Julia Krajewski takes to the arena to try to beat herself with Nickel 21. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

As Olympic individual gold medallist Julia Krajewski entered the arena as the final competitor of the day in Luhmühlen’s CCI4*-S, the writing was already on the wall: she was the newly minted German Champion, no matter what happened. This curious bit of kismet happened because Julia’s duo of inexperienced nine-year-olds had performed so extraordinarily well yesterday — and the course had caused so many issues — that she’d been able to move up to overnight second, from fifth, with the French-bred Ero de Cantraie, and from second to first with the German Nickel 21. And so, when she was made to jump out of order on second-placed Ero to ensure she’d have time to prepare her second ride, and when she subsequently went clear with 0.4 time faults, she secured herself the title either way — it was just to be a question of which horse would take the top honours.

In the end, it was Ero — a horse who Julia told us earlier in the week rather reminds her of her Luhmühlen CCI5* winner, Samurai du Thot — who stepped into the top spot after overnight leader Nickel 21 tipped two rails and dropped down to third.

“I knew I was German Champion one horse or the other, and then I came in again and had two unlucky rails with Nickel and I was not in the lead anymore with him, but I was still German Champion, so that was a funny situation,” she says. “Both horses were really nice. With Nickel, I lost a bit of the contact before the double and he didn’t really take the bit going through the double and then I had to push him a bit. That was a bit unusual — but he’s usually a good jumper and I think being third here is everything to be proud of.”

Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie take the German National Championship. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Quick-brained, occasionally mercurial Ero has been stepping up to the plate for Julia since they began solidifying their year-long partnership in the latter part of last season, and while he hasn’t had the same exposure to atmosphere as stablemate Nickel, who’s competed in arena eventing and ride and drive competitions, he still overcame some initial apprehension about the crowd with remarkable ease.

“We had to go in quite early, and then Ero jumped a clear round — I’m super delighted with how he went all week,” says Julia. “[He] came in today, got slightly nervous with the crowd and then really focused and jumped a very easy, nice clear round .I’m delighted; it’s only his second four-star.”

Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Easing his worries and giving him confidence was the name of the game, and Julia’s priority for the day, even if that meant sacrificing the win.

“Bringing up young horses, I’m just trying to give them security in what they’re doing, that they feel safe, that I guide them and they learn to trust me,” she says. “Often enough, it’s doing a little bit less than you would want to do, knowing that in the long-term, it’s better to do a step less than step too many, and maybe doing it for quite some years now, being more experienced than most of the horses I ride has been quite helpful!”

Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For previous two-time German National Champion Julie — she won in 2018 and 2019 with Samourai du Thot — it’s all been a bit of a weird day, in the nicest of ways.

Christoph Wähler and D’Accord 70. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

This time last year, locally-based rider Christoph Wahler, who was part of the German gold medal-winning team at Pratoni last year, came to this event with new ride D’Accord 70 and very nearly medalled in this class — but for the two rails on the final day, which cost them several places on the leaderboard and left them in eighth place. Today, they put that behind them, producing one of just five clear rounds inside the time to become one of just two combinations to finish on their dressage score, proving that the son of Diarado is well on his way to becoming Mr Consistency.

“We weren’t very happy with the dressage [a 34.4 for first phase 24th], because the horse can do a better test, and I can ride a better test, but in the end we didn’t bring it into the arena,” says Christoph, who runs his family’s high-end dressage breeding stud at the Klosterhof Medingen around his eventing obligations. “Whereas Saturday was an absolute pleasure riding him across country, because he’s a naturally quick horse with a huge gallop, and he’s got a huge jump on him. Every round I ride him he gets a little bit safer, and a little bit more comfortable with going that fast.”

Christoph Wahler and D’Accord 70. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

This year, coming from behind suited the pair, and an unruffled Christoph quietly observed the competition play out before cantering into the ring and making his own bid for a top placing.

“We’d already moved up a couple of ranks and then today I knew that the show jumping is usually quite difficult in Luhmuhlen, and the fact if we managed to jump a clear round we could be right up there, and we did,” he says.

Anna Lena Schaaf and Fairytale 39. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

After delivering a clear round, with just 0.8 time faults, Anna Lena Schaaf found herself in an enviable position: the hard work was done, and now it was down to everyone else in the class to try to match her effort — or slip below her trying. Ultimately, so few in this class were able to keep a clean slate that she found herself climbing all the way from eighth to a final fourth place.

Anna Lena Schaaf and Fairytale 39. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

That focus and drive means that she’s also highly critical of her own performances, though: “I was unhappy with my dressage, because I, myself, had two stupid mistakes, and on cross country, I was unhappy with my own riding because I didn’t find a good rhythm, but then the horse took over,” says Anna Lena. But today? She’s making up for it all by being extra happy, because “she doesn’t jump clear so often!”

Coach and fellow competitor Julia Krajewski stepped in to help an emotional Anna Lena out, and to put into words some of the abundance of feelings that come into play in a moment like this: “In my opinion, the bond between a horse and its rider can be even stronger than interpersonal relationships,” she says. “We do everything for our horses — so it’s incredibly touching when they trust us and go above and beyond.”

Nadine Marzahl and Valentine FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Nadine Marzahl had begun her week as the day one dressage leader with Victoria 108, the first of her fiery daughters of the stallion Valentino, but by the time she went into cross-country, in fourth place with Victoria and eighth with Valentine FRH, the tables had started to turn for the two mares: the first, and better-placed of the two, picked up expensive time and jumping penalties at the first combination on course, while the latter nipped home, leaving a stride or two behind along the way and picking up 3.6 time penalties. That dropped Victoria down to 27th and Valentine up to fifth — and a single rail for each mare today saw them both move up a placing in the final order, with Valentine securing an impressive fourth place finish in this prestigious class.

Calvin Böckmann and The Phantom of the Opera. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

22-year-old Calvin Böckmann had been one of the standout heroes of yesterday’s cross-country day: the young talent and former Pony European Champion, who rides as part of the Warendorf system for up-and-coming riders in Germany, had come to Luhmühlen last year to watch and learn from the top talents in the game on foot with his compatriots at the training base, and had dreamed then of one day, perhaps, getting the opportunity to compete in this event. And this week, he made good on that, not just showing up on the starting order with the former Sandra Auffarth ride, The Phantom of the Opera, but delivering the second fastest clear of the day yesterday, too, helping him climb from 12th to third going into the final phase.

But a medal wasn’t to be — not today, anyway, though it’s hard to imagine Calvin staying away from the top spot for too long. He and the twelve-year-old Holsteiner tipped the second fence and the seventh, dropping them two places on the leaderboard, but adding to an impressive resume that’s seen them finish outside of the top ten just twice in nine FEI runs (and then, just barely: their lowest international placing is a fourteenth!).

Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Hermione d’Arville. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier has been on triple duty this week: she’s not only had two horses in this class to focus on, but also her two young children, who she and husband Kai, the team trainer for Belgium and a top-level rider in his own right for Germany, have been ferrying to and fro en masse on their bikes in increasingly creative ways through the week. And, of course, she’s been occupying a supporting role: she’s had American friends to stay at Arville, the stunning base she and Kai live and work out of in Belgium, for two weeks before Luhmühlen, and could be spotting ringside cheering on Sydney Elliott in the CCI5* and, before his retirement on cross-country yesterday, Dan Krietl in the CCI4*-S.

But business seems to suit Lara, and she and her two ten-year-old homebred mares, Hermione d’Arville and Hooney d’Arville, the latter of whom is out of her former Young Rider and World Championship partner, Nooney Blue, were thoroughly impressive throughout the week. They began in 11th and 24th place, respectively, after dressage; a speedy clear for Hermione and a slightly steadier one for Hooney saw them move up to sixth and sixteenth; and then, today, a rail for Hermione and a classy clear for Hooney secured them seventh and tenth place and closed the book on a banner week for the experienced competitor.

Young British-based Swede Sofia Sjoborg once again demonstrated the consistency of her Bryjamolga van het Marienshof Z, with whom she delivered a clear inside the time across the country and tipped a rail today to complete an extraordinary climb from 43rd to eighth place, while Italy’s Emiliano Portale and the expressive galloping machine Aracne dell’Esercito Italiano (no, seriously, watch it gallop sometime if you can; it’s actually remarkable) also completed a big leap up the board, adding one rail to their 3.6 time penalties yesterday to move from initial 31st to a final ninth place.

And so we well and truly come to the end of another edition of the Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials, and five-day celebration of the love of the horse. Stay tuned for more highlights and images from this fantastic event, and in the meantime, Go Eventing.

The top ten in the Meßmer Trophy CCI4*-S, incorporating the German National Championships.

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

Laura Collett and London 52 take their third five-star win out of three starts at the level. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

By the time two-phase leaders Laura Collett and London 52 cantered into the arena with their 6.5 penalty margin in hand, Luhmühlen’s CCI5* win could have felt like a foregone conclusion — but 41 rails had already fallen throughout the previous 28 rounds, and the time had proven seriously tricky to catch, too, and so the pressure was on for the pair to try to catch their third five-star win out of three starts at the level.

But pressure? That’s something that icy-veined Laura, who’s carved a career at the top level despite hurdles including a horror fall that cost her most of her vision in one eye ten years ago, has learned to relish. She and the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Landos x Vernante, by Quinar Z) delivered a foot-perfect clear round inside the time to finish on their first-phase score of 20.3 — the second-best five-star finishing score of all time.

“At the end of the day, he’s just a sensational horse that seems to know when it really matters,” says Laura, who sourced the gelding for co-owners Karen Bartlett and Keith Scott at German team trainer Peter Thomsen’s yard in 2016. “Almost the more I ride like there’s a lot of pressure on, and try and do stupid distances, he seems to realise he needs to jump a bit higher, which is luckily what he decided to do today. He’s just — he’s my absolute. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: he’s my horse of a lifetime and I will never sit on another horse like him.”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

This isn’t just a hat-trick of five-star wins and five-star starts for the pair — it’s also the third time they’ve won a five-star with a wire-to-wire lead. Across the three starts and wins so far, they’ve only ever added 0.4 to their dressage scores: that was at Badminton last year, where they crossed the showjumping finish line just one second over the time, but still recorded the lowest-ever finishing score at the event. Now, they hold the record at all three venues they’ve contested. That, she explains, comes down to the deep trust and partnership she’s built with the gelding over the years — the good ones, and the tricky ones, such as 2019, where they had a spate of high-profile learning mistakes, culminating in a fall late on course at Luhmühlen in the European Championships.

“It’s an awful lot that we ask the horses, to come in and do a dressage test, and then be brave and jump very skinny angled fences cross country, and come out and jump clean on the last day,” she says. “So if you don’t have the trust and the partnership there, then things are going to go wrong. It’s taken a good few years to really cement the partnership I have with him, and I think the reason that I’m so proud of him is that I know he’s not a natural cross country horse. He’s had to learn to be a cross country horse, and the way he stormed around that track yesterday, making it feel so easy, is what makes me just so unbelievably proud and why I do it. I love building a partnership with the horses, and when they come out and reward you like that after years of trying to get it right, it’s just an unbelievable feeling. From my point of view, I love spending time with the horses because I think you get to know them inside out. Obviously there’s a massive team of people behind us that make it possible for us to be able to enjoy days like today, but I think it does help build the bond and, and the horses know that we care for them — and I think that makes them try a little bit harder for us when it really matters.”

Now, with three five-star victories and an Olympic team gold under her belt, Laura’s setting her sights on ticking a few boxes and putting a few demons to bed. And then? Maybe it’s time to try to catch a few more of those titles and records.

“I’d really like to win a senior European title, so that’d be first on the on the list,” she says, looking ahead to August’s championships at Haras du Pin. “And then I’ve got a score to settle: I feel like I messed up at the Olympics and should have won an individual medal there, so I guess I’ll try and do that next year — and maybe Kentucky the year after!”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

This fortuitous trip to Luhmühlen was actually never part of London 52’s plan for the season — Laura had intended to return to Badminton to defend her title, but the gelding struck into himself shortly before the event, forcing her withdrawal and a diversion to plan B. That, plus the difficulty of this year’s spring season in Britain, could have been a devastating blow to the rider — but instead, she let the puzzle pieces fall into place.

“The timing actually was pretty perfect, really, because it was far enough out that as soon as he struck into himself, the decision was made he wasn’t going to go to Badminton,” she explains. “He had ten days off, and so then it was just about working backwards from here. We only had one option of a four-star short run, and that was Bicton, and I was really pleased about that because I knew at Bicton, they always build such a good cross country track. So I thought that was perfect, with dressage and show jumping on a surface. To be honest, it’s been such a funny year, but it’s felt like with him in particular, everything’s just fallen into place. It was almost like he saw the weather forecast for Badminton and decided that maybe we’re going to try and win a different five-star instead!”

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Although Kitty King knew that the overnight leader had a rail and change in hand today, she herself did not: she went into the final phase with just a time penalty to spare, and she knew she’d have to leave all the jumps in the cups with Vendredi Biats (Winningmood x Liane Normande, by Camellia de Ruelles) to retain second place and, she hoped, put some pressure on Laura. But even with the weight of that responsibility on her shoulders, as she waited at the in-gate, she felt nothing but an overwhelming calm.

“To be honest, today I felt the least pressure I’ve ever felt with him in a show jumping arena,” she says. “He felt really great in the warm up, so that really helped. I know what a good jumper he is, and to be honest, we’ve had so much rotten luck recently, I thought, ‘no more can go wrong — so what will be, will be here, and I’ve coped with all the downs of Badminton and Burghley, so it can’t get any worse, so we’ll just go in and enjoy our round’. He really did that and he felt like he was on springs. He’s just such a game jumper — he absolutely loves it. He lives for jumping.”

Even with the gelding’s exceptional showjumping record working in her favour, though, Kitty still had to work hard to get the better of the notoriously tough course here — and in doing so, picked up a time fault.

“It wasn’t a track that particularly suits him because it’s quite gallopy; he’s better at tight turnbacks,” she explains. “So I had to break his canter up a little bit, which is why I think I got the time fault. But that was my riding rather than him — he jumped his socks off.”

This second place finish breaks a run of bad luck for Kitty and the French-bred gelding, which began at Burghley last year, where they led the dressage bit hit a late MIMclip on the course to lose their shot at the win. That luck worsened at Badminton this spring; they were placed second after the first phase, but suffered a non-injurious fall early in the course when the keen and quick gelding overbalanced over one of the widest fences on course. Now, finally getting the result their abundance of talent has richly deserved almost feels like “nearly a bit of an anticlimax, as awful as that sounds,” she laughs. “Because, obviously he was on the verge at Burghley, and at Badminton we put ourselves in a great spot.”

But, she explains, sometimes you need a little bit of luck on your side — and learning when to call it a day is crucial, too.

“To be honest, Badminton week I should have given up before we started, because it already wasn’t my week,” she says. “One of my best friends broke his neck at Cirencester and was being operated on, and my dad had a heart attack on dressage day, so I wasn’t in the right mindset for cross country. Neither of us really did anything wrong, I don’t think, other than that he jumped it a bit big. But when I fell off, I was nearly relieved. I was like, ‘Oh well, at least we’re only at minute two — we’re both fine, so we’ll go somewhere else’.  The whole morning I was umming and ahhing as to whether I should be running. I was thinking, ‘everything’s going wrong in my life at the moment, maybe it’s not the day to be tackling this’, and I probably wasn’t in the best mindset. When I was walking back to the stables, I was like, ‘we can go to Luhmühlen’. That’s always been the goal since, and I’ve been in a much better mindset with it all.  I know he’s more than capable so to come out and just to get the job done… It’s a really weird feeling. I’m obviously absolutely over the moon with the result, but in some ways it’s like, I’m so near again, and yet so far. But it’s just so nice to be able to get all the three phases right. [I’m] glad to have a little bit of luck back on our side this year. It’s a shame to always have to be up against London, but he’s so good that coming second to him is almost like a win. [London’s] just the most special horse, and mine’s pretty damn good too! “

Like Laura and London, Kitty logs her phenomenal result this weekend with a horse that hasn’t always been the most straightforward character — but time, patience, and a heaping helping of faith in what could be has helped him to flourish into a top-notch competitor.

