The main event of this week is of course the MARS Badminton International Horse Trials and the Grassroots Championships sponsored by LeMieux.
Badminton is one of the EHOA flagship hospitality events and the Board are looking forward to welcoming you to the hospitality marquee. If you are new to the Association, we are located on the edge of the 5* collecting ring at the end of Beaufort Road.
Please stop at the Welcome desk on your arrival to the hospitality marquee and sign in for the day, you will be issued a new eco-friendly wristband. Check out the whiteboard for activities during the day and to keep tabs on the scores of EHOA owned horses.
The hospitality marquee will open every day at 08:30 and close around 17:30 except on Saturday when it will open at 08:00. Tor Rickcord and Cassie Rowsell will be ready to welcome you and answer any questions you may have. Daily newspapers available. Once again Relish will be providing us with some delicious food options from sandwiches, salad bowls and a hot choice everyday for lunch. There is a small supply of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage on offer too, alongside tea /coffee, crisps and sweet treats. On Saturday morning you will be able to have breakfast in the marquee with bacon rolls on offer, no need to pre-book on this occasion. A reminder that Relish is operating a cash free policy all over the site at Badminton this year, so be prepared with a card!
Guests are welcome if space permits and we will be charging for non-members, children under 14 are FOC.
Thursday: £15 per person
Friday: £20 per person
Saturday: £25 per person
Sunday: £15 per person
On Wednesday we will be hosting our Annual Awards from the 2024 event season and will be joined by The British Horse Foundation and British Eventing as they present theirs. The presentations will start at 13:45. Congratulations to all the award winners.
On Thursday, Honor Jeffrey will be in the marquee and will do a short talk at lunch time about her life as an equine vet physio. She will share her knowledge and give us Owners some handy tips on what we can do to help our horses.
On Friday we will be joined in the marquee by various members of the team from Weatherbys, should you have any questions, do come along and ask the team, they are more than happy to help.
Mark Corbett will once again be hosting an EHOA course walk around the 5* track on Friday at 11:00, meet in the marquee. He will also walk the BE90 Championship track at 09:45 on Wednesday for those grassroots competitors that are interested. Please meet at the start. A donation of £5 is suggested and will be offered to Badminton’s chosen charity of 2025, the Guide Dogs.
During the week we will have a limited amount of merchandise available for purchase. If you are not sure what size you’d like, come along and try it on first.
We are running a raffle during the week. Tickets are £2.50 each or purchase a strip for £10. Some great goodies us for grabs. The draw will take place at 11am on Sunday.
Whilst we endeavour to be more sustainable as an Association, we will be following Badminton policy of ‘no plastic’. Therefore, the drinks will be sold in paper / compostable cups, glass bottles or cans. Please feel free to bring your own reusable bottles, there are multiple water stations on site for you to top up. If you can bring your own reuseable shopping bags that will also help!
Don’t forget to enter the free prize draw for 2 cross country day tickets and a car pass for the Europeans at Blenheim on Saturday September 20th. Please fill out the form during the week at Badminton and hand in to the Welcome desk. The draw for the tickets will take place the first week of June.
Finally, the flowers in the marquee will be for sale on Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the show jumping, all monies raised will go to the Guide Dogs.
Should you have any queries or suggestions we are always keen to listen.
Good luck to everyone with a horse competing.