Overnight leader Ingrid Klimke and FRH Escada JS (GER) kick Sunday off with a wink and a smile. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Twenty-five of 25 horses passed the Sunday morning inspection here in Germany, many of them looking quite spry after yesterday’s taxing effort.

It never ceases to amaze me how these elite equine athletes can be so poised in the dressage ring, one-track-minded on cross-country and unflappable amidst the sound and color of show jumping, yet the task of jogging politely down a strip of asphalt seems emotionally too much to bear.

Coral Keen and Wellshead Fare Opposition (GBR). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

The North American contingent, at least, kept it together. Ever the consummate professional, Clark Montgomery’s Loughan Glen looked loose, limber and feeling the chill vibes after his clear run yesterday. If you’d just prick your ears for a moment, Glen, I could get a decent photo of you! For such a handsome horse, you’re never going to make it as a supermodel.

Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen (USA). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Take a hint from Rupert.

Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master (CAN). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Stunning.

Michael Jung jogged in jeans on Wednesday but was in his Sunday best today. Now there’s a guy who cleans up well. And as long as I’ve got my suit and tie / Imma leave it all on the floor tonight…

Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW (GER). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Nice suspension, too, although not quite as impressive as Ludwig Svennerstal.

Ludwig Svennerstal (SWE). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Julien Despontin was bringing sexy back in his sweet shades.

Julien Despontin and Waldano 36 (BEL). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

No sunglasses for Toddy, who seemed to have a little twinkle in his eye this morning.

Mark Todd and NZB Campino (NZL). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

The best of the rest:

Go get ’em, guys. Show jumping starts at 11:15 a.m. CEST, a bright-and-early 5:15 a.m. for those of you on ET. Sally, a true Eventing Nation hero who definitely deserves a raise, will be live blogging from the FEI live stream while I’m doing the business ringside.

What’s about to go down out there? No telling. There’s very little room to breath between the top scores, with just a 10th of a point separating first placed Ingrid Klimke and second placed Jonelle Price. The leaderboard heading into show jumping.

Yesterday Ingrid sounded confident that the momentum from her stellar cross-country round would carry over into show jumping today: “Escada is a good jumper and she has been great in training. My trainer Kurt Gravemeier promised he would come down here for the show jumping providing I was in the top three. I told him to fill up his car!”

Perhaps she was trying to tell us something with that winky face.

Stay tuned. Go Eventing!

Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entry List] [Schedule] [Leaderboard]

One thing I’ve learned over my past four days in Germany is that you just never know what’s going to happen next.

Some things are predictable.

This kid stuffing his face with a giant pretzel.

Schnauzers.

Rip Van Winkle and his pet falcon.

OK, so the random falconry exhibition immediately following cross-country was a bit of a surprise. I snapped a few photos and shuffled back into the media tent, ready to chug espresso and do some writing while the weirdness died out.

A few minutes later: the “Chariots of Fire” theme song and the roar of the crowd. That falcon must be really putting on a show!

I wandered back out in time to see Andreas Dibowski thundering around the ring on a proud-looking RH Butts Leon. At 18 years old, the horse’s prolific career has taken him around the world and back, literally. His accomplishments include two clear cross-country rounds at the Olympics, two World Equestrian Games, 2nd place finishes at Badminton and Pau, and a win and a 2nd right here in the 2009 and 2011 Luhmühlen CCI4*s.

Andreas took his partner over a few final jumps in the ring and they looked as keen as ever. The crowd clapped in time with the music and waved white handkerchiefs as they galloped past. It was a deserving tribute and touching farewell to one of Team Germany’s most accomplished equine athletes.

Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Leon (GER). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Luhmühlen sure knows how to put on a show, and it’s no surprise that this event is a destination for equestrian enthusiasts from all of Europe and beyond.

The 62-horse competition itself is, of course, Luhmühlen’s centerpiece. But the organizers seem to understand that it’s in everyone’s best interest to build out the schedule in a way that capitalizes on the excitement of the event. In addition to falconry and grandiose retirement ceremonies, there are breed inspections, pony brigades, bagpipes and karaoke at night for anyone who dares.

Jesse Campbell and Kaapachino (NZL). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Luhmühlen is at once spectacular and user-friendly, not so crowded that you have to fight for a glimpse of the water complex but large enough to do justice to the big deal that this CCI4* actually is. The course is a work of art and the quality of horses here is astonishing.

