The Mitsubishi Badminton Horse Trials is probably the best known equestrian event in the world, along with the Derby and the Grand National. It certainly pulls in the crowds - only the Indianapolis 500 attracts more people each year.

I have been visiting Badminton since I was seven years old - long before I knew anything about "eventing". How did horses get good enough to get to Badminton? I suppose I just thought they were born that good!

In fact the sport of eventing is carried out at many levels. Most events held throughout the world are One Day Events in which the dressage, show jumping and the cross country all take place on the same day. You note I say show jumping and then cross country whereas at a big event like Badminton the show jumping comes last. In One Day Events the show jumping takes place first to show the judges that the horses are capable of tackling the more dangerous solid fences on the cross country. If a horse is eliminated for three refusals in the show jumping it cannot go on to the cross country. At three day events it is assumed that as the horses are of that standard they are all capable of taking on the solid fences. The show jumping at this stage is there to show that the horse can still be careful and will try hard even after the exertions of the cross country phases the day before.

Young horses and inexperienced riders attend Pre Novice events where the jumps do not exceed 3' and in which the technicality of the course is quite simple. The competitors may be asked to jump between 16 and 20 fences and only one or two of these will come close together (combinations). As the horse and rider gain points (for coming 1st to 6th), they progress through Novice, Intermediate and Advanced stages. Points are not awarded at Pre Novice level. Many riders and horses will not progress beyond Novice level in their eventing careers.

Three Day Events are defined by stars. One star events are open to Novice horses who have had more than two "double clears" at Novice level. The difficulty of the courses progress through to two and three star events. The Three Day Event at the Olympic Games is classified as "three star". Until this year there were only two four star events in the world - Badminton and Burghley - both in England. Earlier this year they were joined by Lexington, in Kentucky, USA.

The very first Badminton Horse Trials were held in 1949 when the 10th Duke of Beaufort suggested that a course be built in his Park to enable British riders to train for the Olympics - the Brits didn't do very well in 1948!

That first event was won by the youngest horse ever to win, the five year old Golden Willow, ridden by John Schedden. The first foreigner to win was Switzerland's Captain Schwazenbach on Vae Victis in 1951. Although many Britons have won since then the trophy has not since been won by any other European country although it has gone abroad on seven occasions - four of those being in the last four years.

This year it seemed likely to do the same. The "Open European" Champion, New Zealander Mark Todd was here on Broadcast News, the horse on which he won those Championships last year; fellow New Zealander and Olympic Gold Medallist Blyth Tait had his Olympic horse Ready Teddy in sparkling form. The current World Champions - more New Zealanders - Vaughan Jefferis and Bounce had returned as had American Bruce Davidson and a former winner of the title, Eagle Lion. Australia had more entries than ever before, including former Gold Medallist Matt Ryan and Britain had lost many of its more favoured horses. The very popular and consistent Mary King had lost both her rides King Solomon and Star Appeal due to injury and Ian Stark had also lost Arakai for the same reason. William Fox Pitt had managed to injure himself in a fall just three weeks earlier. Most of the injuries had been caused by the heavy going.

Badminton has only ever been cancelled due to bad weather three times, but at the end of April it looked as if another cancellation was on the cards. It seemed to have rained for ever and many events all over the country were cancelled leaving several horses short of pre Badminton outings. Horses were kept fit by roadwork and fast work on all weather gallops. May saw a total change in the weather and drying winds made the going at Badminton as good as it has ever been.

Although Britain's chances looked slim at the end of the first day of dressage (it has to take place over two days as the judges would start seeing spots before their eyes otherwise!) things were looking pretty good for the home side. Britons held the top three places, with Daisy Dick, whose father rode in the Grand National, in the lead riding Headley Bravo. The youngest rider in the competitor, Ruth Friend, riding Ice Dancer, lay second and former European Young Rider Champion Terry Boon was third on Marsh Warbler. Ruth found that "the atmosphere didn't bother Ice Dancer. I just concentrated on where I was going - it was only when we left the arena and everyone started clapping that I remembered we were at Badminton!" Known at home as Frosty, Ice Dancer was bought by Ruth as a five year old when she was 13 so they came up through Pony Club together.

