Katherine Erickson, of the Grey Brook Eventing Blog that we often link to on EN, has kindly sent us a report from her experience at Luhmuhlen today. Thanks very much for writing this Kate, as always, and thank you for reading. Supa!
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Will and Andromaque
From Kate:
Guten Tag from beautiful Luhmuhlen! I thought after six months of living in Britain and going British and Irish three day events that I had a pretty good handle of what European eventing was all about, but the Germans have a way of making things uniquely their own. The food is different (and weird), the footing is different, the terrain and landscape are different, and of course the language is very, very different! I’ve now increased my German vocab from four words to approximately eight, my favorite of which being “supa!” which means ‘super’ and was often shouted gleefully by the announcers as a (usually German) rider crossed the finish line.
I was really excited for Luhmuhlen because the Americans competing there are some of our country’s brightest rising stars, and I couldn’t wait for them to show off their talents to the world. I missed Thursday dressage but was so delighted with the way Jennie and Will rode on Friday; they both were completely in the mix with the very high standard of competition and made our country very very proud.
On cross country, the three star went first and my father and I was almost immediately treated to a masterful performance by Will Faudree and Andromaque through the last water. We probably looked like total American fools at the end because we were whooping and jumping around so much, but he just made it look so unbelievably smooth and easy. We then moved a bit earlier in the course and watched Ringwood Magister take Tiana Coudray for a ride through the first water, ballooning incredibly over the drop in and then being very clever to jump out over the corner neatly. I was so disappointed to hear that she would later fall victim to the corner in the arena, which probably caused more problems than any other fence in both divisions. Tiana is such a good young rider and Ringwood Magister is seriously special, so I’m sure their day will come, but it was sad it wasn’t today.
Will and Pawlow
As the four star began the weather, which had been sunny and fair throughout the early going, suddenly became totally erratic, going from bright sun at one moment to torrential downpours the next. The course rode about as well as the weather, with some riders making the track look like a canter in the park and causing absolute mayhem for others. All three American riders–Will on Powlow, Jennie Brannigan on Cambalda, and Julian Stiller on Chapel Amble–came to grief in the arena, Will and Julian at the corner Tiana had faulted at and Jennie at the angled houses before it. The line the CCI**** riders had to take to the corner was one of the most insane angles I’ve ever seen, and caused a stop, a retirement, and a fall just in the few horses I was there watching, and was by far the most influential jump on course, but I’m sure all three of our riders will be disappointed. My dad and I got to watch Will and Julian through the first water, and they both looked absolutely fabulous.
The four star proved to be very much not a dressage competition, with the top placings shuffling wildly over the course of the day. In the end it was Piggy French, who was my dad’s and my favorite dressage test from Friday, who came out on top. The top placings are all very close, so the show jumping tomorrow should be exciting!