The dog-watching is pretty exciting, too.

Mop dog, the first. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Mop dog, the second. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Also, a shout-out to the cutest outriders in the land…

Squee! Photo by Leslie Wylie.

…and to parents who pull their kids around in wagons.

Double squee! Photo by Leslie Wylie.

It’s been an exciting day and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the weekend shakes out. The CCI4* inspection begins at 9 a.m. CEST (3 a.m. ET), with show jumping from 11:15 to 12:30 CEST (5:15 to 6:30 a.m.). Until then, gute nacht!

Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entry List] [Schedule] [Leaderboard]

Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Luhmühlen desperately needed today to be a good one — and we got our wish.

After three days of spitty rain and frigid wind, we awoke early to a day that, literally and metaphorically, just got brighter as it went on. This morning’s CCI4* cross country competition was both safe and good sport, and it went a long way toward pushing back the dark clouds that have been hovering over the event for the past couple years.

Eventing in Germany is no joke. I sat in traffic on the way to the show grounds longer than I did for a 90,000-person music festival last weekend. National pride runs deep and at today’s competition Ingrid Klimke was the headliner.

Ingrid Klimke and FRH Escada JS (GER). Photo by Thomas Ix.

Dressage leader Julien Despontin picked up 22.4 time penalties early on in the day. He later explained, “My horse lost a shoe between jumps 13 and 14 which caused us to slip a little round the corners and slowed us down a bit. Waldano was brilliant nevertheless and I truly enjoyed the round.”

Julien’s time penalties left the door wide open for Ingrid to take the lead and that she did, much to the delight of her countrymen. You could tell where she was on course just by the sound of roars rising up from crowd and the performance she laid down was admittedly pretty rock-star. Ingrid has a presence in the saddle that is matched only by her stunningly talented mare, FRH Escada JS, who made short work of Captain Mark Phillips‘ CCI4* course.

“I am so happy, she was super fit and gave me a wonderful round,” Ingrid said. “The course rode brilliantly, the ground was perfectly prepared and the audience was really supportive. However, the course was technically challenging, especially the different water complexes and the Ariat combination toward the end asked for heightened concentration.

“Escada was unbelievable though: motivated and amazing to ride. She has a big jump in her and is very clever. She can solve even difficult questions almost effortlessly.”

We noticed that Ingrid was sporting a helmet cam so hopefully we’ll all be able to take a vicarious spin on Escada soon!

A clear, fast round from New Zealand’s Jonelle Price and Faerie Dianimo earned them on step up the scoreboard into 2nd place.

“Today she rode like a proper four-star horse!” Jonelle said. “She was amazing, she flew round the course, she is truly exceptional. I have never had a horse like her before, she can do amazing things in all three disciplines. At home she is a little diva and her stable name is Princess, but it was worth putting in all the hard work to get her on my side.

“When I rode her in Pau she was still a little green, but she has grown a lot and her performance here has been tremendous. I really can’t ask for more. If I do my job well tomorrow, then anything is possible.”

Jonelle Price and Faerie Dianimo (NZL). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Michael Jung had the 3rd and 4th spots claimed with fischerRocana FST and La Biosthetique Sam FBW respectively heading into today’s competition. Sam tackled the course with his signature professionalism, coming home well inside the time.

“La Biosthetique Sam is super fit and rode perfectly all the way round the course,” Michael says. “He listened to me right from the start and we had a lot of fun out there. It was a great round under perfect conditions.”

Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW (GER). Photo by Thomas Ix.

fischerRocana seemed to be enjoying her romp as well until the final water complex.

In an unexpected turn of events, the supermare went down to her knees on the landing from the drop in. She resurfaced with a surprised expression on her face, shaking the water from her ear bonnet and looking the part of a pony who’d had its dinner taken away. Michael called it a day and they walked back to the stables a bit soggy but no worse for the wear.

We’re thrilled to report that Team North America had a stellar day, with both Clark Montgomery and Rebecca Howard finishing in the top 10.

I saw Rebecca come through #28ABC, the Ariat Horses, a triple brush skinny followed by a left bend to a two-stride line of angled corners. Being just two fences from home and at the bottom of a downhill gallop, it was a test of both fitness and focus and caused trouble for those who didn’t get their horses back quite enough.