“Froggy is very special, but he has a bit of a chequered history,” says Kitty of the gelding, owned by Diana Bown, Sally Lloyd Baker, Sally Eyre and Samantha Wilson. “He was very naughty and used to like to buck people off all the time, so he moved around to quite a few yards until I got him as a five-year-old. When we saw him in the stable, he had the most beautiful head — and then they pulled him out, and to be honest, after they trotted him up I was really quite disappointed! He dragged his feet and didn’t look very inspiring or very impressed about life. But as soon as I sat on him, there was just something really special about him, and we got on really, really well. And I think he’s only bucked me off twice, so I’ve done alright! He’s just a clown and a comedian and really, we’re all just here to amuse him.”

Yasmin Ingham and Rehy DJ. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Reigning World Champion Yasmin Ingham closed the book on an excellent weekend with her long-time partner, the Sue Davies Fund and Janette Chinn’s Rehy DJ (Tinarina’s Inspector x Rehy Misty, by Big Sink Hope), who jumped a classy clear round with a time fault to retain his overnight third place. Like her two compatriots ahead of her on the podium, though, she knew that despite the influence exerted by the course, she was sitting on a horse she could rely on to get the job done.

“I have a lot of trust in Piglet,” says Yas. “He’s usually a very good jumper, and I’ve known him for a long time now, so we have a great partnership. It’s probably his strongest phase out of all the three, so it was a pleasure to go in that arena and jump in front of the crowds and try and do our best for his owners and my team. I think we did just that.”

Yas, too, extolled the virtues of a long partnership and an innate level of mutual trust, and their necessity in bringing home a great result — in this case, the gelding’s first five-star completion after an educational, rather than competitive, debut at Pau in 2020.

“I think it’s all about the bond and the partnership and the trust,” she says. “It comes from the training at home, the looking after the horses — like Laura said, getting to know them inside and out. They have to trust us when we ask them to do the jumping and the cross country and training them in the dressage. I love spending time with all the horses and getting to know them and all their quirks and the good parts and the bad parts and trying to improve them. It’s an amazing sport to be involved in.”

In her case, that partnership goes back to the horse’s formative years — and her own, too. Together, the pair have risen through the Young Rider Europeans level, taking individual fourth at Fontainebleau in 2018, to representing Great Britain at CHIO Aachen in 2022 and now, taking a podium position at this topmost level of the sport.

“I’ve had him since he was six, so I’ve had him for a long time now,” says Yas. “I’ve produced him from the very first international classes at two-star level, so I’m very proud to have brought him up through the levels and to have such a great result today, it certainly makes you appreciate the good days.”

Yasmin Ingham and Rehy DJ. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

British team trainer Chris Bartle was quick to bestow praise upon the trio of British women with whom he’s worked so closely for so many years — praise, he acknowledged, that they were unlucky to give themselves.

“These girls are absolutely right in appreciating what [their horses] do, and obviously, without a super horse that really trusts you as a partner, you’re not going to succeed,” he says. “But don’t underestimate the work that these guys put in to improving their own communication system with their horses; into developing the analysis; into building up the physical and mental competence, and so on. That is not to be underestimated –they’re just far too nice to say as it should be!”

Boyd Martin and Luke 140. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

All week long, Boyd Martin has been at the forefront of the considerable US contingent that made the trip to Germany, and that didn’t change today. He began his morning with his most experienced horse, the Turner family’s Tsetserleg (Windfall II x Thabana, by Buddenbrock), and although the pair tipped a rail and added 1.2 time penalties, he was full of praise for his diminutive Tokyo partner, who finished 25th.

“With Thomas, I was just thrilled the way he jumped,” he says. “We’ve had many rails over much easier courses, and I was very grateful to Peter Wylde, who came over to help us this week.”

One of the changes that Peter helped engineer for the pair was a totally revamped warm-up routine for the gelding: “We gave him his warm up for the jumping at 9:30 this morning [an hour before the start of the class], and then just did a couple of fences before we went in — and it seemed to work, as sometimes he gets a little bit nervous and worried with all the other horses. I’m just blown away by his round — show jumping has been an ongoing challenge, and I don’t think I’ve ever had him jumping so good. So I feel like there’s a bit left in the tank there, and I’ll be forever kicking myself over yesterday’s run out, but I’m hoping that we’ll be able to go to Burghley and have a redo.”

His duo of very different debutants, Fedarman B (Eurocommerce Washington x Paulien B, by Fedor) and the Luke 140 Syndicate’s Luke 140 (Landos x Omega IV, by Limbus), brought it home in fine style: though Fedarman B, or Bruno, had a rail at fence four, he was still able to climb one place to eventual eighth, and the tiny, feisty Luke delivered one of just five clears inside the time to retain his overnight fourth place.

“Bruno is just a phenomenal jumper and he’s never had a rail down with me, so I sadly picked a terrible event to have his first pole — but he’s a class jumper,” says Boyd, who rides the gelding for the Annie Goodwin Syndicate in honour of the horse’s former owner and rider, who tragically passed away at the age of 32 in a cross-country schooling accident in 2021. “I think now that we’ve got a good partnership, we could challenge him a bit more in the warm up to get him to get rid of that pole. Luke’s just a rocket; he’s just got the warrior mindset. Even at the trot up this morning he was pushing me out of the way, and I rode him earlier this morning and he tried to buck me off. In the warm up he was jumping over the standards, so I knew if I could just ride him well enough in there, he should jump clear.”

Throughout their experience at Luhmühlen, Boyd says, both horses learned a huge amount — and he learned plenty about them, too.

“I’ve figured out they’ve both got heart and desire,” he says. “You know, that last minute or two minutes of the cross country here when you come out of last water, you’ve got that hill — and every horse I’ve ever ridden here is grunting as they go up that hill. You just don’t know how they’ll react. Both horses gritted their teeth and pinned their ears back, and they’ll benefit from this hard run. I think wherever I match them up at the end of the year, the hard push that we had yesterday gives me self-belief that they’ve got that inner warrior that you need when the going gets tough.”

For Bruno and Luke, those end of year plans could include a trip to Pau for one and Maryland for the other — but for both, this was always going to be Boyd’s choice for a debut.

“Luhmuhlen’s been on my radar for both Luke and Bruno for a long time, and I really felt like this would be just a perfect first five-star for them,” he says. “They’re green horses, and I thought the track here would be perfectly suited for them. I was thrilled with the way they went — they were really challenged yesterday and stood up to the test, and then came out and jumped very well today. I think I’m gonna have a really, really good run at the top level of the sport for many years with these two. They’re both just quality animals; I love riding them and they really enjoy the competitions.”

Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The US had two more solid completions in Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire, who tipped two rails and added 1.6 time penalties, dropping them from 14th to 17th, and are still flying high off the back of a super-classy clear inside the time over yesterday’s cross-country, and Katherine Coleman, who also took two with RLE Limbo Kaiser to finish 29th.

Harry Meade and Tenareze. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Harry Meade‘s week of sneaky excellence came good with an exceptional clear inside the time from the on-form Tenareze (Jaguar Mail x Utopie du Maury, by Quatar de Plape), completing their climb from first-phase eleventh place to secure the fifth place they’d held overnight. But while neither horse nor rider has put a foot wrong in any phase, finishing on their dressage score of 30.7, they came into this event — the 16-year-old Anglo Arab’s second full five-star run, and first cross-country clear at the level — flying well under the radar.

“I came out here not quite knowing what to expect from him,” says Harry, who rides the gelding for David Bernstein, Nigella Hall, and Sophie Caruth. “He’s got lots of ability, he wouldn’t necessarily be the world’s bravest horse — but I just thought, ‘okay, I’ll just try and do the best job I can’, and really, I couldn’t have wished for a better performance from him in all three phases.”

Academic horseman Harry was particularly delighted to find that his relatively inexperienced mount felt so well and capable of jumping such a tough track in fine style after yesterday’s exertions.

“I always think that the proof of the pudding of a fit horse is how they feel the next day, not just how they finish the cross country,” he says. “He felt like he hadn’t been cross country at all you know. If I had amnesia and didn’t know what he’d done the day before, I wouldn’t have thought he’d been cross country — he was great.”

That feeling gave him the confidence to ride to plan A, which involved plenty of inside lines to try to catch the elusive time.

“That was the main target — to turn inside a couple of places, as the time was tight in there. I was delighted he finished with a nice clear round; you sort of expect when you have a tough showjumping track like that, that it alters the placings, but obviously, the top five didn’t change order — but I’m delighted with him.”

Tom Jackson and Farndon. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tom Jackson was one of four competitors to finish on his dressage score, and that allowed him to complete his climb from first-phase 22nd place to eventual sixth with the thirteen-year-old debutant Farndon, who he pilots for Anne and Iain Slater.

“He was awesome, and he jumped really well,” says Tom of the Dutch Warmblood gelding (Hemmingway x Silvanda, by Marlon). “I mean, he’s always wanted to be a careful horse. But a little bit like the cross country, it’s just the that rideability sometimes gets in the way — but I think we’re getting there.”

‘Getting there’, he explains, has taken “just time, and training — it’s been a sort of progressive path to get to here, and I’m over the moon that he’s delivered for us and his owners as you saying come in here.We always knew he had the potential to be very good; he’s always super brave, he moves well, he wants to be careful. But to actually go and do it is always a different thing, so I’m super happy.”

Oliver Townend and Swallow Springs. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Oliver Townend has had a week of ups and downs, with dressage scores that weren’t quite what he’d have hoped for, a green blip for the inexperienced Cooley Rosalent across the country yesterday, and rails for each of his horses today — but his two more experienced mounts were still able to secure spots in the top ten thanks to their speedy rounds yesterday across the country. 15-year-old former Andrew Nicholson ride Swallow Springs (Chillout x Kilila, by Cult Hero), who was rerouted here from Badminton, took seventh place with just one rail down to climb from initial 14th place for owner Paul Ridgeon, while third-time five-star horse Tregilder (Royal Concorde x Trewins, by Hand In Glove) tipped two to move from seventh to ninth place in the final standings.

Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

German five-star debutant Jérôme Robiné, too, tipped two rails and picked up two time penalties with Dorothea Von Zedtwitz’s Black Ice (Vechta x Brookhall Lady, by Touchdown), but such was the pair’s effort across the week that they were still able to step up one place to finish in tenth.

“In the end, for me it’s a top result, being placed in my first five-star in front of a home crowd. It was really good fun,” says 25-year-old Jérôme. “It was a big course, with two doubles close to the other, and the time was tough, which is always hard for me because he has a big canter but is not that fast in his canter. He was great in the warm up, and he jumped pretty good, but then I felt he was a bit tired from yesterday. I came out of the double and held my rhythm and he got tired a bit, and so for me, next time, I have to push him again a bit. I had two down in the end, which was a bit disappointing for me. But in the end, he jumped the last two pretty good again and so I’m happy with the result — but in the first moment I was a bit disappointed.”

Jérôme’s theme of the week, though, has been development: he had originally thought of returning for the German National Championship CCI4*-S, in which he finished fifth last year with the gelding, but was encouraged by his coaches to push himself beyond his comfort zone and take the next step. Along the way, he’s proved a force to be reckoned with — and has itemised plenty of areas he wants to gain experience in and develop over his career at the top level.

“You have to grow into this level, as you did in every other level,” he says sagely. “And of course you can’t [run five-star] that often but for our first time, we are pretty happy. I think the whole German team is happy with the young riders.”

They have plenty to be happy about, certainly: we don’t often see a large German front in this class, as most focus their attentions on the CCI4*-S and championship pathways — but this week, three excellent debutantes stepped up to the plate and showed the strength in depth that the German system is creating. All three completed the competition, and two of those — Jérôme and 24-year-old Emma Brüssau, who finished 21st, are part of the robust Bundeswehr rider training programme at Wahrendorf, under the auspices of coach and Olympic individual gold medalist Julia Krajewski.

“First of all, it’s a super good event to perform at top level,” says Julia, who spent her week helping her students, as well as winning the German National Championship herself (more on this coming soon!). “It’s fair, it’s nice, but you’ve got so much atmosphere and you’ve really got to test your nerves. I’m very proud of all of them; I think all of them had a generally good weekend. You can feel here and there that maybe they made some old mistakes, like some habits came back, but that’s part of the development and it happens. Yesterday, Calvin Böckmann was up there in the four-star and had a nice press conference, and today was a bit unlucky, and then Anna Lena came up the ranks today. So that’s also a big part of the game: sometimes, you’re at the top and then it goes a bit up and down.”

“The ones like Jerome, he’s just really moving his way up,” she continues. “He’s such a precise, dedicated rider, and he really always wants to do the absolute best for his horse and for the performance. This was a top-10 five-star result, and it was about time for him. I think there’s way more to come because what he does, he does with 110%, which is really cool.”

Emma Brüssau and Dark Desire GS. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“And then, I was personally very emotional for Emma [Brüssau]. It’s a horse she’s had since she did Juniors and it was bought to do Juniors, maybe Young Riders, and now it’s a five-star horse,” she explains. “She’s an amateur — she’s studying psychology, but she’s really dedicated, and has such a good head and really wants to work her way up despite not having so many horses. It’s such a big family thing for these riders, and if you go and look how everyone reacted after their cross country rounds yesterday, you can feel that there’s a really good connection between the under-twenty-fives and they really cheer each other on. It’s a really nice atmosphere — they lift each other up and there’s no bad blood, and that’s really nice to see and it makes you feel that they will make their way.”

The robust support system that Wahrendorf creates is essential, Julia explains, for keeping talented young riders in the sport after they age out — and at just 34 herself and at the top of her game, she’s able to lead by example and by proximity to their own experiences.

“I think maybe that makes it quite relatable for me, and also them to me, so they they know I’ve just been there — I’ve done Ponies, Juniors, Young Riders, I’ve had difficult first years in Seniors,” she says. “I know how it is to be at the top and at the bottom. I’m very straightforward with them. I tell them what I think — sometimes they like it, sometimes not. But I think they know they can trust me and they know it’s got some sort of substance.”

“I think the system in Germany had to grow like that, because we just don’t have as many riders,” she continues. “If you look at how many really have the chance to make their way into Seniors and how many come out in the end, I think we have a really good percentage — because we try to really find the ones that have a chance and have the motivation and possibility, and we help them along. In the end, it’s up to the individual person, but most riders will drop out of riding after young riders because you feel quite lost. We try to really pick them up and say, ‘Okay, here’s an idea, here’s a way’. You want to join, you have to work hard, you have to put your work [in] but you have to have some guidance, and that’s really helpful. That’s the nice thing about eventing. I think it is still possible even without massive finances, backing or super expensive horses early on, and we have so many examples who showed it. It’s hard work; it’s a lot.  All of them work many hours per day, per week, per year, but if you want to achieve your dreams and go for it, then you know it’s possible.”

We can think of no better way to summarise the extraordinary efforts that earned placings this week at Luhmühlen — a week of competition that’s been about dedication, partnership, and the cobbled-together family units that this travelling circus of a sport creates. Go eventing, indeed.

The final top ten in Luhmühlen’s CCI5*.

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

Will Rawlin and The Partner. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

All 29 horses that completed yesterday’s cross-country were presented to the ground jury, comprised of president Nick Burton, Dr Joachim Dimmek, and Katrin Eichinger-Kniely, and all were accepted into the final phase of the competition — eventually.

Two of those presented were asked to trot a second time: the first of those, New Zealand’s Muzi Pottinger and her seventeen-year-old Thoroughbred Just Kidding, who sit sixth overnight after coming home just one second over the optimum time, were then accepted; the second, Great Britain’s Will Rawlin and his five-star debutant The Partner, 23rd overnight after a late 20 on course, were subsequently sent to the holding box for further inspection. Upon re-presentation, and some further deliberation, they were accepted into the competition.

Evelina Bertoli and Fidjy des Melezes. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Similarly, the CCI4*-S — which only has a final horse inspection — saw one horse sent to the holding box by the ground jury of Seppo Laine and Dr Ernst Topp and the inspecting vet. That was Evelina Bertoli‘s Fidjy des Melezes, competing for Italy and sitting seventh overnight; upon reinspection, the pair were accepted to continue with their bold bid for a top placing. We’re down by one in this class, though, from yesterday’s 32 completing competitors: Ireland’s Cathal Daniels didn’t present CDS Cairnview Romulu at the inspection.

