Badminton Horse Trials History Quiz

Answer: 1949

The 10th Duke of Beaufort decided to hold the trial at his home so that the British riders could train for international events. It followed the 1948 Olympics in which the British team didn't do very well. At the time it was restricted to cavalry officers who trained purely by using their normal military exercises. Women, of course, were not allowed to take part! There were 22 starters and it was won by Golden Willow, ridden by John Shedden.

Interestingly, Golden Willow is still the youngest horse (5 years old) to have won Badminton - these days, horses must be at least 7 to take part.

Answer: Lucinda Green

Lucinda Green (nee Prior-Palmer) has won no less than 6 times, her first in 1973 on Be Fair and her last in 1984 on Beagle Bay. She later commentated for the TV coverage of the event.

Answer: Dish awarded to any rider who completes the competition five times

It is awarded to anyone who completes the competition 5 times, that means they get through all the phases and complete the final day's show-jumping round. In 2005, it was awarded to Matt Ryan (Australia), Eric Smiley (Ireland), and Kristina Cook (nee Gifford) (Great Britain).

Answer: Lorna Clarke

Up until 2005 it was Lorna Clark. She had held the record since 1992, but in 2005 Andrew Nicholson pipped her. At that time he had completed the whole competition safely no less than 23 times.

Answer: Ian Stark

The year was 1988 and it was impressive to watch. Ian Stark won on Sir Wattie and Glenburnie was placed second. The other riders all have ridden more than one horse in the same competition.

Answer: Margaret Hough

Sheila Wilcox won in 1954 on Bambi V. Bambi V was also female but the first mare to win was 2 years earlier when Emily Little, ridden by Captain Mark Darley, won in 1952.

Answer: Chris Bartle

Chris Bartle was 46 years (and 80 days) old when he won in 1998 on Word Perfect II. Curiously, all three top-placed riders were over 40 that year. Mark Todd (NZ) was second and Bruce Davidson (US) third.

Answer: Horton Point

Horton Point was 16 years old when he won in 1994. He was ridden by Mark Todd who only took over the ride from Lynn Bevan at the very last minute, so no preparation or time to really get used to each other!

Answer: Mark Todd

It was an amazing feat! One of his stirrups snapped early on in the course but he carried on and jumped all the fences to finish. Unfortunately Bertie Blunt was eliminated the next day at the final horse inspection but they made up for it the next year by winning the event!

Answer: 4 days

The first 2 (Thursday and Friday) are the dressage phase then on Saturday there's the tracks and fields (including a steeplechase), followed by the cross country phase. On Sunday, the final show-jumping phase is held in the main arena to decide the overall winner. Before each phase the horses are assessed by a vetting panel to ensure that they are fit to continue, any that are not 100% are eliminated. Pretty tough if you've got round the cross-country and are in the top 5! Badminton was 6th in the list of highest numbers of spectators at annual events in the UK in 2005 with 165,000 people attending over the 4 days.

The number one in terms of spectators was Wimbledon with 467,000 people going through the gates - but that runs for 14 days not 4 so "Badders" compares very favourably.