BADMINTON HORSE TRIALS

The Badminton Horse Trials is a three-day event, one of only six annual Concours Complet International (CCI) Four Star **** events as classified by the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI), which takes place in April or May each year in the park of Badminton House, the seat of the Dukes of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England.

Badminton was first held in 1949 by the 10th Duke of Beaufort in order to let British riders train for future international events and was advertised as "the most important horse event in Britain". It was the second three day event held in Britain, with the first being its inspiration - the 1948 Olympics. The first Badminton had 22 horses from Britain and Ireland start, and was won by Golden Willow. Eight of the 22 starters failed to complete the cross-country course. Badminton was the home of the first European Championship in 1953, and was won by Major Laurence Rook on Starlight XV. In 1955, Badminton moved to Windsor Castle for a year, at the invitation of the Queen, in order to hold the second European Championships. Badminton was first televised in 1956. In 1959, it was decided to hold Badminton in two sections, called the Great and Little Badminton, due to the popularity of the event and the number of entries. The horses in the two sections jumped the same fences, but were separated into the two divisions based on their money winnings. This graded approach was abandoned after the 1965 event. In 1989, the current director & course-designer Hugh Thomas, who rode in the 1976 Montreal Olympics took over from Frank Wheldon, a former winner, who is credited with bringing the event to the pinnacle it's at today.

Today's Badminton is held in a 6 square kilometer (1500 acre) area Badminton Park, where the car parks, tradestands, arena and cross country courses are located.

Badminton has been forced to cancel on several occasions for various reasons. In 1966, 1975 and 1987 the event was cancelled completely and in 1963 was downgraded to a one-day event due to bad weather. In 2001 it was cancelled due to foot and mouth disease.

Between 1961 and 1991, Badminton was sponsored by Whitbread, one of the longest sponsorships for any sport. In 1992, Mitsubishi Motors took over sponsorship and recently renewed their deal until 2011