Classic Eventing Nation

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.

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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!

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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.

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