Now it’s go time for the showjumping: first up to bat is the five-star, which begins at 10.30 a.m. (9.30 a.m. BST/4.30 a.m. EST), followed by the prizegiving, before all attention turns to the finale of the CCI4*-S, beginning at 13.50 (12.50 p.m. BST/7.50 a.m. EST). As always, you can follow all the action via Horse & Country TV, which also has on-demand viewing available for all the completed phases thus far — and keep it locked on to EN for full reports and galleries from each class. Go Eventing!

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

And so we come to the end of cross-country day at the Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials, the world’s ‘soft-option’ five-star; one that’s just really easy and like, doesn’t even count as a five-star. (Seriously, though, where’s the sarcasm font when you need it?) Though the course here is often misjudged for not being a ‘classic’ bold galloping track like Badminton or Burghley, it’s never an easy outing — instead, it’s a very continental one, and one which values keeping horses on their feet above all else. That’s something that course designer Mike Etherington-Smith very nearly managed perfectly today: not a single horse fell in the feature CCI5* class this morning, and just one fell in this afternoon’s CCI4*-S, and that’s because this clever, technical track was designed to exert influence through run-outs and drive-bys, rather than through out-and-out, thrills and spills carnage.

Influence is certainly something it exerted in spades: of the 38 starters, 29 would go on to complete, but just 22 did so sans jumping penalties. Mike had predicted that ten to twelve horses would make the time, helped by the venue’s flat, sandy, horse-friendly going, and he was right on the money: twelve combinations did just that.

The problems were scattered evenly around the course’s major questions — and some of the less major ones, too — but it was at the very start of the day that its intensity was felt most keenly. Pathfinder Oliver Townend and the nine-year-old Cooley Rosalent suffered a run-out at the skinny first element of the Meßmer Water at 17A; second out, seasoned Olympians Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg, picked up a 20 in the fiendishly tough first water; Laura Collett and Dacapo nabbed 20 penalties at 20B, the first of two angled brushes in the main arena; France’s Gireg le Coz and his debutant Caramel d’Orchis did the same at 20C, the second of the brushes — and then, full-time accountant, part-time rider, and five-star debutant Arne Bergendahl left the startbox on his homebred Luthien 3 and delivered what we’d all waited for: a clear round, and one that was inside the time, no less. But even once the great rounds started to trickle in, the problems kept cropping up all through the morning’s cross-country.

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

With two wins out of two five-star starts behind them already, earned at Pau in 2020 and Badminton in 2022, Laura Collett and London 52 have come into this year’s Luhmühlen as the firm favourites — but after running into trouble at the double of brushes in the main arena with her first ride, Dacapo, Laura knew that she’d have to ride every stride of today’s tough course to get the job done.

“It was tough out there,” she says. “I had problems with my first horse and that made me realise just how tough every fence rode. I think we slightly underestimated some of the fences — there were obviously the ones that we were focused on, but it honestly felt like at every single fence around there you had to be on your A game, knowing when the fences were coming up so they didn’t surprise the horses who obviously haven’t walked the course. But yeah, it was a tough test and it rode tough from start to finish.”

But the ultra-consistent gelding took to the track as though he had, in fact, walked the course, adding another tick in another box after his stellar dressage score of 20.3 yesterday, which they added nothing to.

“That horse is sensational — I’m so lucky to ride him,” she says. “He’s a dream to ride in the dressage arena and he comes out and goes around there like a demon.”

Laura Collett and London 52. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Although he’s a big, rangy German-bred horse, Laura says that ‘Dan’ “kind of rides like a pony. He’s really tall and he’s got a massive stride but he’s so adjustable.”

That adjustability wasn’t always totally secure: in his earlier four-star seasons, he had a few high-profile blips as he learned his job — and one of those came on his last trip here, when he went onto cross-country in a competitive position at the 2019 European Championships but ran into a spot of bother at what was then the final water, resulting in a rider fall. Since then, though, the two-time five-star champions and Olympic team gold medallists have gone from strength to strength — and Laura, despite her superstar status and the pressure of the spotlight, has finely honed her sense of pragmatism.

“Just learning to trust him I think is the biggest thing — a few years back, I overcomplicated things and I should just let him get on and do his job because he knows what he’s doing,” she says. “At the end of the day, I’m so happy with how he’s gone today. Tomorrow’s another day and Kitty’s horse is an amazing jumper, so the main thing is that we get him happy and rested, and hopefully he comes out and jumps like I know he can — but that horse owes me absolutely nothing. He’s done so much for my career, and hopefully he can add another five-star title to his resume, but if he doesn’t, then I’m just super proud of how he’s gone ’round today.”

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

She’s had a rubbish run of luck at her last couple of five-stars, but Kitty King and Vendredi Biats were pure class around Mike Etherington-Smith’s course today, adding nothing to their first-phase score of 26.8 to move up from third to second place, capitalising on a space made available by overnight runner-up Pippa Funnell, who went clear with her Burghley champion MGH Grafton Street, but added a steady 15.6 time penalties to drop to 16th.

“He was absolutely fantastic, and to be honest, it was a big relief to finish because we’ve had a few mishaps in our last couple of five-stars,” says Kitty, who rerouted from Badminton after an unlucky peck on landing early in the course. “He was very well-placed at Burghley after dressage and then we broke a pin, so that was very disappointing, and then he was just a bit too fresh at Badminton and jumped a log pile early on very big and stumbled on landing and we had a very frustrating fall. So to put those to bed and come around to Luhmuhlen and have such a fantastic ride was absolutely brilliant. He just felt back to his best; he was really looking for all the flags, and I couldn’t fault him at all.”

Although Kitty had the chance to learn from some of the early issues on the course, she still came out fairly early on — and she was determined to stick resolutely to the plan she’d created for ‘Froggy’. But one bit of key intel came as a great relief just before she left the start box.

“I had heard that people had been putting four strides in the first water before I went, but that was about the only feedback I had since I was so early,” she says. “But to be honest, I was glad that people were finding it long because he always jumps into water so big, so I was a bit worried he’d find it short on the three. So when I heard people going on four, once we’d done that fence I was like ‘yeah, he’s on it; he knows what he’s doing’.”

Now, she goes into tomorrow’s showjumping 6.5 penalties behind the overnight leader, giving Laura a rail and six time penalties in hand — but handily mounted on one of the best show jumpers in the field, she’s looking forward to putting the pressure on her friend. Even so, she’s not planning to get complacent about the task at hand.

“He’s an amazing jumper, but we as jockeys have to do our job as well,” she says. “So it’s easy to make a mistake and have a pole, but he’s great and I wouldn’t want to swap him for the world.”

Yasmin Ingham and Rehy DJ. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Yasmin Ingham was able to step up one place to overnight with the ever-reliable Rehy DJ, who romped home clear and inside the time in his first five-star since his educational debut at Pau in 2020.

“He was amazing today,” says the reigning World Champion. “I couldn’t be happier with ‘Piglet.’ He was incredible. He helped me out a few times and he really dug deep. He moved upon all his minutes and could not be happier with him. The first water I knew was going to be a bit long because he tends to just pop in, so I kind of kicked and chucked the rein at him and he understood and he just took off and was a total pro. I’m very proud of him.”

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Boyd Martin came to Luhmühlen well-stocked with three horses in this class, and although his day started out frustratingly, with an early 20 for the experienced Tsetserleg at the first water, it swiftly redeemed itself: his second ride, Fedarman B, did him and the Annie Goodwin Syndicate proud, jumping clear inside the time for overnight ninth place, and his final ride Luke 140 — perhaps rather the wild card of the three entries — showed exactly what he was made of as the last horse out on course today. He, too, added nothing to his first-phase score, and climbed up from ninth to fourth place going into the final day.

“I’m going to be kicking myself forever,” says Boyd ruefully, recalling his first ride of the day with Tokyo mount Tsetserleg, who ran out at the B element of the first water. “I made a horrible decision turning up tight to the first water jump, and I got a horrible distance in. He sort of clambered over it; I should’ve just kicked forward and got three strides, but I tried to hold him for four strides. We were between a rock and a hard place and ended up on a perfect three-and-a-half. I whipped around and did the option and he just coasted around the rest of the course. He’s still a champion horse, but that was definitely my mistake and I’ll be remembering that for a moment.”

Boyd Martin and Fedarman B. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

But with this other two rides, both aboard debutant horses, he couldn’t be more delighted.

“Bruno was an absolute star today,” he says of ninth-placed Fedarman B. “This was a huge step up for him at the five-star level. The course wasn’t riding that well by the time Bruno went ,and I was sort of half-considering an option here and there, but luckily [US chef d’equipe] Bobby Costello and Peter Wylde pulled me aside and told me to toughen up — and I’m glad they did because Bruno was a champion. He ripped around the track, all the direct lines and made the time.”

Boyd Martin and Luke 140. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

And of tiny, occasionally feral, but seriously talented pony-on-steroids Luke 140, he grins, “Luke was an absolute wild man at the beginning of the course; I was half out of control at the first five or six fences, but luckily for me, Luke started to get tired and he became easier and easier to ride. He’s such a class horse; he just jumped everything beautifully and made the trip very, very well and had plenty left in the tank the end. And luckily we got the time as well, so we’re in the top group going into show jumping.”

For that, he’s got the help of a not-so-secret weapon.

“The show jumping is notoriously tough here at Luhmühlen, so I jetted over Peter Wylde, who’s been helping me earlier in the week,” he says. “I’m glad he’s here to help me warm-up and school the horses in the morning. I’m on good jumpers, but like we saw today, I’ve got to ride them well every step of the way.”

Harry Meade and Tenareze. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Harry Meade‘s Tenareze delivered his most professional, polished top-level round yet, adding nothing to his first-phase score of 30.7, which moves them from eleventh to fifth overnight — a long-awaited result befitting the 16-year-old Anglo Arab’s not inconsiderable talent.

“I was thrilled with him; he gave me a lovely ride,” says Harry. “He gets a little bit strong, so my plan was just to start out a little bit gently and try not to touch him, and when I saw a distance from a long way, just to do nothing — otherwise he can get fighting me a little bit. But he was super. I was totally thrilled with him, I thought particularly through the first water — it was a really good strong question, and I made sure I came out wider than most so that I could then ride forward to it, a little bit like hunting, just come through over the first log in a nice positive way and then the corner’s straight in front.”

Though the gelding — who was cut late and can still be used for breeding through a supply of frozen straws — is perhaps more naturally suited to an open, galloping course, Harry worked hard to help him find his pace in his own way through Luhmühlen’s twisty track.

“He’s a good galloper, and a horse that’s suited to Luhmühlen doesn’t always have to be the biggest galloper,” he says. “They have to be adjustable. And perhaps that’s where I had to cover up a little bit for him, because he wouldn’t be the most adjustable — so it’s about just trying to get into a rhythm. I always think when you start out, once you get to the third minute, you’re on a pace and it’s very difficult to change that — so it’s all about trying to just start as you mean to go on, and then hopefully you can ignore the clock and and the rest looks after itself.”

Muzi Pottinger and Just Kidding. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

New Zealand’s Muzi Pottinger delivered a coup for Thoroughbred-lovers everywhere, piloting her Pratoni mount Just Kidding — both the smallest horse in the field at 15.2hh and the eldest at seventeen — to one of the most enjoyable rounds of the day. They came home clear and just one second over the 11:08 optimum time to move from twelfth after dressage to sixth overnight.

“He is just amazing — it makes me emotional,” says Muzi, whose mother, Tinks, was one of the great mainstays of the Kiwi team in her generation. “He’s just a phenomenal little horse. I’ve had him for 12 years now and he’s take me all around the world, and he just keeps trying. We had one early combination that was not perfect by any means; it wasn’t the plan and he just felt a little bit underprepared — but he was dead on, and then after that, he was just on it every step of the way.”

Muzi earned big cheers from the crowds at the tough first water when she and her tiny champion made a huge effort over the big drop in and tackled the corner in the water with serious gumption — which gave Muzi a chance to breathe and enjoy the rest of the course.

“He was bloody honest going into the water. That fence made me really nervous,” she says. “It was a massive jump, and I just didn’t really know how you were going to get a perfect distance — but he was just phenomenal then every step of the way. He just keeps going, and then he looks for the flags. I just could not have asked for a better partner —  he’s just so bloody honest. Like, he’s so genuine. He does not — and I mean this in the nicest way — he does not have the most talent in the world when it comes to jumping. He lands short; he’s got no stride. He’s completely at his maximum here. He’s not going to ever go and jump a 1.40 show jumping track — he doesn’t have the scope. But what he lacks in scope he has in heart. You just can’t buy that.”

Oliver Townend and Tregilder. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Though Oliver Townend‘s pathfinding round with the inexperienced nine-year-old Cooley Rosalent didn’t go quite to plan, he rallied for his next two: riding midway through the line-up, he delivered a clear round with 1.2 time penalties aboard Tregilder in the gelding’s third five-star, which allowed them to retain their overnight seventh place, and as the penultimate rider out of the start box with Swallow Springs, he was clear inside the time to move up from 14th to eighth.

“It’s fantastic to be back in Luhmühlen,” he says. “It’s not a five-star like a Badminton or a Burghley, but it’s still definitely a five-star, and I think what’s so beautiful about our sport is that you can go horses for courses —  this one might suit this one, this one might suit that one.”

Of his top-placed horse, Tregilder, he says, “He’s a huge horse, a huge, tall horse, so I feel sometimes I have to balance him a little more than I’d ideally like to, but he’s honest as honest could be and he tried his heart out there. The three seconds are mine: I could have gone quicker, but I just wanted to save and save and save [his energy], and I possibly saved for two strides too many somewhere around there. But at the same time, he’s home and safe and we’re thrilled with him.”

Felix Vogg and Colero. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Reigning champions Felix Vogg and Colero round out the top ten after finishing well inside the optimum time to claw their way back up from a disappointing first-phase performance, which saw them post a 33.3 to sit 20th coming into this phase, while young German five-star debutant Jérôme Robiné delivered one of the most popular clears of the day — though with 4 time penalties, which dropped him three places — to take overnight eleventh.

“It felt amazing,” says Jérôme, who was one of three German riders in this class — all of whom were making their debut, and all of whom went clear.

It was the first of those, Arne Bergendahl, who Jérôme says set the tone for his own success later in the class.

“In the morning, I was pretty nervous — normally I’m not, but I saw the first three riders, all are world-class riders, and they all had little problems, so I was like, ‘how will it go?’ And then Arne came and he had a brilliant round, and I said, ‘okay, with that feeling, I’m getting out of the [rider’s viewing] tent, and I’m going to my lorry to try to calm down!'”

Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Leaving the start box with a positive visual in his mind about how the course could be ridden was key — and soon, he found himself having great fun with his ebullient Black Ice as they were cheered around the course.

“I started not that fast — I think I was always a bit late behind my minute markers but I said, ‘okay, I’ll try to to hold that rhythm’,” he says. “All the coaches said to just get in a good rhythm. After the coffin and after the first water I thought, ‘now we are in it’ — and then the Meßmer Water was, again, amazing. And then I said ‘okay, now we can really go for it!’ It was just a great feeling.”

As part of the Warendorf training system for upcoming talent in Germany, Jérôme was well supported by friends, fellow competitors, and coaches — including German team trainer Peter Thomsen and Warendorf trainer Julia Krajewski.

“It’s brilliant to have a lot of people around you who have this five-star experience to give you the right advice,” he says. “They all said, ‘just ride it as a normal four-star. You can do it.’ I think that, for me, was absolutely important from the coaches and some riders I’m really close to and can ask them everything — they all came down here when we came down to do the last warm-up, and then I got a big smile on my face and everyone smiled back, and then I thought, ‘okay, we can do it today! I think it’s cool to have three young German riders back on this five-star level. There’s not so many in Germany, and now we have three young people who tried their first time and all three did a very good job, I think, and so Team Germany was pretty happy!”

Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The USA’s Sydney Elliott was able to take advantage of the doors opened by the day’s influence, and climbed from 31st place after dressage to 14th with QC Diamantaire after delivering one of the early clears inside the time.