New Zealand’s Blyth Tait and Xanthus III were among those who collected 20 here.

Rebecca and Rupert were spot-on, their game face never wavering from start…

Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master (CAN). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

…to finish.

Clark and Glen looked absolutely flawless through the Ariat line as well from where I was watching near the last jump. The announcer initially said he’d finished clear and just a second over time, so when 20 jump penalties — and then an elimination — later popped up on the leaderboard beside his name we were all quite stunned.

Glen had apparently knocked the flag at the C element and there was some question about whether his shoulders were over the fence, a matter soon resolved by a series of head-on photographs taken by Shannon Brinkman. You’re an American hero, Shannon!

Even when the ruling was still up in the air Clark told me that he couldn’t have been more thrilled with his horse’s performance. The pair has buckled down on their jumping and fitness work the past few months and their effort clearly paid off today.

Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen (USA). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

“He was right on all the way around,” he said. “I was a bit conservative with really going for the time at the beginning because the concern was whether he would have enough gas to finish the course. But he just kept on wanting to gallop so I was really happy with that. And looking for the jumps — he ticked them off like it was no big deal.”

This was Clark and Glen’s first go at Luhmühlen and he says he was happy with how the course rode.

“It was a bit harder than I expected technicality wise,” he said. “I think a lot of the riders would maybe say that because it caused more issues that we thought it might.”

Issues were scattered throughout the course, resulting in nine retirements, one elimination and a stop or runout here and there. There was only one fall when Kai-Steffen Meier and Sunny Side First “submarined” into the water at 17. Everyone returned to the barn safely, however, and the riders expressed a widespread feeling that their horses had come off course more educated and confident.

“I think Mark did a good job with this course in that it did cause issues with it still being safe,” Clark said. “That’s a super finish for Luhmühlen, especially.”

CCI4* Cross Country Photo Gallery:

CCI4* top 25 after cross country (click here to view the full leaderboard):

Check out video highlights from the FEI below. We’ve got plenty more Luhmühlen shenanigans up our sleeve for later today. In the meantime, go eventing!

Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entry List] [Schedule] [Leaderboard]

Photo by Leslie Wylie.

The nightmare that was cross-country day at Luhmühlen 2014 isn’t lost on anyone this weekend. Nobody’s pretending like it didn’t happen — starting with an acknowledgement from Princess Anne in the show program’s forward:

“All equestrian activities are risky and modern equestrian sports understand those risks better than ever. While remembering Benjamin Winter’s tragic accident last year which has overshadowed Luhmühlen’s recent history, I would like to wish all those involved — the organisers, the many volunteers and the riders a very successful event.”

The 15th day of June last year was a dark day for the sport and one that raised some hefty, and ultimately impossible, questions. “Where do we go from here?,” Luhmühlen course designer Captain Mark Phillips asked in a press conference following the incident that afternoon.

“Personally, I feel sick to my stomach,” he said. “We had a course that a lot of people thought was easier than last year. We had perfect conditions, great footing, a sunny day — but we had too many falls. Six rider falls, two horse falls — it’s too many.”

Luhmühlen’s undercurrent of bad luck goes back a year further, when a fall claimed the life of another horse.

The event desperately needs to have a good day tomorrow. And, by all accounts, it has made every humanly possible attempt to ensure that it happens.

The cross-country course has undergone some dramatic changes for this year’s event, including completely reversing the course’s direction. The increased implementation of safety systems, especially frangible pins, has been emphasized. There is also plenty of use of hedges, described by Phillips as “a semi frangible medium” that can add an element of forgiveness to difficult questions.

But even with the most advanced technology and thoughtful course design, things don’t always go according to plan. And the ultimate responsibility, of course, falls on the riders to make smart decisions.

“The greatest aid towards safety is the respect riders have for the fences, so we are always trying to find the balance between the fence that is forgiving and yet still taken seriously by the riders,” Philips explained in a press release before the event.

Godspeed to all of tomorrow’s competitors — here’s wishing you all a safe, happy journey. Go eventing.

Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entry List] [Schedule] [Leaderboard]

Clark Montgomery and Loughan Glen at Luhmuhlen. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Sitting in 9th place amongst the world’s best riders is nice and all but Clark Montgomery is keeping his eye on the prize.