On Day Two Canadian Stuart Black stormed into the lead riding Market Venture. Their immaculate test left them on an excellent score of 33.8 penalties (the lower the better), a score that wasn't going to be beaten. Stuart who was having his first visit to Badminton said "I've never had a score like that - it makes me as nervous as hell! The big ring atmosphere really helps lift my horse but he was a real sweetheart and tried all the way".

At the end of the day Mark Todd and Owen Moore finished equally in second place, just over a mark behind Stuart. Owen was riding Lightfoot, a horse that was bought for him over the winter by Lady Kelvedon from American Joe Zada. Lightfoot had previously been ridden by David O'Connor and had been in the same position before - last year.

In fourth place after dressage was Yorkshireman Chris Bartle riding Word Perfect II, and America's Karen O'Connor was fifth on Prince Panache. Pre event favourites Blyth Tait and Ready Teddy were lying sixth.

This year's cross country course had been made more difficult after last year's rather simple course. Designer Hugh Thomas had provide several new fences which looked set to give the riders headaches. "It doesn't let up the whole way round" said Owen Moore, going on to explain "It starts off big as you go towards the water, then it starts to get bigger, and then as the horses begin to tire it gets even bigger and more technical, asking real questions of braveness and honesty".

Although the solid part of any fence can only be a maximum of 3'11 high, it is astonishing how big 3'11" can be made to look

New Zealander Andrew Nicholson was first and last to go and as pathfinder did an excellent job on Cartoon II, showing the other riders that the course was jumpable and that the optimum time was attainable; Cartoon II finished the cross country with a totally clean sheet. It must be remembered that before the horses set out on the four and a half mile cross country course they have already completed over nine miles of trotting and cantering in the "roads and tracks" and a gallop over two miles of steeple chase fences!

The first big new challenge came at the Colt Walls, at fence 8, a corner fence, built off uneven ground amongst trees. Although there were two alternative routes at this fence they were perhaps even more difficult and were certainly more time consuming. They did not prove popular although one person who had to take the alternative was Ian Stark whose big mount, The Moose, ran out at the corner. The Little Badminton Drop, a 6' drop followed two strides later by a large, narrow brush fence at No. 10 also saw its fair share of casualties. Headley Bravo refused here as did six other horses including Matt Ryans' first ride Gay Faer. Fellow Australian Sam Lyle had a fall here and Jemima Johnson's ride ended here on Lovell Lass. Things went relatively smoothly then until the lake three fences later. The diminutive Kiltinana Spot (15 hh) had a fall here with Sacha Pemble as did Windsor, ridden by Jo Scott and Caroline Sizer with The Grey Spirit.

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The horses then had a bit of a breather as they galloped to the next challenge, half a mile away. In the past the Coffin has not been popular with riders so they were pleased that it had received a facelift. The new Gallant Hollow gave little trouble although Jo and Windsor retired here. The new Bank fence at No. 18 was the nemesis for Blyth Tait and Ready Teddy who fell here - this is such a rare occurrence for Blyth that he sat for some while looking quite puzzled! This fence was also the end of the line for Sweden's Anna Herman and Just Merlin, Bermuda's Tim Collins and Brincador and Daisy Dick.

The Vicarage Vee at fence 20 had been made larger and the corner over which the horses jumped had been filled in. The increase in size and the likelihood of a runout made the direct route an unpopular one and about three quarters of the riders took the slightly longer alternative route.

Swiss rider Doris Weidmann was eliminated here for jumping the wrong side of the flag. More accurate riding was needed at Tom Smiths Walls, no. 25, horses had to jump an angled wall a few strides before jumping the corner walls of an old yard. Again the alternative routes proved quite popular and only France's Faritamer retired here. The angled hedges at the Luckington Lane crossing were as imposing as ever and Eddie Stibbe, from the Netherlands, fell here on Bahlua. Pippa Funnell retired the lovely skewbald horse Bits and Pieces just after this fence but it is likely that he hurt himself at The Tom Smiths Walls at which he appeared to hit quite hard with his front legs.

