Eighty-five horses were presented at the first horse inspection of the MARS Badminton Horse Trials, trotting up in front of the Ground Jury Xavier Le Sauce (President, FRA), Nick Burton (GBR) and Robert Stevenson (USA) and veterinary panel.

Many were very fresh, proving to be double handfuls for their jockeys, but all were positively gleaming in the afternoon sunshine. Eighty-three were accepted to go forwards to the dressage phase; unfortunately Shadow Man (Ben Hobday) was withdrawn from the holding box and both Viens du Mont (Luc Chateau) and Spano de Nazca (Georgia Bartlett) were not accepted.

As usual, the event was something of a fashion show. Japanese Olympic bronze medallist Ryuzo Kitajima stood out in particular, with his traditional national dress, while Austrian rider Harald Ambros was sporting lederhosen. Harry Meade was uncharacteristically subdued in a pale blue suit, a huge contrast to his usual luminous trousers, and there were plenty of floaty dresses and cowboy boots.

The Hiho Silver best dressed awards went to Ryuzo Kitajima and Ros Canter – Ros wearing a long, floaty pink skirt and beaded denim jacket which she bought while on holiday with her friend and trainer, the late Caroline Moore.