Buck Davidson is one of three U.S. riders here in Great Britain riding at this week’s Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI****, and he’s riding The Apprentice. This is only Davidson’s second time riding at Badminton; his first was with Ballynoe Castle RM in 2011, when he placed 11th. 

He talked us through one of the most popular complexes on the cross-country course (see video below)—The Lake at fence 25 and 26abc—and then he chatted a bit about his Badminton memories and how he thinks the track will suit “Dirk,” a 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Casado—Funny Girl, Fernblick) owned by Sherrie Martin. Davidson does his dressage tomorrow afternoon. 

When did you first come to Badminton?

I came in 1996, and my dad, Bruce Davidson, had a broken shoulder. He was supposed to ride Squelch, and he couldn’t. 

But we lived over here, and I went to school here as a kid, so I’m sure I’ve been here in the 1980s. I’ve probably been here a few more times than I remember, but I definitely remember 1996.

They had a pre-Atlanta Olympics division at Rolex Kentucky, and he fell on Heyday. He still had Eagle Lion then, and Traveling Man and Regent Lion. Then dad had the fall, so he didn’t ride any of those horses [at Rolex Kentucky]. Squelch was already here [at Badminton], and he though he’d be able to ride by then. Once he got over here he found out he had a broken shoulder, and so he didn’t ride here. So we just sort of watched the event. 

Dad wouldn’t let me ride Squelch even though I offered up my services. He looked at me like, “Yeah, you think you’re pretty good at 20. You have no chance.” 

I’ve been a few other times to watch, and then more recently was when I rode Reggie. I had a great experience with him.

Did Dirk travel well?

He did travel well. He wouldn’t be the best traveler; he kind of stops eating, and he gets nervous. But he seems like he’s going well. He’s going the best he’s gone this spring, and he’s certainly done enough events to have experience to be here. Now we’ll just see how we’ll get on. 

How do you feel about the ground for cross-country?

When I first came here, dad told me that this place is way harder on horses when it’s sunny and the ground seems like it’s good. He said, “When it’s pouring rain, it’s fine.” But when everyone thinks it’s good, they get off going too fast. When I was here with Reggie, there were a lot of horses that were exhausted and didn’t make it. It’s kind of gluey.

The director stood up at the briefing and said that. It’s something you have to be aware of. 

It’s very flat here, but there are some longer pulls. You have a good pull going up to that first water. Then you have this fairly good pull up here towards the end. Dirk’s not clean bred, so he wouldn’t have any in reserve. I’ll try and be as smooth as I can, and if he’s relaxed I’ll have a better ride for sure.  

Are there any fences on course keeping you up at night? (Check out a full preview of the course here.)

I’ve been around it a little over two times right now. I’m worried from fence 1 to whatever the last one is. As soon as you fall asleep, something stupid happens. 

There’s not one fence he can’t do. It’s putting them all together, and me riding every fence the way I should, and him answering me the way he should. If he does that, I know we’ll be fine. If I ride the way I can ride him, we should be fine.

Here, Buck talks us through one of the water complexes…

Even after coming a few times, how exciting is it for you to compete here this year? 

For us, Badminton is not something we all end up doing because of Kentucky down the road right before. I’m so thankful to the Martins that they wanted to bring Dirk here, and Sherrie is so excited. She never dreamed she’d have a horse at Badminton. 

If you own horses, you ride horses, and Badminton is kind of the big place. You always want to go. I’m very fortunate to have a nice horse here, and we’ll see how he goes.

What’s unique about Badminton for you?

No matter how many times you’ve been here it’s so special. You have to appreciate how lucky you are to be here. It’s not easy to get here; it’s not easy to get to Kentucky either. You try and get to a four-star, and so many things can go wrong. It’s not for everybody, and it’s not for every horse. 

I’ve been fortunate to do it a few times, but make no mistake, I feel very privileged to be here. It’s an honor, and I’m so thankful to have people like the Martins and the Segals so that we can actually be here. 

You want to represent yourself, your owners and your country as well as you possibly can.

Make sure to follow along with all the action at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI**** as COTH’s Lisa Slade is on-site as Germany’s Michael Jung makes a bid for the Rolex Grand Slam. We’ll be reporting on www.coth.com and Facebook.