Since Libby Head broke her wrist and had to withdraw at the 11th hour, Clark is the USA’s principal ambassador here at Luhmühlen — and so far they’re doing us a solid.

To copy-paste my comments from our Luhmühlen dressage recap, Clark and Loughan Glen came out of the gate swinging, earning a 9 and a 10 for an airborne medium trot across the diagonal — I’m still not convinced the horse’s feet were touching the ground.

OK, maybe a tippy-toe here and there but not much else. Here’s what a “10” medium looks like. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Tippy-tippy-toe. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

It was a crisp, lovely test, and Glen is the sort of class horse who looks right at home here amidst the world’s best competitors. Being based in Europe for the past two-and-a-half years has treated Clark well, also; he’s got that rare combination of poise and gutsiness that permeates so many of the top programs here.

A fluke break in the counter canter serpentine weighed their score down a bit but even with a few lost points they managed a 37.1 for 9th place.

Having a chill event horse can be a good, not to mention rare, thing, but Clark says Glen can sometimes be a little too cool a customer in the dressage ring.

“He was fantastic in the beginning,” Clark explains. “He went in and I think he did really well in the trot work and then the beginning of the canter was OK — I could start to feel him start to get a little bit behind my leg. He’s typically that way anyway. I usually come out of the dressage ring out of breath from trying to keep him going all the way to the end; he’s been that way from the very beginning, since he was a 5 year old.”

He continues with a laugh, “I held it together until that last five loop serpentine and then he just would not keep going.”

Not bad, though, especially considering the fact that dressage has almost been an afterthought for this pair since Boekelo last fall. Clark says he’s sat in his dressage saddle maybe, maybe, a dozen times since October.

“The focus has been on his fitness,” Clark says. “Getting him a bit stronger, and his jumping, and so that’s what we’re really here for — tomorrow.”

Captain Mark Phillips’ CCI4* course will be a well-rounded test of those who tackle it.

“It’s a good course,” Clark says. “It’s really not the biggest four-star but it’s technical enough and there plenty of places to screw up.”

Exhibit A: this sort-of-insane skinny to double corner combination. With not much to do but gallop up and down a hill between the final water and this last combination, Clark predicts that it could catch out some horses and riders who let down their guard at the end of the course.

Photo by Leslie Wylie.

“Most everything is on a bit of a long distance so he wants you to keep forward,” Clark says. “But with that if you commit and mess up coming in you could easily end up on a half stride, and I think he’s going to catch some people out on quite a few of the combinations.”

There’s been chatter amongst the riders that the track, which is being run in reverse this year, is quite twisty-turny — almost CICish — but this being Clark’s Luhmühlen debut, he is approaching the course from a fresh perspective: “You definitely have to loop around but you’re not jumping and turning… it looks like Luhmühlen to me!”

From the USA to Germany, here’s wishing Clark and Glen the best of luck this weekend! CCI4* cross-country kicks off at 9:45 a.m. CEST (that’s 3:45 ET for many of y’all), with Clark heading out on course at 12:04 p.m. (or 6:04 a.m. ET). So, unless you’re an earlybird or ambitious FEI livestream devotee, send them some good vibes tonight before you head off to bed!

Go Eventing.

Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entry List] [Schedule] [Leaderboard]

Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master (CAN). Photo by Leslie Wylie.

There are only two representatives of the North American contingent here at Luhmühlen and both are on a mission.

For Rebecca Howard (CAN) and Clark Montgomery (USA), Luhmühlen marks their first four-star back since Badminton last spring. To recall, it was an infamously disastrous incarnation of the event — treacherous footing coupled with a tough track resulted in only 44% of the starters making it around, one of the lowest completion rates of any CCI4* in recent history. Rebecca and her Riddle Master, as well as Clark and Loughan Glen, were among those for whom the finish flags hovered just out reach.

Fast forward a year and both pairs are back at it, with their super-talented horses in top form and nestled in the top 15 of a world-class field heading into cross-country tomorrow.

We caught up with Rebecca after her test, which scored a 42.5 for 15th place:

Best of luck to Rebecca and Rupert tomorrow!

Clear eyes, full hearts, Chinch power, can’t lose.

Check back soon for our post-dressage interview with Clark, who is in 9th on a 37.1.

Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entry List] [Schedule] [Leaderboard]