“To say the least, we had some pressure on us today — which was good,” says Sydney. “I love having the pressure! In the warm up he felt really good, right from the first fence so I was like, ‘I think we’ve got it, if I can do my job. He’s ready today.’ I think I walked the course about five times, just to know my minutes and my lines and where I can really get tight to the ropes.”

To ensure she could nail down the speed required to climb, Sydney called upon the intel she’d gained running the horse around similar European tracks.

“To me, I felt like the course, and especially that first water, reminded me of Aachen the last couple of years,” she says. “I just kept telling myself, ‘just ride it like Aachen, it’ll be fine’. The course really felt like Aachen in long format, soo it was great — it suited him. With him, I’m constantly pushing and I don’t have to touch the reins hardly until he gets a little bit tired, and then I just hold his hand, but that’s it. There’s no half-halting, really. I can sit up and he’s good, so I just can kick. I’m very, very fortunate — I can go fast around the turns even though he’s so big, but he can also turn on a dime, which is very beneficial.”

Sydney’s round was briefly interrupted by a hold on course, which came just after she’d cleared the first water — but this, Sydney explains, isn’t her first rodeo, and with that tough question behind her, she didn’t let the pause in proceedings — which came due to a non-catastrophic injury sustained at fence 17, the Meßmer Water, by Imogen Murray’s Roheryn Ruby — stress her out.

“We got held last year for about 45 minutes on a course, and so with the first water behind us, because we were always careful about the first water, I said, ‘we’re good, he can have a breather and then we’ll start back and be fine’.”

Katherine Coleman and RLE Limbo Kaiser. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Fellow US competitor Katherine Coleman and RLE Limbo Kaiser slipped just two places, from 27th to 29th, after picking up 20 penalties apiece at the B element of the first water, a corner in the pond, and at 23B, an angled log after an upright gate, and adding 26 time faults.

For the rest of our US contingent, though, it was a tougher day in the office: Matt Flynn fell from Wizzerd at fence two after the horse chipped in a stride on take-off, twisted in the air, and then went to his knees on landing, and Hallie Coon put her hand up after an uncharacteristic run-out at the final element of the first combination at fence 5ABC with Global Ex. Tamie Smith, too, put her hand up with five-star first-timer Solaguayre California after jumping through the first water and the fence just beyond it at 14, and then feeling that her mare wasn’t quite right.

“California is such a star, and I was having a beautiful round, but she somehow punctured her knee on the C element of the water [complex] after jumping easily through that influential combination. After galloping away she didn’t feel right and I pulled her up,” says Tamie, who tells us that she requested transport back to the stabling area as the wound was bleeding. Solaguayre California was then taken to the local equine hospital as a precautionary measure in order to avoid any infection risk.

“It was just a freak thing that you just can’t make sense of,” says Tamie. “The important thing is it looks to be an optimistic recovery.”

Editor’s Note: Tamie updated her social media after this article was published to say that the puncture had resulted in a bone fracture, but that the outlook for “California” is positive and she is resting comfortably at the local clinic.

Now, we have 29 competitors remaining for tomorrow morning’s final horse inspection — and then, it’ll be on to the showjumping, which is historically the toughest of the world’s five-stars. Let the games begin.

The top ten following cross-country in the Longines Luhmühlen CCI5*.

In this afternoon’s CCI4*-S, which incorporates the German National Championships, competition was similarly fierce: of the 41 starters, 31 would go on to complete — but just 22 would do so without jumping penalties. As it always does here, the time proved much harder to catch in this class, too, with just five competitors coming home inside the time — and it would be that, in conjunction with penalties and problems encountered across the course, and by even the most experience of competitors, that would cause a total shake-up of the leaderboard.

Julia Krajewski and Nickel 21 move into the overnight lead in the CCI4*-S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Olympic gold medallist Julia Krajewski had been delighted to find herself with two horses in the top ten after dressage, because for both Nickel 21 and Ero de Cantraie, this was something of a fact-finding mission: both horses are just nine years old, with limited experience at the level. But when problems arose for first-placed Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden, who retired after picking up 20 penalties at the first of the hugely influential double of angled brushes in the arena, third-placed Ingrid Klimke and Equistros Siena Just Do It, who suffered a rider fall at second of those angled brushes [Ingrid later shared on social media that she broke her clavicle in the fall], and fourth-placed Nadine Marzahl and Victoria 108, who picked up 20 penalties early on at the skinny brush at 5c, the door was opened for her duo of inexperienced up-and-comers to show exactly what they’re made of.

And that they did: riding early in the class, Julia first laid down the law with overnight fifth-placed Ero de Cantraie, who easily romped home exactly on the 6:33 optimum time to add nothing to his score of 30.2, which put him into the clubhouse lead for much of the class.

“Ero is quite green at the level, but he gave me a really good feeling from fence one on, really,” says Julia, who took on the ride on the French-bred horse as a green intermediate from France’s Jean Teulere. “He sometimes spends quite some time in the air, so after minute two, I felt like, ‘okay, if you want to be fast, then you really have to go from now’. But he was responding so well, and taking everything on super straight, as if he’s always done it. Then I felt, okay, I can really go for the time and he just went like a racecar. That was so cool. He feels to have quite an engine and a really good brain, and he’s super trusting by now, so I think he can really do cool things in the future.”

Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

By the time she left the start box for the second time on overnight second-placed Nickel 21, who she told us yesterday was initially sold on as a young rider’s horse as he didn’t necessarily appear to be an upper level horse in the making, she was in a comfortable position: whatever happened, she’d be the overnight leader, both in the class at large and in the German National Championships.

“With Nickel, I was a little bit more relaxed because, I mean, I knew I was in the lead already — but of course you want to do well on the second one,” she says. By this point, though, those high-profile issues at the top end of the leaderboard had already happened, and so she had 3.5 penalties in hand over her first ride. She ended up using 0.8 of them, delivering a classy, quick clear that belied the gelding’s relative inexperience.

“They’re quite different horses to ride, and Nickel, I always have to keep riding a bit,” says Julia. “He’s got a bit of a shorter stride than the other one, so I knew it wouldn’t be quite the same — but he’s the most honest horse I think I’ve ever had. He never thinks left or right; he just goes.”

Whichever way the competition had ended up today — and whichever way it goes tomorrow — though, Julia is mostly just delighted to have found out that both her boys have the guts, the gumption, and the raw speed to take on the upper end of the sport — and that the partnership she’s worked on cultivating with them has paid off.

“So many things they did today, they’ve never seen before — but they feel like they just trust in me, which makes me very proud and happy,” she says. “They just try to do their best. I didn’t expect that they would both be in the time, or very close to the time, but it’s quite cool because it’s always quite hard to get the time at Luhmühlen. When you do, you know you’ve got a horse that can do really well in the four-star short format — so it’s always special to make the time here.”

Calvin Böckmann and The Phantom of the Opera. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It wasn’t just a good day for Julia as a competitor — it was also an incredibly rewarding day for her as a coach. She’s long been at the helm of the German young rider training programme and is based at Warendorf, the German Federation’s training centre, where she works day in and day out with the next generation of top-level talent. Among those riders who benefit from her font of wisdom are this morning’s successful five-star debutants Jérôme Robiné and Emma Brüssau — and 22-year-old Luhmühlen first-time Calvin Böckmann, who climbed from overnight twelfth to third after whizzing home inside the time aboard the former Sandra Auffarth ride The Phantom of the Opera.

This is Calvin’s first year as a Senior competitor — last year, he came with the close-knit Warendorf crew as a spectator, and “dreamed of one day maybe getting to start here as competitor,” he says. This year, not only is he making that dream come true, he’s also establishing himself as a talent to be reckoned with on the world stage after years spent winning medals at the Pony and Junior European Championships.

“The horse has a really good gallop, so I felt I could go a long ways between the fences and could catch up a lot of time, and it worked out quite well,” says the 2015 Pony European Champion. “He’s a horse who’s super positive in cross country, you can really feel how much he loves to just work during the course. It was just amazing, and I had so much fun — he was feeling so good. But I honestly did not really expect to be sitting in this position right now!”

On training with Julia, Calvin laughs: “She’s quite strict! But I would say I’m really thankful for that, because I’m also kind of a person who really tries to improve every little percentage where it’s possible, and I think Julia’s quite the same — otherwise she wouldn’t be where she is so. Working on a daily basis at home makes quite a strong connection, so I’m just really grateful for having a trainer who was not only successful in sport, but who still is so successful and she’s just so close to that sport — just watching her first round, like watching which line she’s taking and how many strides she’s doing there, was giving me a lot of confidence.”

That strictness, though, is something that Julia stands firmly by as an essential part of her duty to the sport.

“As coaches and riders, we really have responsibility these days to shape the upcoming generation in a way that’s not only making them successful — not just good horse riders, but good horsemen and horsewomen,” she explains. “I was coached by a strict coach, which was sometimes tough, but I learned that way — and the way I’m strict is when I find it has to go more in a direction which is good for the horse. It’s about horse care; it’s about galloping them correctly; it’s about how you ride your horse, where you go, which show, is it too early? Calvin and I also have a bit of a discussion sometimes, like, he wants to go there, and I’m like, ‘no, no, you go there!’ But some things you only understand five years later or ten years later, and I think it’s a massive responsibility [of ours] to also make the sport look good, to keep it safe, and to make sure that the younger people learn it in a good way. That’s what I see as my responsibility. Of course, they do mistakes, it happens, but I try to bring them up in a way that’s hopefully safe, and educate them as good horse people.”

Though locally based Christoph Wahler didn’t find his first phase with D’Accord 70 as inspiring as the tests he can produce with his top horse, Pratoni mount Carjatan S, with whom he was second in the five-star here in 2021, he also knew that whatever he put on the board — in this case, a 34.4 — would be something he could reliably aim to finish on with the very consistent eleven-year-old.

“He’s so good across the country, that I just have to see how it goes for everyone else later,” he said sagely while watching the five-star this morning. “If the time is easy, I can go slow with him and get it; if it’s hard, I’ll just go a little faster.”

And right he was: the time and the course alike proved tough and influential, and his Diarado son picked his way around the track handily, coming home looking wholly unhurried but with the fastest round of the day, ten seconds inside the optimum time — a handy little manoeuvre that saw them climb from 24th to fourth going into tomorrow’s final phase.

Nadine Marzahl and Valentine FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Though day one leaders Nadine Marzahl and Victoria 108 slipped from fourth to 27th after picking up 20 penalties and an abundance of time faults, her second round — a nearly identical paternal half-sister in Valentine FRH — made up for a tough start to the afternoon by adding just 3.6 time penalties in an exuberant round that saw them climb from eighth to fifth, while Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier was best of the foreign contingent, climbing from eleventh to sixth after adding 3.2 time penalties aboard her homebred Hermione d’Arville. Seventh place provisionally was awarded to another big climber: Italy’s Evelina Bertoli and the sharp, clever Fidjy des Melezes climbed from 19th after adding 3.6 time penalties, and young rider Anna Lena Schaaf — another member of the Warendorf training battalion — added 6.8 time penalties to drop from fifth to eighth with Fairytale 39. Hungary’s Imre Tóth made an underdog bid for a top placing with Zypresse 8, climbing from eighteenth to ninth with 4.4 time penalties, while the top ten was rounded out by full-time accountant and part-time eventing hero Arne Bergendahl, who returned for another spin around Luhmühlen after delivering the first clear — and the first round inside the time — in this morning’s CCI5*, this time riding his five-star mount’s uncle, Checkovich.

It wasn’t to be today for the small but mighty US contingent in this class: Dan Krietl and Carmango retired from their first European competition experience after running into trouble at the influential double of brushes in the main arena, which were responsible for faults in twelve rounds, while Hallie Coon opted to put her hand up after two run-outs at the skinny A element of the busy Meßmer water at 10ABC with the inexperienced Cute Girl.

Now, both classes will look ahead to tomorrow’s final horse inspection, which will begin at 8.30 a.m. local time (7.30 a.m. BST/2.30 a.m. EST) with the CCI5* competitors, following on at 9.15 a.m. (8.15 a.m. BST/3.15 a.m. EST) with the CCI4*-S horses.

Then, it’ll be go time for the showjumping: first up to bat is the five-star, which begins at 10.30 a.m. (9.30 a.m. BST/4.30 a.m. EST), followed by the prizegiving, before all attention turns to the finale of the CCI4*-S, beginning at 13.50 (12.50 p.m. BST/7.50 a.m. EST). As always, you can follow all the action via Horse & Country TV, which also has on-demand viewing available for all the completed phases thus far — and keep it locked on to EN for full reports and galleries from each class. Go Eventing.

The top ten following cross-country in the CCI4*-S, incorporating the German National Championships.

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

Laura Collett and London 52 dance their way to the first-phase lead in Luhmühlen’s CCI5*. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

Laura Collett will be your Longines Luhmühlen CCI5* leader going into tomorrow’s cross-country phase, after a foot-perfect test with her Olympic gold medallist and Badminton winner London 52 (Landos x Vernante, by Quinar Z). They delivered their sparkling test late in the final session of the day, and put to bed two days worth of arguably harsh marking to put a 20.3 on the board — a score that sees them 2.8 penalties, or seven seconds tomorrow, ahead of second-placed Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street, our day one leaders.

“He felt amazing,” says a beaming Laura, who has won on both her previous five-star starts with the 14-year-old, who she co-owns with Karen Bartlett and Keith Scott. “He’s obviously got so good in this phase now, but I genuinely was having a whale of a time in there, because he was just so with me and I can just really show him off now. He went through a phase of being very fragile and now he just loves it.”

But although ‘Dan’ is the consummate showman in this phase, and is so often expected to lead the dressage, he’s still a horse — and horses, no matter how talented, can be unpredictable. Laura was reminded of this moments before her test: “He started off in the big warm-up arena, and he felt really nice, really relaxed — and then I went over to the last, final arena and I totally lost him,” she explains. “He hasn’t done that to me for a long time, and I was getting a little bit nervous, because he just tensed up and totally lost the connection. They said ‘you’ve got three minutes’ and, luckily, he just took a deep breath — so Dicky [Waygood, Team GB Performance Manager] was like, ‘you’ve got him back!’ As soon as he went in the arena, he just knows now, he kind of needs to put on a show. It’s a fine line, but we got it right today.”

Laura Collett nails the brief with London 52. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

Laura’s been getting remote support from her dressage coach Ian Woodhead, and has been putting sage advice from part-time trainer, dressage superstar Carl Hester, into action as well — but that certainly doesn’t mean she’s been spending her time drilling the flatwork. Instead, she says, the key to a great test with Dan is to minimise how much schooling he does.

“We’ve  got a system with him now, and it’s quite difficult to stick to sometimes, because the last couple of days he’s been really fresh and really overexcited about being here,” she explains. “But sticking to the same system that we know works — and keeping me off him is the main thing! I came out this morning and just did some poles, and he felt really good — so it’s just about being brave enough to stick to what we know. He knows the moves, and that’s what we have to trust, so it’s basically about getting his brain right. We went through a phase of overworking him and he got body tired, so we just do different things — hacking and keeping him occupied and getting his body working. We do pole work in the morning, just trot poles and canter poles, not jumping, but it just really relaxes him, and then he can go in and do his thing.”

Particularly special was the appearance of the Holsteiner gelding’s breeder, Ocke Riewerts, who journeyed from rural northern Germany to be reunited with his pride and joy for the first time since London 52 was a foal.

“I haven’t seen him for fourteen years, and I came here just to watch him,” he says. “I’m very happy — maybe tomorrow, or the day after that, I’ll really process what happened today! He was a very beautiful foal, with very long legs, but at the beginning I thought maybe he was too small — but then after four weeks, he grew, and I thought, ‘maybe this could be a good one!'”

Yasmin Ingham and the ever-reliable Rehy DJ. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

While no one else could surpass the excellent 23.1 posted by yesterday’s leader, Pippa Funnell, nor the 26.8 posted by third-placed Kitty King and Vendredi Biats, who also rode yesterday, reigning World Champion Yasmin Ingham certainly put up a good fight with her ever-consistent longtime partner, Rehy DJ. They posted the horse’s five-star personal best of 27.5 to sit fourth going into cross-country, and received particularly enthusiastic cheers from their good-time-gals support crew, helmed by mum Lesley, owner Janette Chinn, and close friend and horse-sourcer extraordinaire Rachel Wakefield. Yas, for her part, was delighted with how ‘Piglet’ — “he lives by food, so it’s Piglet by name, Piglet by nature!” — has continued to improve in this phase.

