Lara De Liedekerke-Meier and Hooney D’Arville’s disrupted preparation for this week’s Mars Badminton Horse Trials didn’t hamper their first phase performance, the pair scoring a five-star personal best of 28.6.

“If you do a PB at Badminton, that’s the right place to do it,” said the Belgian rider who sits third at the end of the two days of dressage. 

“She knows she’s at Badminton. She has been quite a lot to handle since we arrived, but my groom did a fantastic job until now and I think I made everyone proud, at least myself so that’s the most important. So far, I’m very happy.

“We’ve been letting her graze about for hours, grazing, grazing, not let her think too much about it. She has not eaten too much yet. Think she lost quite some weight. Obviously you want her to be on a top form tomorrow. She’s 13 years old, and she has nothing to learn now so it was just about keeping her happy.”

Injury scare

Lara and the 13-year-old homebred mare, who won Luhmuhlen CCI5* together in 2024, nearly didn’t make it to Badminton after a fall hampered their build up.

“She was in the stable for 10 days because we thought it was a fracture, but it ended up not being anything. I was not sure I was going to come here and now I’m here. It’s such an accomplishment to be here. Just riding in there and having nothing to lose really. I think I’m just finally enjoying my time being at Badminton and not being so stressed all the time,” said Lara.

‘I’m looking forward to the challenge’

Lara, who finished 14th here with Hooney D’Arville last year, is looking forward to the cross-country tomorrow.

“I like the flow. I think the going is fast which we have to handle in a way that we shouldn’t go too fast from the beginning and empty the tank. I think we all have to ride all our horses,” said Lara.

“It’s hard to wait so long in the day and take the info you need, but not the info you don’t but I think there’s a lot to jump. I would think it’s more about the accumulation factor than one fence in particular. Like a lot have said, the Vicarage Vee is quite intense so you want to be on time there, but you shouldn’t try to catch up. I’m looking forward to challenge, I think it’s what we all came for.” 

Image © Tim Wilkinson.

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