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Hugh Thomas believes this year's Badminton Horse Trials will test riders and horses to the limit more then ever.

The designer of the rugged and demanding course, which will host the event between Thursday May 1 and Sunday May 4, says it will be harder than last year's.

A total of 85 competitors will fight it out to win the coveted trophy, which will be defended by Little Cheverell's Lucinda Fredericks, and Thomas is excited about the prospect.

"For an event like Badminton you have to be utterly committed, utterly dedicated and very, very focused," he said.

"You can't take part in it without being totally into it and nobody comes here for the practice.

"They are top class sportsmen and are competing at the highest level."

The 29-fence course is designed to test both riders and horses and Thomas is pleased with the way it will examine their skills and concentration.

He said: "It is more difficult than it has been in the last couple of years.

"The course is a little shorter and is quite intense, which means the riders cannot relax.

"They have to be on the ball all the time.

"The horses are very well trained by the time they come to Badminton but the difference here is they are meeting a succession of very difficult fences and then two or three quite easy ones and that is what distinguishes this level of the sport."

Last year Thomas' Badminton course came in for criticism for being too dry, with riders such as Zara Phillips pulling out, but he says they have learned from any previous problems.

He said: "We have tried to prepare the ground so it can stand the rigours better. We have a better growth of grass and the ground is a bit more supple.

"We can't control the weather but hopefully it should be in good shape.

"We knew we had tried our hardest last year.

"People said, why didn't you look at the weather forecast?' But I looked at the forecast every day.

"It certainly made us examine everything we are doing and the important thing is that, if things go wrong, you learn from them.

"The whole of the team are determined to work as hard as we can to make it as successful as possible."

The 60-year-old Thomas is in his 20th year as course designer and shows no sign of letting up just yet.

"In the first few years you have loads of ideas and it's all fresh but on the other hand now I have a lot of experience," he said.

"I go and see what other people are up to and pick up good ideas from them."

But despite his two decades designing the course, Thomas is refusing to put a deadline on his time at Badminton.

"I am sure I won't be here in 20 years time and I am not going tomorrow," he joked.

"I have never wanted to put a time on it and I have no idea.

"The nice thing is I enjoy working in a place I really like, and the time period building up to the event is really nerve racking, but it's also really exciting."

7:00am Thursday 10th April 2008

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