“I was super happy with that. He’s been getting better and better, which is great — I’m always seeing improvements,” she says. “The last five-star he did was back in 2020 at Pau, and he scored a 28.5, so to come and do a penalty better is really good.”

Although Piglet isn’t necessarily the flashiest horse in the lineup, Yas says that the marginal gains, and working on honing the accuracy, have been the key to cracking the first phase.

“It’s all about the fine margins in dressage and just trying to grab every single mark you can. With Piglet, he’s not the most extravagant horse in the world, but I think he gets all his marks from being accurate and he’s so easy on the eye as well. He’s got such a pretty face and he’s really nicely put together, so I just need to do my job as a rider and pilot him round correctly. And then hopefully, he’ll do the rest for me!”

Yas, who enjoyed a great finish with the gelding at the similarly twisty and technical CHIO Aachen last year, has long had her eye on Luhmühlen as a suitable five-star for the gelding, who she says loves his moments in the spotlight.

“He’s quite funny — he whinnied coming out at the end, like, ‘Everyone is clapping for me!’ which is quite cute,” she says. “I’m really pleased we decided to bring him here, because I’m hoping that the terrain and the ground will suit him. Thinking back to Badminton and Kentucky, they probably weren’t quite for him at this time of year, but I think coming here is a good option. So I’m looking to go and give it our best shot!”

Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

There’s a serious British takeover at the top end of the leaderboard, and fifth place overnight is held by Emily King, who delivered a clear round test with Philippe Brivois and the Valmy Biat Syndicate’s Valmy Biats to earn a 28.4.

One of the greatest joys that can come a rider’s way in this phase is being able to tick all the boxes in the arena that they’ve been able to tick while schooling through the week — and that’s exactly what Emily found she could do today.

“He’s worked really well here this week: the last warm-up he felt mega, and then he just took it in there, which is really nice,” she says. “There’s nothing worse than warming up great, and going in there, and then having them change — and then you have to think about how to counteract things. He’s lovely, and he’s feeling really established at this level now, which is nice — not to worry that ‘is he going to change, is he going to be able to do this?’ He’s pretty cool — I haven’t have him so long in the grand scheme of things, and he’s been late coming into how I ride, so at this rate he feels like when he’s 20, he’s going to be amazing!”

Part of the final polish came thanks to help from dressage coach Ian Woodhead, a last-minute addition to her support team.

“I actually had my first ever lesson with Ian the other week. It’s probably not the best thing to do, change trainers the week before a five-star, but I thought it might be nice to have a bit of different input. And just a few things that he said has really helped just elevate him even more and get me in the groove.”

The fourteen-year-old Selle Français started his 2023 with a bang, winning the Grantham Cup CCI4*-S at a wet Thoresby at the start of the season, and then doing a very competitive test at Badminton last month — again, in seriously wet conditions. Today, the pair got the chance to show what they can do on more consistent footing, for which they were both grateful.

“I think he was quite relieved to be on some good [footing],” laughs Emily. “He’s so powerful, and he’s quite strong, so he can then give you so much power that he can go a little bit off the contact. Then, with the added changing of terrain, that [means] I have to really focus on that — but today he was lovely. That was something I didn’t have to really think about at all, because he was stable [on the footing].”

This is a reroute from Badminton for the pair, who made it to the lake in fine style before Emily opted to put her hand up and save the gelding for another day.

“He’s a powerful horse, and a big galloper, but he’s quite small — he’s not a big horse,” she says. “I really felt the ground just sucking the life out of him at Badminton, and while the time wasn’t a big thing [that day], from where he was at on his minutes I thought, he’s not going to be in the top handful and it was going to be proper hard getting home. I didn’t want to risk anything, and with how he felt, I thought it would be quite easy to risk something. So instead, he just had a quiet two weeks in the field and then just picked up, carried on with his galloping, and came here.”

Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Laura Collett also holds sixth place overnight on her day one ride, Dacapo, while fellow day one competitors Oliver Townend and Tregilder sit seventh — the best of Oliver’s three rides, after a surprise 31.7 on his final ride, Swallow Springs, which put them into fourteenth overnight.

While we don’t often see many German riders in this class — the four-star here is the German National Championships, and so tends to be a much bigger focus for the home nation — one of the young debutants coming forward for the home side was able to crack that British domination and make a great first impression. Jérôme Robiné and Black Ice certainly aren’t new to Luhmühlen: they came forward for the CCI4*-S last year and were among the stars of the week, sitting second after cross-country and finishing fifth overall, and while it was tempting to return and try to take the win, Jérôme decided to take the next step up this year.

“At the beginning of the year, I thought of coming at four-star again, or going to Aachen with him again, or something like this and then the coaches said, ‘No, you better get out of your comfort zone. You’re good at four-star level; you did it a lot of times.’,” he explains. “And I think that’s good for me to hear — just to get something new. I think I’m old enough and experienced enough, and my horse is old enough  and experienced enough. He’s very good at cross country, and  always gives me a very good feeling, so they say, C’ome on, you can do it!’ So that’s why we’re going to do the five-star.”

Though an inexperienced mistake in the first change cost them valuable marks, Jérôme and his pandemic project produced a test that otherwise belied their inexperience at this level, earning them hearty cheers from throughout the grandstands and a 30.1 on the leaderboard.

“In the end, it was a new experience, and it was really special to be in there,” says Jérôme, who rides as part of the German Federation’s Warendorf training base for younger riders. “The crowd is really on your side and they’re really happy to see a young German rider trying to tackle a five-star. But yeah, it’s all pretty new, and there were some little mistakes I didn’t expect in the beginning, but in the end, you have to ride a test a few times in a stadium on this level and then maybe get it better without mistakes. Today, I was happy.”

Boyd Martin and Luke 140. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

Boyd Martin also helped sprinkle a bit of variety into the flags in the top ten with the last of his three rides, the five-star debutant Luke 140. They delivered the final test of the day and earned a 30.1 after recovering from an early mistake in the trot work.

“There was a bit of atmosphere in there and Luke’s an electric horse, so he just lost a little bit of concentration at the beginning and unfortunately, he broke in the first medium trot, which is a bit of a disaster at the beginning of the test,” says Boyd, who also sits 13th overnight with Tsetserleg and 17th with Fedarman B. “But he had some good stuff in there, and to recover and get a score of 30 is not too bad.”

That fire in Luke’s belly will be put to the test over tomorrow’s cross-country course, but by the time he leaves the start box as the last out in this class, Boyd will have gathered two lots of course intel to help him along.

“I think my biggest challenge with Luke is just being able to slow him down,” he says with a laugh. “He’s pretty aggressive and bold and feisty, and trying to slow him down at the jumps without wasting too much time is my biggest challenge. So I think I’ll hop on him in the morning, very early tomorrow morning, and canter around and try and take a bit of juice out of him and work on some turns and going forward and back, and try and get him a bit adjustable before we start. Thomas [Tsetserleg TSF] has jumped everything that we’re looking at tomorrow, but you know, we didn’t have the the best last five-star start, so I’ve got to really pay attention early on the course when Thomas is a bit strong. Bruno [Fedarman B] has been a champion in the last 18 months, so I would hope that he can cope with this, and Luke’s probably the greenest jumper out of all of them. So hopefully I got a little bit of luck saved up for my third ride!”

Australia’s Bill Levett rounds out the top ten with Huberthus AC, who also put a 30.1 on the board.

“It was his first probably mistake-free test that he’s done at a four or five-star,” says Bill, who rerouted the gelding from Badminton. “He’s not a hot horse, but he’s got a lot of tension. You school him and he just seems to have endless energy, so coming to these shows is always better, because you got the chance to set him up and you can get him out three times and just get him to relax. Thankfully, he went in there and stayed with me. I’ve had some good help with Ian Woodhead, and that’s helped me a lot, and Kevin McNab, just before I went in, for half an hour was just helping with my angles and what it looked like. All those things help you be in the right frame of mind to get the best out of him.”

Now, Bill is interested to see how the gelding handles what he describes as “more of a championship horse” — which could, if all goes well, set him up to be a championship horse.

“Like all riders know, with a bit of mileage, you really don’t know what they’re going to be like at the next stage,” he says. “Once they’ve been at the stage for a while, then you really sort of understand them. They’re not machines. Sometimes they’re not feeling well and they’ll let you know, in certain ways. But I took him to the gallops post-Badminton and he was really better than when he went to Badminton. He was like, ‘right, let’s go!’ He doesn’t normally take off up the gallops, and whew, he was off! I’ll be fascinated to see how he goes around here for 11 minutes. He’s gone fast around Blenheim, and so I’m hoping that he’s going to [make the time]. Will he take a little bit of insecurity away from Badminton? You know, that’s what I don’t know. And I’m hoping not. But we won’t know until we’re out there.”

Tamie Smith and Solaguayre California. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tamie Smith sits 15th overnight after posting a 31.9 with her five-star debutant Solaguayre California, who had some inexperienced moments in the changes but rose to the occasion in the atmosphere.

“She’s green, and she still has another six to twelve months to be stronger,” says Tamie. “I felt like she gave me everything she had, and she was very obedient and listened. I felt like the test was executed well — I mean, a little here and there — but I’m very pleased with her. She’s a bit of a dragon! But in a way, that’s good. You know, she’s a mare and so she has her opinions. We always have to negotiate and kind of come to a compromise, but when it’s time to perform, she always gets to business and get serious.”

Solaguayre California comes to Luhmühlen off the back of a second-place finish in the CCI4*-S at Kentucky, and a third-place finish at Tryon CCI4*-S, but today, Tamie says, was still a valuable lesson in exposure for the twelve-year-old.

“It’s actually a bit spookier for some reason than Kentucky, with the cut out horses…and [Kentucky] is easier when it’s busier, [because you don’t have] like, sporadic people walking around around the arena,” she explains. “So I would say that it’s much more distracting here — maybe the atmosphere isn’t quite as electric, but the focus, because of all the things moving around, [can be tricky]. But I feel like it brings out the brilliance and they lift more in their wither, which is helpful.”

Though Tamie considered making the mare’s debut at the level at Kentucky, she opted instead to give her more time and consolidation this spring and a later move-up here.

“I wasn’t sure how she was going to feel — I mean, she won Morven Park last year, but not the way I would have wanted her to,” she says. “You know, she felt green. And I just wanted to test her. I guess on paper, you’d say ‘take her and do Kentucky’, but I had spoken to her owners — they’re amazing, supportive people — and we just talked about what was maybe best for her. I wasn’t sure I was going to do a five-star in the spring, and they said ‘whatever you think’. So I said ‘I’ll prepare at home and then I’ll go to Kentucky [4*-S] and see how she feels and then I’ll take her to Tryon and if she feels really confident after Kentucky, then I think we should go to Luhmuhlen’. They they were behind me, and I’m grateful for that. I feel like you kind of have one shot — I always want to go into a five-star feeling like I haven’t left anything on the table, and so that was the purpose [of waiting].”

Matt Flynn and Wizzerd. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

Matt Flynn and Wizzerd also came forward late in the section and delivered a smart, consistent test that was just marred by a mistake in the walk to collected canter transition. They posted a 34.2 that puts them in 21st place overnight — but, thanks to the tight bunching of the scores, just a stone’s throw from the business end of proceedings.

The top five in Luhmühlen’s CCI5* going into cross-country.

Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden make a fine start to their return to Luhmühlen, taking the lead in the CCI4*-S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Spectators flocked to the stands for this morning’s CCI4*-S to see the hotly-anticipated return to Luhmühlen of 2021 CCI5* winners Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden — and they certainly weren’t left disappointed. The pair entered the arena very nearly in passage — a degree of engagement and precision that they’ve perfected while training with dressage riders Olivia Oakely and Carl Hester — and carried that cadence and power into the ring with them, throwing down the gauntlet for the otherwise very German-leaning leaderboard. Though one late change cost them a couple of marks, their score of 24.8 couldn’t be touched for the rest of the day, and the cheer they earned from their legion of continental fans was among the loudest of the day.

“He was really relaxed, and actually, he’s felt at home all week,” says Mollie. “So it’s quite strange — he’s only done half an hour of work each day and just come out of stable for grazing, and I literally got on him probably 20 minutes before the test, and he’s just so relaxed. He really likes it here, and I was chuffed with how he felt. He feels like he’s just getting stronger and stronger and better and more confident with that level of power in the arena, and I actually still think he’s got more to give in the dressage.”

For Mollie, too, returning to the site of her biggest career moment is a special feeling: ” I love coming back here, and I love everybody that works at this show,” she says. “They feel like family to me, so I’m really happy that we’ve come back.”

Julia Krajewski’s up-and-comer Nickel take second place – and the lead in the German National Championship – after dressage. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Olympic gold medallist Julia Krajewski sits second overnight, and leads the German National Championship, with her nine-year-old Nickel 21, after putting a score of 26.7 on the board in the gelding’s third four-star. With a second place and a third place under his belt at the level already, he’s rightly tipped as one of Julia’s future top-level stars — but, she explains, that wasn’t always the obvious pathway for him.

“He was originally bought by [Amande de b’Neville and Ero de Cantraie’s] owners as a young horse as a showjumper, and then he almost qualified for the six-year-old national championships for jumping, but he wasn’t quite good enough,” says Julia. “Then they said, ‘well, he’s got a good canter — just try him.’ When he was turning seven he did his first young horse class here at Luhmühlen, and he wouldn’t ever walk past the jumps, but he’d always jump them. He went from there to doing his first two-star three months later. He was then sold to a junior rider because I wasn’t sure if he’d go all the way, and so his owners wanted to find an up-and-coming rider for him — but he stayed in my stable, and when she decided to go to New Zealand and explore life a little, her parents asked if I would like to take him back. That was pretty much one year ago, and then he did three-star long at the end of last year, and then his first four-stars, and in between all that, I’ve taken him twice to do the Jump and Drive at Aachen, and he’s done  various indoor cross-country, and he was a little bit the ‘fun horse’, because he’s so straightforward. Somehow, he didn’t really stand out, but I think that’s what makes him good: he’s not complicated. You basically tell him, ‘okay, this is what you’re supposed to do’, and he’s like, ‘okay, fine!’ So that’s really cool.”

Nickel remains in the ownership of young rider Sophia Rössel and her family, who are enjoying the journey to the top levels with the gelding.

“Her parents are the owners at heart, and they really love to be at these competitions — they’re so proud,” says Julia. “It’s really cool to have them with us, and we’ll see how far we all get together.”

Julia also sits fifth overnight with yesterday’s ride, Ero de Cantraie — but Nickel, she says, is a very different horse to ride.

“It’s funny, because he’s normally a way more laid back character than the other one, but he can also be quite quick in switching his mind sometimes — he’ll be really chilled and then really switched on, whereas with Ero, either he’s with me, or he isn’t. Maybe that’s the difference between the French and the German,” she laughs. “They couldn’t be more different, but they are both very genuine and honest, and they want to do well.”

The marking across both classes has remained on the harsher side today, and Julia was disappointed not to see bolder choices made by the ground jury in this class: “Nickel came in and I kept hearing the judges say ‘six’, and I was like, ‘come on‘. They love 6.5 especially all day. I think 6.5 should be forbidden! 6s, okay, it means you sort of managed it but it was a bit shitty, and 7s mean you managed it reasonably fine but it wasn’t special — but what’s between? Half shitty? It doesn’t have a purpose.”

Ingrid Klimke and Equistros Siena Just Do It. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ingrid Klimke and Equistros Siena Just Do It overcame the mare’s occasional tempestuousness to show off, instead, pure pace and power, earning them a 28.3 and overnight third place, 1.6 marks ahead of yesterday’s leaders, Nadine Marzahl and Victoria 108, with just two minor mistakes in the work.