The Marie Curie Picnic Area at Fences 28 and 28 only seemed to cause problems to the tail enders and it is possible that shadows played some part in this. The two round "stools" which constituted the direct route were at maximum height and both Matt Ryan riding Hinnegar and Andrew Nicholson riding Jagermeister had crashing falls here, although both went on to complete the course. Poor Kiltinane Spot fell at Fence 30, the Sunken Road and despite being only two fences from home, was eliminated. (Riders who have two falls on a course have to retire, for safety's sake). The last two fences were a welcome sight for the riders, and although big, caused no problems.

By the end of the day Mark Todd had a narrow lead over Chris Bartle and Kristina Gifford lay in third place on General Jock. Eagle Lion had moved up to fourth place and Vaughan Jefferis was fifth.

The Veterinary Inspection on the final day is always a tense time as the horses are closely inspected to check that they are fit and well after the rigors of the cross country. To be "spun" at this lat stage, so near to the finish, can be heartbreaking especially if you had a great cross country round and are "in with a shout" as was Ice Dancer. Ice Dancer and the Grey Spirit were withdrawn from competition before being vetted. Nick Wenban's Welsh cross gelding Redwood was sadly failed by the vets. Everybody held their breath when Mark Todd was asked to trot Broadcast News up for a second time and only let it go again when the announcer called out "Broadcast News - Passed".

The show jumping proved very influential for the top five. General Jock rattled nearly every fence and his luck ran out at the seventh. Just one pole down dropped Kristina to sixth place and promoted Karen O'Connor to eventual fifth place. Vaughan Jefferis and Bruce Davidson both jumped clear and climbed to fourth and third places. Chris Bartle almost gave his supporters multiple heart attacks when he appeared to forget the course as had the unfortunate Charlotte Ridley and Mistatiger who missed out a fence and was eliminated. Whether it was the anguished gasps of the audience or just Chris's memory kicking in we will never now, but he suddenly remembered to turn right rather than left and completed the course incurring just 0.l5 of a time penalty. He was second at least.

Most people expected Mark Todd, who used to show jump professionally, to go clear, but perhaps Broadcast News was feeling too tired. Mark also fell victim to fence seven and as the crowds began to cheer for a home win, Mark left the arena with a very wry smile on his face. He was later to comment "It's always a bugger, knocking a fence down, I blame myself, but I have won Badminton in the show jumping arena and now I've lost it that way".

For Chris, who retired from competition in pure dressage ten years' ago it was a dream come true. "Just to be placed here has been an ambition which has kept me going all this time". Chris went on to describe how he has had the ride on Word Perfect for the last five years and how his owners Elaine and Adrien Cantwell had travelled from their home in Hong Kong to watch their horse. He added, hopefully, that he would now be asking Microsoft for sponsorship in future. Chris, at 46, is the oldest person to win Badminton, beating Bruce's 1995 record by four days. Indeed the combined ages of the top three totalled 136 - WHAT A VINTAGE YEAR!

FOOTNOTE: of the 80 starters from 11 countries, only 44 completed.

Helen Revington was born in Tennessee, U.S.A a long time ago. Her passion for horses is life-long and she started riding aged three. Nowadays she lives in Gloucestershire, England and has to juggle her life between being a full time Registered Nurse, working for various equstrian publications and trying to train her young horse.

Her work has been published in Horse and Hound, Dressage magazine and Eventing Magazine, indeed it is in the field of eventing that she tends to specialise. Her photographs have not only been published in magazines but also in books such as The Olympic Eventing Masterclass and Cross-Country Masterclass.

Helen has competed in many equestrian disciplines and has had successes in ridden and in-hand showing, Carriage Driving, Show Jumping and Eventing. Her young horse "All Systems Go", known to friends as "Buttons" will hopefully begin pre-novice eventing later this year.

Stephen Sparkes was also born a long time ago, only a couple of miles away from where he now lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Stephen began taking photographs for publication over ten years ago and is generally considered one of the best "eventing" photographers in Britain.

Stephen also has riding experience and has competed in eventing for "...a good few years." His mare "Just for Fun" is now in semi-retirement but her offspring, a three year old gelding by Golden Heights is just starting his working career and his proud step-parents can visualise him bounding around Badminton in 2002.

Both Helen and Stephen can be contacted by writing to: