intention to include Badminton in their plans, and we can expect to see Hawley Bennett-Awad return for her second run around the deer park, having successfully debuted in 2007.

Sub Zero Course Designing At Badminton

Badminton | Picturesque even in sub zero temperatures

Badminton is so picturesque in the depths of the winter snow, or just a deep frost, and whilst most sensible people are sat by fires clasping a warming drink, we do get the occasional 'dedicated' set of professionals making use of the park to 'build fences' even in sub zero temperatures and low visibility!

In December Badminton played host to a British Eventing Course Designers Day, concentrating on the BE90 and BE100 levels, for which of course Badminton hosts the Mitsubishi Motors Grassroots Championships.

Badminton - The Next Fashion Capital

Julian Seaman | In His Weekend Job

Badminton's press officer & resident fashionista , Julian Seaman, (who incidentally holds down a day job lecturing in fashion) may well have been the spark that ignited a whole new way to dress for the three day event,  but a "research cluster" called The Fields of Fashion at Nottingham Trent University have been looking at the whole subject of 'Rural Fashion" and have published an online exhibition that looks at the clothes worn, sold and consumed at Badminton Horse Trials.

The exhibition – The Sights/Site of Badminton Horse Trials – is on show until the end of February via the university’s new online exhibition space, www.wall5.org.uk. It aims to offer a fresh take on clothing in rural areas and, with particular reference to Badminton, examines how clothing has become as much a part of the event experience as the horses themselves.

The Fields of Fashion research cluster brings together a number of academics from diverse backgrounds in the visual and creative arts, all of whom share a common interest in fashion and rural life. The group suggests that, in recent years, there has been a tendency for scholarship to concentrate on the study of fashion in 'world cities' and urban spaces and places and that the fashion industry too is organised around a hierarchy of city-based hubs: London, Paris, Milan, New York, Tokyo.