“I was so pleased, because for sure, when the clapping was going on and she saw the two girls [opening the ring gate at A], she kind of mentally goes somewhere, and she’s like, ‘ahh!’,” says Ingrid. “But as soon as she entered the ring, she was like, ‘okay, I have to behave, and I have to stay in this pattern, I have to listen — she really means it, and there’s no discussion today!’ The two mistakes in the ring, I must say, are my fault: in the second change, I did too much preparation, and so she thought, ‘oh, it’s coming’ — if I’d been a little bit more positive and kept the canter, she wouldn’t have changed early. And the halt we sometimes get a little too early before the reinback, but today, all of a sudden I thought ‘ah, we’re a little bit late!’ and had to stop quite suddenly. So they were both, I think, mistakes on my account.”

While Siena has always had the raw material for a great test — and has delivered plenty, too — she’s also been prone to exploding in the ring. Getting to the other side of this tendency, Ingrid explains, has been a case of time and tact.

“You really have to take a lot of time and be very clear yourself on the one hand, but in a very gentle way,” she says. “You have to find the balance and ask her to be patient, but before there’s an explosion, you must let her be free again, and then you can ask a little bit more next time. I can’t ever put pressure on her — then she explodes. Yesterday, all of a sudden, she decided she doesn’t like to do reinback anymore, so I said, ‘okay’, and went back and put a neck ring on her, and we did it with the neck ring, and a free rein, and then the neck ring with the rein, and then we put it away. If I’d started a battle, she’d have reared. We do a lot of horsemanship, and T-Touch, and we really try to give her, from all sides, the idea that if she relaxes, it’s all okay. It really takes time.”

Hallie Coon and Cute Girl. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Hallie Coon is best of the US in this class, sitting 14th overnight on a 32.1 with the newly-minted four-star horse Cute Girl, who was previously piloted by Australia’s Kevin McNab, with whom she won the Seven-Year-Old World Championship and with whom the pair are now based. This is the mare’s second CCI4*-S, and as such, each outing is a fact-finding mission in every way — from the ringcraft itself to the preparation required.

“She was really good, and she was really with me, but I just think that we worked her a bit too much this week, looking back,” says Hallie. “I think we’ve could’ve given her a lighter week and it would have been better, given that she just travelled over from Millstreet and all that a few days before we came here, and I just think, being a nine year old,  it was maybe just a bit much.”

But, she reasons, these are the elements that can only be fine-tuned with experience, which Cute Girl is gaining in spades on her travels this season — and seasoned upper-level competitor Hallie is, too, with the excellent support team she’s formed around her since her relocation to the UK at the end of 2022.

“It’s been great for me to have Kevin and the family, and [dressage trainer] Sune Hansen, and Francesca Pollara to support me,” she says. “It’s unbelievably helpful. Obviously, this is a selection trial for the Pan Ams and Paris so obviously, we have a whole US contingent here at the show, and I think it’s very focused in terms of a team orientation, but I’m just sort of plugging away with my own team and trying to go about things as normal.”

Dan Krietl and Carmango. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Dan Krietl and Carmango will go into cross-country in 29th place on a 35.4, having kicked off today’s proceedings with a bright and early dressage test to start their first-ever European experience.

“It was good, overall but also, of course, you’re always wishing you could be a little bit better,” says Dan. “I had a couple of mistakes and I could have done a little better, maybe. But overall, he’s an awesome horse and tries so hard, and you can count on him generally to be pretty steady. So I’m thankful for that.”

This isn’t just a first competitive European trip for high-flying amateur CCI4*-L National Champion Dan — it’s also a first trip to Europe, full stop. And he’s making the most of it: not only is he continuing on to Aachen next month, he’s also been able to spend some time training in Belgium with some influential new mentors.

“We’re super excited to be here. I’ve never been to Europe at all, period, and then get to come with horse has been even more fun,” he says. “I actually came here early, like two weeks ago, and have been at Kai and Lara [de Liedekerke-Meier]’s place, Arville, in Belgium. So I’ve been working with Kai and getting some good lessons there, and then we got here Tuesday. The horse made the trip great and settled in well, and it’s been an awesome experience. It seems that just the average quality of rider is maybe a step up over here — and of course being here at a big FEI event, it’s a lot of the best riders and horses. But it’s super fun, and everybody’s super nice and it’s fun to be in a competitive environment.”

Now, he’s excited to tackle tomorrow’s cross-country track with the horse he’s built such a close partnership with over the years.

“He’s a beast of a cross country horse, and I think he should handle that course quite well. He loves his job and it looks like a course that’ll suit him,” he says. “I’ve had him since he was four, so we’ve shared all of our first experiences together — s o we knew each other really well. He loves cross country, and as long as he sees the jump, he’ll do his damnedest to get over it.”

Tomorrow’s cross-country will begin with the CCI5* at 9.15 a.m. local time (8.15 a.m. BST/3.15 a.m. EST), and full times for the class — holds notwithstanding — can be found here. Then, it’s on to the CCI4*-S, incorporating the German National Championships, from 12.55 local (11.55 a.m. BST/6.55 a.m. EST) — after that, as the Germans say, we make party. Join us on EN for live updates throughout the CCI5*, and for details on how to follow along on the live stream, click here. Until then: Go Eventing!

The top ten going into cross-country in the CCI4*-S.

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

Mike Etherington-Smith looks to put his mark on Luhmühlen once again. Photo by Thomas Ix.

It’s nearly cross-country day here at the Longines Luhmühlen CCI5*, and this unique venue plays host to not only a seriously good field of entries, it also has a seriously interesting, and hugely academic, course to help determine this year’s movers and shakers.

We caught up with course designer Mike Etherington-Smith to find out what his intentions are for this year’s track.

“Somebody asked me the other day, have I made any changes because of a number of horses are here from Badminton who didn’t have a good time? And I said no,” he says. Instead, he designed the course with social license at the forefront of his mind — a topic that has long been at the forefront of eventing in Germany, where the public consensus has long tended to be against the sport. Instead of building enormous fences that could see a tired horse stumble or fall, he’s chosen to use plenty of accuracy questions, where 15 or 20 penalties are much more likely than nasty accidents.

“I’m very conscious of the exposure of the sport in this country and very mindful of that, which is creeping towards the UK as well,” he says. “We’ve all got a responsibility to look after horses, and so what I try to do with any course I produce has always been the same: if a rider makes a mistake or an error, the horse has a way to get out of it. So there’s a run out or that sort of thing, rather than having horses falling, which we all try and avoid very hard.”

In a sport with as many variables as eventing, though, he concedes that it can sometimes be an uphill battle to ensure 100% safety across the board.

“Obvious, that’s a great theory, but the reality is somewhat different,” he says. “We need luck on that one, obviously. Because riders do make mistakes, horses do make mistakes, and course designers, too, make mistakes. Hopefully we don’t make too many, which is why we work very closely with the with the riders and we have open dialogue all the time, so if they’ve got any thoughts or concerns, they come and share them. I haven’t had any thoughts and concerns [this year], which is nice!”

“So that’s the basic principle of this: that I’m just very mindful of how the sport is seen in this part of the world.” Though Luhmühlen is often — unfairly, perhaps — categorised as a ‘softer’ five-star than, say, Badminton and Burghley, Mike is quick to point out that it simply reflects a different attitude to the sport, a different kind of challenge than the run-and-jump courses — and, of course, a different style of terrain.

“While there are quite a lot of skinnies and angles, we shouldn’t compare Luhmuhlen with Badminton, with Adelaide, with Kentucky, because they’ve all got their own personalities and their own characteristics,” he says. “I mean, here it’s very flat. So as a course designer, you’re trying to find anything that’s got a little bit of a hill in it. My job is to make a course with what we’ve got. If you’ve got lots of terrain, you can make a course look very big very easily. This doesn’t have that — but it’s a great venue to design, and a great venue to play with.”

To increase the challenge and the influence of this phase in a safe way, Mike opts to put a number of technical questions in fairly quick succession, which requires riders to slow down and ride almost gymnastic exercises, and should make the clock play a bigger part than it would if he were to simply stick single fences on this flat bit of land.

“I try and keep riders slower for longer on the course so that time becomes influential, but it’s really, really hard here because there isn’t any terrain to add to that, to help in that regard,” he says. “Compared to two weeks ago [at Millstreet] where I got quite a lot of terrain, I was able to make the time very influential — I’m not even sure one person got it. Here, because you don’t want to turn horses inside out, you have to think ‘okay, how can I do it?’ So I try and keep horses slower over a longer distance, if possible. That’s again, another great theory, but these guys are so good now — they get into a rhythm and they’re quick away from a fence. You watch the good guys — it’s all very smooth and seamless. And you see the not-so-good guys, and it’s all about setting up, jump the fence and then off they go again. Whereas the good guys are in a rhythm,  they’re in a groove and so they make the time.”

The biggest challenge, he says, is maintaining the focus all the way around — for the riders just as much as their horses. With 13 collapsible fences on course, including MIMclipped rails and collapsible tables and corners, they’ll need to prepare quality lines and balanced, neat approaches, too. And once the first horse heads out from the start box? He’ll be making his way the whole way around to learn from how horses handle his course.

“It’s understanding how I want the horses to benefit from the experience so they grow as they go around,” he says, referring to the goal for his own viewing tomorrow. “There will be horses stepping up for the first time, and some horses that need a bit of reestablishment. So you get them into the course quite nicely and then, it needs to be a positive experience and beneficial. It’s very easy to destroy horses physically or mentally, in particular, and there’s nothing clever in that. So I watch horses travelling; I watch how they cover the ground; I watch how they jump the fences; I watch how the riders deal with things. I watch how the horses react when a rider makes a mistake — because riders always make mistakes, and then you want the horse to take over and sort it out. I’ll just quietly watch everything.”

Now let’s take a look at what this clever course offers – because a significant part of the challenge on Saturday will be simply knowing where, exactly, you’re going. On first walking it, it’s definitely not always obvious – and so riders will want to make sure they’ve logged enough focused walks to ensure that they never waste a second trying to remember if their next move is a left- or right-handed turn.

THE TECHNICAL DETAILS

Length: 6350m

Optimum time: 11:08

Fences: 28

Jumping efforts: 46

The CCI5* course map, replete with a dizzying array of twists and turns.

We headed out into the uniquely beautiful woods of the Lüneberg Heide to see what, exactly, Mike has cooked up for us this year. First of all, it’s key to note that the course is being run in the opposite direction to the last few years, which means that the overall feel of the course is a little different: the twistiest, turniest bits of the track are earlier on; the spooky arena comes later in the course when the horses may well benefit from a bit of a pep injection from the enthusiastic crowd; and, notably, what is usually a downhill run to the first water is now a short but steep uphill climb after the final water, so riders will need to manage their horses’ energy levels well to ensure they have enough in the tank to tackle that. Got it? Cool. Let’s get walking.

Fence 1 is an old standby, and used for both courses.

As in any course, the first few fences of Luhmühlen’s track are straightforward single fences with obvious profiles, designed to allow horses and riders alike the chance to get their eye in and enjoy the feeling of bowling over big jumps. In fact, the first two fences are shared between the four- and five-star, while the third fence sees each class jump basically the same table, just alongside one another.

Fence 2: another run and jump fence, but with a wide bottom spread to give horses some air.

I mean, look, I’m not going to mess around, here: they’re simple efforts for competitors of this level, but they’re not small. I climbed under fence two, just out of curiosity, and found enough space under there to comfortably sleep around four people — six, if they’re very cozy and have discussed boundaries at length — and while that’s handy to know ahead of Saturday night’s party, it’s also a sure sign that a fence needs to be ridden with respect. People have absolutely fallen off in the first three fences at this level before, and it would be a serious downer to do so just because you decided to freewheel to a straightforward jump.

Fence 3 – the left-handed table is the 5* one.

At the third fence, after a decent enough gallop stretch, we get the first differentiation between the classes — but it’s so minimal that it basically doesn’t count.

Fence 4 – a collapsible table, reflecting Luhmühlen’s deep commitment to safety first.

Then, it’s on to fence four — a wide table that’s designed to collapse if it’s hit with significant force. We’ve seen this relatively new bit of technology in use in Kentucky and Badminton so far this year, and it’s no surprise that we’re seeing it in Germany — this is a country that’s particularly hot on safety and welfare, because they’ve dealt with the social license issue for a lot longer than the rest of us. The German public has a largely negative view of eventing, and events like Luhmühlen work hard to showcase what the sport can be — and their main priority? Keeping horses from falling, always. And if a not inconsiderable investment in a collapsible table can go some way towards helping them with that goal? You bet they’re going to click ‘Add to Cart’ immediately.

Fence 5ABC – the first combination on course – has a fair and forgiving stride pattern to reflect its early appearance.

With the first four fences behind them, riders will hopefully have spent their time settling their horse into a rhythm and making micro-checks on the rideability. Now, they’ll get to make a rather more macro-check on it, because at fence 5ABC, we meet the first combination on course. It’s not a tough one — the first element is a beefy enough brush-topped oxer, which is followed by two tall, brush-topped skinnies on a curving right-handed line, but the distance between A and B is broad enough that there’s space to make a proper turn and line up those skinny B and C elements, which then come up on an easy three strides. It shouldn’t cause any issues, but it should absolutely be used to ensure that the power steering works, because they’ll need it before too long.

Fence 6 – another wide table to give a great feeling.

Then, there’s another wide table — this course has lots of those, and lots of sweet, chunky wood carvings, too — as we enter into the twistiest and initially most confusing part of the course. This segment is a bit of a roller-coaster ride of turns, and if I’m perfectly honest with you, at like, four distinct spots in this field, I just nearly gave up on the generally accepted sequence of numbers. It’s confusing out there, man.

Luhmühlen 2023: the movie.

Anyway, eventually I entered the deepest dungeons of my mind palace, remembered how to count, and found my way through the next batch of fences and circles, and if I can do it, so can the riders in this year’s field. I think.

Fence 7AB features an interesting bit of terrain in a man-made quarry with a steep entry and exit.

Let’s twist again, baby: the next spin of the washing machine takes us to fence 7AB, which is a pair of narrow houses — but the most interesting thing about them is the terrain they’re set on. Luhmühlen is historically a flat course, but here and there, we encounter some natural, and some manmade, bits of undulating ground — and this, a dugout quarry, is an example of the latter. They’ll pop the first, land on a sharp downhill into the quarry, and then straight up to the B element. This walks as a five stride line, but the addition of the undulation means that the stride pattern could be very different: some horses will bound up or down slopes, while others will tiptoe them, and so riders will need to keep their eyes up, their legs on, and ride the line and the rhythm rather than being beholden to the number they have in mind. If they do that, and maintain the balance throughout, this shouldn’t cause them any issues.

Fence 8 gives riders options: they can jump to the left or right of the central decorations.

Then, they get another table to jump, with a left- or right-handed option — but the left-handed one looks the best here, as they’ll be able to economise their line, stick to the left-handed rope, and get themselves set up to ride a smart, outside shoulder turn off the rope and into the next combination on the best possible line.

Fence 9AB is an accuracy test, but one that should sharpen up, rather than catch out, 5* competitors.

That line will take them over fence 9AB, a double of brush-topped corners, both of which are left-handed. Depending on how much of a bend they want to put in their line here, we’ll see a couple of different stride patterns as they skim their way through. Then, they’ll head to their next big circle, which comprises the next two fences. Are you dizzy yet?

Fence 10 is a Luhmühlen classic: a serious ditch and brush that we’re used to seeing late in the course.

This big loop on the course takes them over another Luhmühlen classique: a wide, imposing ditch and brush that actually looks pretty friendly if you keep your eyes well up on the approach. The one hitch? As they land, they’ll see a glimpse of home, the finish line, and the collecting ring — so riders will need to ensure they keep the focus and the motivation up so they can spin back to the woods and to the next combination.

The coffin at fence 11ABC is always responsible for a few penalties here – whether that’s due to a MIM activation at the rail at A, or a run-out at C.

Focus really will be the name of the game when they get to the coffin at 11ABC, which always appears here in one way or another, and always sees a few faulters — whether that’s because they activate the MIMclip on the rail at the A element, or because they duck out to the side of that skinny C. The stride between the ditch and the C element feels long, so they’ll want to keep that coffin canter in place to clear the first element cleanly, but then ride positively so their horse lands sufficiently far out from the ditch. If they land too close, they’ll find it a stretch to get to their spot for the C — and it wouldn’t be at all beyond the realm of possibility for a horse to spot that the much easier route would be to slip out the side door.

Fence 12.

After that fiddly little number, our competitors will enjoy a bit of a galloping stretch en route to the back field — which they can use to make up for lost time and to build positivity, which is something they’ll need in abundance very soon. When they get to the end of the stretch, they’ll be rewarded with an airy oxer at 12, which will get them up in the air and feeling great ahead of the first water.

Fence 13ABCD is the first water complex – seen here sans water, which will be topped up before Saturday – and it’s one of the toughest questions on course.

And hoo, boy, what a water it is. The first element of the direct route is a brush-topped hanging log with a forward ground line, so horses are likely to jump out and over and land well clear — but because this is a drop into water, and their first time seeing water, no less, you’ll always see a couple suck back a bit and land very close to the fence. If they do, they’ll find themselves up against it a bit: the stride pattern here is fiendishly exact, and there’s not a lot of space to put in a serious bend to add a stride, though those who plan ahead and adjust quickly will be able to manage it. If they land far out and on their line, they can make that long three — or, if they jump to the right hand side of the fence, they can make a short-ish four happen. Then, it’s out onto dry land and over a straightforward table.

For those who choose to take the alternative at the first water, their A element is no less imposing.

The alternative route has much easier stride patterns — although they’ll pay the penalty by losing plenty of time on the clock. The first element is also no easier: it’s a big old brush, which doesn’t offer a glimpse of the water to come, so a horse that tends towards being a touch backwards at water might be put off. Then, they’ll skim through the water, up onto dry land, and over a skinny, before swinging left, jumping another skinny on dry land, and then turning back to the table that’s also the final element of the direct route.

One important thing to note here is that the direct and long routes can only be mixed and matched in certain ways, because the direct first element is an AB, while the long route is just an A. Once they’ve committed to their first element, they’ll need to ensure they don’t accidentally double up their letters, or miss any, if they change course midway. This will arguably be one of the most influential complexes on the course.

Fence 14 will offer some relief after a tough water complex.

Then, it’s one final loop in this field and over another straightforward table at 14, before they head on out and over to the next field to the step complex.

The first element of 15ABC is a sizeable table…

Into the woods we go! Fence 15ABC is almost the same across both classes, except for the A element: while both classes will jump a table at A, the five-star one is set further back from the B element, a big step up with a ditch in front, which adds some space for readjusting, but does make the line trickier. They’ll want to hang right as they head to the bank, which will give them three straightforward enough strides to the angled brush at C — but again, we’re seeing variable terrain here, which means that you can’t always expect the stride pattern you want. From the bank to the C is quite uphill, but that C element should be forgiving enough.

…and the second, a stiff step up with a ditch in front, shouldn’t be underestimated. The C will come up fast.

Here’s a closer look at the line from the bank to the C element, with its slew of options where take-off points are concerned. And once they land? Good luck to them — every single one of us on site this week has gotten lost in the long wooded stretch between this fence and the next — the longest gallop on course, and one that’s currently roped with three different paths. I’ve sampled two of them so far and in both cases, was fairly certain I was about to be eaten by wolves or wild boars or, I don’t know, malevolent German witches or something.

Your reward for not getting lost in the woods? A beefy trakehner at 16 to take you into one of the busiest parts of the course: the Meßmer Water.

If they can survive the witches, though, our competitors will be able to make good use of this stretch to take stock of how their horses feel at the halfway point, and to try to make up some time — though these wooded areas are one of the things that make Luhmühlen tricky. The tightly-packed skinny trees make it feel as though you’re going extraordinarily fast, but it’s all an optical illusion, so they’ll want to ensure that they’re keeping a close eye on the clock and any landmarks they’ve picked out along the way so they don’t get lulled into a false sense of speed when they’re actually just hacking through the woods.

Then, the woods will open up and they’ll come to one of the most crowded spectator hotspots on course: the Meßmer Water. First, they’ll jump a trakehner at 16 to get them up in the air as they greet the hubbub, before they come to the first element of this busy water complex.

There’s a very slow long route here, but the direct route begins with an achingly skinny arrowhead at 17A…

That first element at 17A is a very skinny arrowhead on dry land. They’ll enjoy a stride on grass before cantering into the water and then out onto an island in the center, atop which is a small log fence.

….followed by a pop over a log on the island at 17B, and finally, another skinny in the water at 17C.

Then, it’s down the mound, back into the water, and over another skinny at 17C — this one actually in the water. We’ve seen skinnies in the water here cause issues before, but that’s when this complex has come up much earlier on — this late in the course, they should be well focused on the task at hand. If riders are concerned, though, they do have a long route that’s made up of three totally different fences, but it’ll require them to do big loops around the water complex that’ll add lots of time and cost valuable energy.

Then, they’ll jump another big table on the way to the arena fences.

Then, they’ll hang a right and head down towards the beating heart of the venue, first jumping another big table at 18…

Fence 19 is a single right-handed corner – a breather compared to the 4* version of this question, which has two corners on a line.

…and then over a right-handed corner at 19, which is the second of a double used in the four-star class, and has trees planted on the approach that’ll dictate the line they take on the approach.

Then it’s into the arena and hang a right, all the way around to 20a, a wide, brush-topped oxer…

A big roar of encouragement will await them as they cut into the main arena, turn right, and then gallop all the way down the long side, before turning left and jumping 20A, a seriously big, brush-topped oxer that’s a country mile away from its B and C elements, just visible on the left-hand side of the photo.

Which is a reasonably distance and a 90-degree turn from 20B and C, a double of angled brushes with water trays beneath them.

That distance means there’s time to prepare, and the 90 degree turn will help them to ensure the balance and straightness they’ll need for the B and C elements, a tricky double of angled, brush-topped hanging logs with water trays underneath them, on a two-stride line. There’s ample opportunity to run out to the right here, so they’ll need to commit to their line and ride positively and genuinely through these fences.

Finally, they’ll jump THAT bird at 21 – but he’s not caused issues since he left his watery perch of 2019.

Then, they’ll turn left at the short side of the arena and pop over the colourful bird at 21, which will still strike fear into the hearts of everyone who saw it wreak havoc when it lived in the water complex at the 2019 European Championships. The good news is that it hasn’t caused any issues since it’s been an arena fence, and it is quite pretty, all things considered.

There’s a rail-fronted hedge to pop at 22 – another mainstay here at Luhmühlen.

Once they come out of the arena, they’re just a few fences from home — but there’s still enough to do between here and the finish that they can’t fall victim to complacency. First, they’ll pop the hedge and rail at 22, which is always a part of the course here, before heading out into the middle field on their way to the final water.

Then, it’s on to the upright gate and angled log combo at 23AB.

We’ve seen a double of gates used in this field before, but this year, it’s a slightly friendlier fence: at 23AB, they’ll pop a MIMclipped gate atop a mound, then cruise down to an angled stump at the B element. That walks as a four-stride line, but again, we’ve got a bit of terrain here that could complicate that calculation a bit, depending on the ride they get over the A element.

Next, we’ll head into the dappled light of the final water complex, the Longines Waßer. There’s a rolltop to start, followed by two angled brushes in the water – and then a short, steep uphill climb.

After galloping across the length of the field, they’ll nip back under the shade of the trees and into the Longines Water at 24ABC, which, on a sunny day, can have an interesting interplay between light and dark that can require extra sympathetic riding. The first element is a simple rolltop on dry land, and then they’ll head into the drink and over a double of offset angled hedges — one in the pond itself, and the other on dry land.

Finally, they’ll gallop up the steepest hill on the course, and though it’s not a long one, they’ll want to make sure they’ve left enough petrol in the tank to cruise on up it. Then, they’ll be able to catch their breath with another good gallop through the calm of the woods, before emerging in the final field for the last couple of fences.

They’ll enjoy another straightforward table after that big climb and long gallop…

First, it’s another straightforward table at 25…

…and a rolltop at 26, too, to get them focused before the final combo on course.

…and then down to a rolltop on a very slight downhill approach and landing, which is a set-up fence for the final combination.

That comes at 27AB, and it’ll look pretty familiar to anyone who went to Pratoni.

That final combination is 27AB, a double of timber oxers on a curving left-handed line, which gives riders some options as far as the stride pattern, and the amount of bend in the line, goes. They’ll be able to make that call depending on how much they’ve got left to work with at this point — and as these fences are MIMclipped, they’ll be wise to allow for an extra stride to straighten up on the approach to the second if they think their horse might jump low, or uneven, and potentially activate the safety device.

Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS jump the final fence at Luhmühlen in 2022. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

And then it’s everyone’s favourite fence: the last one. They’ll still want to give it plenty of respect — it’s a five-star fence, after all, and it would be a crying shame to have a miss here just because you can taste the finish. Eyes up, legs on, balance, and go — and then you’re home clear.

Tomorrow’s cross-country will begin with the CCI5* at 9.15 a.m. local time (8.15 a.m. BST/3.15 a.m. EST), and full times for the class — holds notwithstanding — can be found here. Then, it’s on to the CCI4*-S, incorporating the German National Championships, from 12.55 local (11.55 a.m. BST/6.55 a.m. EST) — after that, as the Germans say, we make party. Join us on EN for live updates throughout the CCI5*, and for details on how to follow along on the live stream, click here. Until then: Go Eventing!

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street take a decisive day one lead at Luhmühlen. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

There’s something to be said for the wave of confidence that comes hot on the tail of a great result — and of the power that it can have to bring on further bouts of excellence. I’m not going to delve into any armchair psychology here, but certainly, mindset is a not-so-secret weapon in its own right, and so, when Pippa Funnell came down the centreline at the Longines Luhmühlen CCI5* for her test today with her 2019 Burghley winner MGH Grafton Street, hot off the back of a win (and a seriously speedy turnaround) at Bramham on Sunday with MCS Maverick, it’s not really all that surprising that she was able to pull out the goods and take a decisive lead.

But that score of 23.1 — a full 3.7 points clear of second-placed Kitty King and Vendredi Biats — isn’t just the result of a bit of good juju in the air. Jonathan and Jane Clarke’s fifteen-year-old Irish Sport Horse has only visited the 30s once since 2017, and has gone as low as 22.8 at this level, when winning on his debut at Burghley. This, though, might even rank higher than that test in Pippa’s estimation.

“I think it’s nearly his best test,” she says. “I thought he was with me all the way, and just lovely to ride. It’s not often I really enjoy dressage, but actually I really enjoyed riding that test– I felt I could go for the movements, and he felt really secure.”

Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s the rideability, she explains, that earns those consistently excellent scores for the OBOS Quality son, who might otherwise find this phase something of an uphill battle: “I know he’s a very different type to some of the big, impressive moving horses. He’s got a little, short neck, so that all the time you’re trying to get that neck looking longer. But you’ve got to live with what they were made with and make the best of that, and he’s lovely in his brain to ride in this sort of atmosphere.”

Longtime followers of the sport will know ‘Squirrel’ as a bit of a mercurial character: though he can be excellent — and truly, it does take excellence to win Burghley — he can also be tricky across the country. Now, though, he’s making a bid for a return to glory as an older, and perhaps wiser, horse after a long stint dipping in and out of the sidelines.

“He’s not really done a proper five-star since Burghley [in 2019],” says Pippa. “A lot of it was COVID, then the first year out of COVID  I was really poorly and off games myself. Then the next year, when he was really firing on all cylinders, he went to Hartpury and he picked up quite a nasty injury, where I think he landed over a fence and I thought, ‘oh gosh, is he alright?’ and I went three strides and he felt fine, so I finished and afterwards he was really sore. It turned out that he bruised his pedal bone badly, and it was eight weeks before he came sound, so he missed the whole of that year.”

Last year, she brought him back and aimed him at Badminton, which he started well on a 26.1, but which ended with a fall for the pair that Pippa suspects might have been down to some sense of self-preservation.

“To be honest, you just never know,” she says. “They can’t talk — and I’m not convinced, looking back now, that he didn’t have the injury landing into water or landing off a drop. I thought it was a drop, because I remember him pitching a bit on landing. You never know whether they have memories of these things, and they could easily think ‘gosh, if I jump a fence like that, again, it might [hurt].’ So I think probably in his brain there was a little lack of confidence, and then through that I had that nasty fall at Badminton and we both lost a bit of confidence, I’ll be honest. But then this year, he’s just felt much better again, so that’s why I brought him back.”

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

It’s been a tough old job to please the judges today — especially Germany’s Joachim Dimmek, who’s been laying down the law, and some seriously high standards, from his position at M. For many riders, that’s meant that while they’ve put themselves in competitive positions, they’ve also been disappointed with the scores on paper — and one of those thus affected was Britain’s Kitty King, who sits second overnight with Vendredi Biats on a score of 26.8.

“I was really chuffed with how he went, but it’s disappointing when the marks don’t always reflect how you feel they went,” she says. “It was as solid a test as Badminton and Burghley, where he was scoring 21s and 22s, so 26 is kind of disappointing.

But, she reasons, “if they keep marking harsh, then that’s fine — as long as they keep that up, like they did at Bramham [last week].”

As the French-bred ‘Froggy’ gets older and wiser, Kitty’s finding even more rideability in the 14-year-old gelding — which helps her, like Pippa ahead of her, to overcome any weaknesses he may have in this phase.

“He really stayed solid and he didn’t really make any errors anywhere. At the end of the day, he’s not the biggest mover in the world, but he’s a nice mover and he does everything on the markers and stays with me the whole way round,” she says. “He’s gotten more and more solid as he’s got older — thank goodness, because he was always a bit tricky. But at all the five-stars he’s done he’s not put a foot out of place; even at his first one when he was 10, he did as well as he could. I moan about him at the one-days because he can be a bit annoying, but when it counts, he’s never really put a foot wrong — and the stronger he’s getting at home, it’s coming through into his tests. He stretched better than he normally does and the changes all felt good and that’s all you can ask of him, really. He’s just been really consistent and solid and I think that’s better than one that’s a flash in the pan.”

Laura Collett and Dacapo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

If there’s a theme to today’s competition, it must be that some horses age like fine wine — and Laura Collett‘s Dacapo, at fourteen, is certainly coming into his prime after a rather opinionated youth. Though he didn’t touch his own lofty level personal best — a 25.2 that put him in seventh place after the first phase at Badminton, from which he was then withdrawn as the ground conditions worsened — he certainly made an excellent effort in the ring today, earning himself a 29.7 that’s good enough for third overnight.

“I  was really pleased with him — he missed one change, but other than that, he felt very obedient and did everything when I wanted him to do it,” says Laura. “So I can’t really complain about his performance!”

Dacapo is the first half of a serious double-header for Laura: tomorrow, she brings forward her 2020 Pau and 2022 Badminton champion, London 52, who’s hotly tipped to lead the first phase and is, arguably, the odds-on favourite for the win this week. But there’s plenty to before then, including a tough, twisty Mike Etherington-Smith track that Laura says requires an essential first step: “make sure the sat-nav’s turned on!”

Oliver Townend and Tregilder. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Fourth place is held overnight by Oliver Townend on his second of three rides, the experienced 13-year-old Tregilder, who makes his third five-star start this week. Like their fellow competitors, we saw them trend higher than their usual scores at the level — their 29.9 today is the worst of their five-star results, though only marginally, and largely thanks to a late third change — but it’s enough to keep them well in the hunt going into tomorrow’s second day of competition.

Muzi Pottinger and Just Kidding. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

Likewise, New Zealand’s Muzi Pottinger and her tiny, high-performing Thoroughbred Just Kidding have previously proven they can throw down serious scores at the top level — they posted a 25.9 at Badminton last year — but this time, a 30.7 would have to do for their mistake-free test. That sees them take overnight fifth.

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The best of the significant US contingent here was Boyd Martin, who rode two of his three horses today and sits sixth overnight with Tsetserleg TSF on a 31.1, and eighth on the Annie Goodwin Syndicate’s five-star debutant Fedarman B on a score of 32.4, bookending the tidy 32.1 that sees Ireland’s Elizabeth Power hold onto seventh overnight with the former Tim Price ride, Italian-bred Senza Fine.

“It’s always hard going really early in a class, but I thought Thomas put in a really good test,” says Boyd of his experienced team mount, with whom he performed the second test of the class. “With both horses, though, I wish I had my time over again; I’d do one or two things a bit differently, but all in all, it wasn’t a disaster, and we’re within striking distance.”

Boyd Martin and Fedarman B. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Boyd’s second ride closed out the day’s competition — and was well-supported by ‘Bruno’s’ legion of fans and connections, for whom this wasn’t just a five-star debut for the gelding, but a five-star debut in spirit for his late, much-loved rider, Annie Goodwin. For Boyd, the test was an educational experience for the Dutch-bred 13-year-old, who he began riding at the tail end of 2021.

“He went well, and I was very pleased with him,” he says. “It’s his first attempt at this five-star test, so we’ve been practicing it like mad. We got about 80% of what we get at home, which is pretty good for a first-timer!”

Those practice sessions have been well-supervised by Boyd’s flatwork training dream team, made up of wife Silva and the ineffable Bettina Hoy, both of whom have been on site keeping Boyd and his boys in check (and looking relentlessly glam in the process, it’s important to note). One of their key points of the week, though, didn’t quite come together in the ring: “Bettina and Silva have been training me to try to get the canter a bit shorter, and then I did the exact opposite and let him rip,” laughs Boyd. “You can still feel that he’s a little bit inexperienced in the ring, but all in all I’m very pleased — if we can finish on that, that’d be fantastic.”

The top ten is rounded out by Fiona Kashel and Creevagh Silver de Haar, who rerouted from Badminton after withdrawing before cross-country, and who sit ninth overnight on 32.7, closely followed by their near-neighbours, Tom Jackson and smart debutant Farndon, who hold tenth on a 34.9.

Katherine Coleman and RLE Limbo Kaiser. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

British-based American Katherine Coleman holds thirteenth overnight after posting a 36 with RLE Limbo Kaiser, who was previously campaigned to this level by Great Britain’s Rosa Onslow.

“This is his first five-star with me, and he can get a bit tense, so it’s mainly all about keeping him calm,” says Katherine. “But he was a good boy today — I’m pleased.”

This is Katherine’s third season with the 16-year-old, with whom she’s been aiming for a five-star run since last year: “Rosa went on to have a proper job outside of horses, and I picked him up just to have another horse at the level,” she explains. “He was meant to do Pau last season, and he was having a great season: he was eighth at Barbury, and did well at Hartpury, but he pulled a shoe on cross-country and got a bit of trauma laminitis, so he missed the rest of the season. He was on glue-on shoes over the winter, and now he’s come back out well, though he hasn’t had much eventing this spring [due to cancellations], so he’s just done a couple and then come here. This’ll be my second long-format with him!”

Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Frequent flyers Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire were greeted at the in-gate by a multinational support team: before coming to Luhmühlen, they spent twelve days at Arville, the home base of Belgian rider Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and her husband, German eventer and Belgian team chef d’equipe Kai-Steffen Meier. For several seasons now, Sydney has trained intensively with the Meiers when she’s on the continent, and has sourced horses through them, too, but now, the relationship has morphed into more of a familial one — “I’m Auntie Syd to the kids!” she laughs.

The savvy move to fly in early didn’t just afford her plenty of time for catching up with her friends, though — it also gave spicy ‘Q’, who can be prone to some tension, the best opportunity to settle into a routine and decompress after a long flight before trucking over to Germany. Though their mark of 37.8, which puts them 15th overnight, doesn’t quite reflect it, that effort showed itself in a sweet, sensible test.

“He was so good,” she enthuses with a broad smile. “There was just a mistake here and there, but overall, he was delightful. Two years ago at Aachen, he had a complete meltdown, so this is such a big step for him — the last few years he’s been doing better and better, and he’s thirteen now, so we’re like an old married couple at this point.”

For Sydney, the test was something of a tale of two halves: “I loved the canter work today more than I have the last few outings,” she says. “The trot work was a little bit disappointing, but overall, I mean, he is such a good boy, so I can’t ever be upset with whatever he does.”

Hallie Coon and Global Ex. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Our final US rider of the day, Hallie Coon, goes into tomorrow’s competition just behind Sydney, sitting sixteenth on a 38.4 with the former Katherine Coleman ride Global Ex. Hallie, who relocated to the UK just before Christmas, was ably supported on the ground by Australia’s Kevin and Emma McNab, with whom she rides in Surrey – and we’re particularly excited to see her come forward tomorrow in the CCI4*-S with Cute Girl, the former Seven-Year-Old World Champion, who was piloted by Kevin until last spring.

The top ten at the end of day one of dressage in Luhmühlen’s CCI5*.

Nadine Marzahl and Victoria 108. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Before the CCI5* competitors even got a look in, though, all eyes were on the first half of the CCI4*-S class, incorporating the German National Championships, which got underway this morning in the main arena. At the tail end of day one, it’s very nearly a German whitewash in the top ten — but for a strong bid at some national diversity from Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, who sits fifth on a 31.8 with her homebred Hermione d’Arville, and Italy’s Evelina Bertoli, who’s currently ninth on a 33 with the elegant Fidjy des Melezes.

The overnight leader, though, is a rider who’s more than earned her moment of glory, if only for how calmly she’s dealt with all manner of spicy ginger antics this week. Nadine Marzahl has two nearly identical chestnut mares in this class in Victoria 108 and Valentine FRH, both of whom are sired by the Dutch-bred stallion Valentino 240, and both of whom appear to have inherited a similar tempestuousness — one that’s seen endlessly patient Nadine spend as much time reversing at speed around the venue as she’s spent actually getting to ride her horses forwards.

“They are similarly crazy,” laughs Nadine, who explains that time, tact, and the ability to compromise have been the keys to unlocking the mares’ undeniable talent — which was made evident by Victoria 108‘s expressive, impressive effort in the ring today. That earned them a 29.9 and the overnight lead, both in the CCI4*-S at large and in the German National Championship — but Victoria also made sure that everyone present knew exactly who she was, spooking exuberantly the second Nadine finished her final salute.

“She’s really awake and it’s always just between genius and madness — but today she was really, really good,” says Nadine. But, she adds with a laugh, “It’s not always like this! Today it was the first time for her in such atmosphere and I was a little bit wondering how she would manage it, but she was great.”

Nadine has had the now-twelve-year-old since she was three, which means that she knows all the horse’s quirks and understands the fine line she needs to straddle to keep her performing at her best.

“She was really, really difficult to break in,” she remembers. “But I loved her from the first second, so I tried really hard to get her heart fighting with me. I think now we’re a good team, and I hope that we have some more nice years and can stay on this level and maybe more. You can’t tell her ‘you have to do it’. You get her on your side, and sometimes, it takes a little bit longer. You have to ask her for everything. And you have to tell her ‘okay, it’s your idea, you can do it.’ And then she’ll do anything.”

Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

We’re used to seeing Olympic individual gold medallist Julia Krajewski come forward at Luhmühlen with serious heavy-hitters — or, at the very least, little-known up-and-comers that so swiftly become big names that we forgot that we were still furtively Googling them ringside when they first appeared on the centre line here. That’s certainly true of the French mare Amande de b’Neville, who promptly won the Olympic gold just after finishing fifth in her debut here (although, yes, okay, at that point she’d picked up a little win at Saumur, too) — and perhaps it could be true for Julia’s duo of nine-year-olds this week, the first of which has already made a serious impression.

Ero de Cantraie hasn’t long been in Julia’s string — she picked up the ride from France’s Jean Teulere at the end of 2021 — but in their 11 FEI cross-country runs together, they’ve finished in the top ten eight times, and Julia is quietly optimistic that he might have what it takes to be a top contender in her string. Though he couldn’t crack the 30 barrier today — they score a 30.2 for overnight second — he absolutely looked the part. And, Julia says, he felt it, too.

“He’s only been with me for a good year, and he’ jumped a lot before, so he’s kind of had to find his body in the dressage,” she says. “I had it quite sorted for last year and then we had to learn the changes and he was like, ‘what? I can’t do it!’ But he’s always getting better. He tended to get a bit nervous last season, and I couldn’t ride him, and now he’s staying so calm that I’m like, ‘Okay, you can go for more’ and that’s a really good feeling. And I think if he goes from now, and keeps improving, I think he will be very reliable and really cool.”

At this early point in his career — he’s run just one CCI4*-S before this, finishing second at Marbach — he’s beginning to remind her of another very special horse in her stable: the now-retired Samourai du Thot, with whom she competed at the Rio Olympics and won the CCI5* here in 2017.

“Normally he is a very good jumper, he wants to do well, and cross country really, I think it clicked for him this year,” she says. “He sometimes reminds me of Sam somewhat — he has a funny mind, but he’s very trusting, and I have the feeling that once he understood we’re doing it as a team, he was like ‘okay, fine. Tell me what to do. I’m on it.’ It’s really nice; I really like him.”

For both horses, Luhmühlen presents an unmissable opportunity to learn about the challenges of a buzzy atmosphere, plenty of distractions, and a little bit of pressure, too.

“You really only feel what you’re dealing with when you do four-star — before, when you do dressage you’re somewhere in a field and no one sees it,” she says. “But so far, they’ve both done really well. And I’m always happy when I feel that I really established good trust in the early stages, and I’m really excited about both of them.”

Prolific young horse producer Ben Leuwer — the man responsible for horses such as Clever Louis, Chris Burton’s Blenheim eight- and nine-year-olds winner, now ridden by Bubby Upton — sits third overnight on a score of 31 with the eleven-year-old Holsteiner Citius, while Felix Etzel, who rides as part of the German Federation’s Warendorf training system for talented young riders, sits fourth on 31.3 with the diminutive, talented young Trakehner stallion TSF Polartanz.

The second half of the CCI4*-S will come forward from 9.15 a.m. local time (8.15 a.m. BST/3.15 a.m. EST), with US competitors Dan Krietl and Carmango first down the centreline. We’ll see another US competitor not long thereafter in Hallie Coon and Cute Girl, who ride at 9.45 a.m. (8.45 a.m. BST/3.45 a.m. EST), and we’ll also be treated to a test from 2021’s Luhmühlen CCI5* victors Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden at 11.15 a.m. (10.15 a.m. BST/5.15 a.m. EST). The class will wrap up after  Nadine Marzahl and Valentine FRH‘s test at 12.53 a.m. (11.53 a.m. BST/6.53 a.m. EST).

The CCI5* will get back underway from 13.45 local time (12.45 p.m. BST/7.45 a.m. EST) with British duo Will Rawlin and The Partner, and is jam-packed with highlights, including Thoresby winners Emily King and Valmy Biats at 14.37  (13.37 p.m BST/8.37 a.m. EST), Kentucky winner Tamie Smith and her five-star debutant Solaguayre California at 14.52 (13.52 p.m. BST/8.52 a.m. EST), New Zealand’s Tim Price and his Boekelo winner and first-timer Happy Boy at 15.22 (14.22 p.m. NST/9.22 a.m. EST), Matt Flynn and Wizzerd at 15.30 (14.30 p.m. BST/9.30 a.m. EST), World Champ Yasmin Ingham and Rehy DJ at 15.37 (14.37 p.m. BST/9.37 a.m. EST), reigning Luhmühlen winners Felix Vogg and Colero of Switzerland at 16.00 (15.00 BST/10.00 a.m. EST), and 2022 Badminton winners Laura Collett and London 52 at 16.07 (15.07 p.m. BST/10.07 a.m. EST). The day will be closed out by Boyd Martin and his first-timer Luke 140, who’ll ride at 16.22 (15.22 p.m. BST/10.22 a.m. EST), preceded by  Oliver Townend and the third of his trio of rides, Swallow Springs, who reroutes from Badminton.

We’ll be bringing you all the news and some behind the scenes views, too — so keep it locked onto EN for all your Luhmühlen updates. Go Eventing!

The top ten in the CCI4*-S, incorporating the German National Championships, at the end of the first day of dressage.

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.

Pippa Funnell and British team Performance Manager Dickie Waygood. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Welcome to sunny Lower Saxony, in the north of Germany, where an exceptional batch of horses and riders representing twelve nations — and featuring three previous CCI5* winners in Felix Vogg and Colero (here, last year), Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street (Burghley, 2019), and Laura Collett and London 52 (Pau 2020 and Badminton 2022) — have convened to do battle at the Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials, featuring the fourth five-star of the 2023 season. It all began this afternoon in the shadow of the capacious main arena grandstand when the 41 entrants came forward for the first horse inspection in front of the ground jury, and also a very large pizza vendor.

This week, that ground jury — though not the pizza vendor, alas — is helmed by President Nick Burton of Great Britain, ably assisted by Joachim Dimmek of Germany, who’ll be sitting at M for the dressage tests, and Dr. Katrin Eichinger-Kniely of Austria, who’ll be based at E.

Nicolai Aldinger and Timmo. Photo by Alex Jeffery.

Three horses were sent to the holding box through the course of proceedings, and one of them came very early on indeed: with three horses entered this week, including his Badminton ride Swallow Springs, Oliver Townend was the pathfinder for the trot-up, as he will be on Saturday’s cross-country course. Two of his three horses sailed through without a hitch — Swallow Springs and the exciting five-star debutant, Cooley Rosalent — but with the established Tregilder, he was first asked to trot again, and then sent for further examination. The same thing happened to France’s Florian Ganneval and Blue Bird de Beaufour, who will be contesting their third five-star this week — and while both horses were ultimately accepted into the competition upon re-presentation, it wasn’t to be the same story for Germany’s Nicolai Aldinger, who opted instead to withdraw his five-star debutant Timmo from the holding box.

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

That means our list of starters is now down to 40, and we’ll see the first twenty of those take to the main arena tomorrow afternoon from 13.45 p.m. local time — that’s 12.45 p.m. British time, or 7.45 a.m. Eastern time. Our first to go — after the guinea pig test, which will be performed by Germany’s Malin Hansen-Hotopp and her reigning Blenheim CCI4*-L champion Carlitos Quidditch K — will be Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent. He’ll be followed into the ring by Boyd Martin on the first of his own three rides, Tokyo and Pratoni mount Tsetserleg (13:52 local/12:52 BST/7.52 a.m. EST), and Laura Collett will look to make an early bid for the lead as third in the ring with Dacapo (14:00/13:00/8:00 a.m.).

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s a stacked day of sport throughout the afternoon, with further highlights including last year’s Burghley dressage leaders Kitty King and Vendredi Biats (14:37/13:37/8:37 am), who’ve put two unlucky five-star trips behind them and will be looking to make the third a charm; US partnership Sydney Elliott and QC Diamantaire (14:30/13:30/8:30 a.m.), who are adding to their impressive roster of international trips this week; 2019 Burghley champs Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street (15:15/14:15/9:15 a.m.); British-based US competitors in Katherine Coleman and RLE Limbo Kaiser (15:22/14:22/9:22 a.m.) and Hallie Coon and Global Ex (15:37/14:37/9:37 a.m.); and second rides apiece for Oliver Townend (he’ll ride Tregilder at 16:15/15:15/10:15 a.m.) and Boyd Martin (he’ll close out the day with a hotly-anticipated 5* debut for Annie Goodwin’s Fedarman B at 16:22/15:22/10:22 a.m.). Check out tomorrow’s five-star times in full at this link.

And that’s not all, folks: the day begins with the CCI4*-S, which will start at 9.30 a.m. local time (8.30 a.m. British/3.30 a.m. EST). You can find tomorrow’s starting order for this class here. 

Gireg Le Coz and Caramel d’Orchis. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Want to keep your eyes on the prize while the competition’s ongoing? Every minute of the action from both classes will be streamed via Horse & Country TV, and if you’ve been on the fence about committing to a streaming service, we’ve got a sneaky little deal for you: if you aren’t already an H&C+ subscriber, you can save 15% on an annual membership using code EVENTINGNATION15. The platform also has pay-monthly subscription options or one-off pay-per-view options if you just fancy tuning in for the week. Head over to our viewing guide for more info, and to keep tabs on the week’s timetable.

We’ll be bringing you full coverage from both the CCI4*-S, incorporating the German National Championships, which kicks off from 9.30 a.m. local time/8.30 a.m. BST/3.30 a.m. EST tomorrow, and the CCI5* — including deep-dives into the technical, academic cross-country course, designed once again by Mike Etherington-Smith. So fill your stein, manhandle your dinner sausages, and let’s Go Eventing – German style!

Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [EN’s Form Guide]

EN’s coverage of Longines Luhmühlen is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products and Ocala Horse Properties.