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Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 54)Drones offer a fantastic way to preview cross country courses, and this flyover video of Mike Etherington-Smith’s CCI5*-L at the Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials is an absolute must-watch.
The course has 31 numbered fences with 45 total jumping efforts running across 6,270 meters. The time allowed is 11 minutes on the nose. Click here to watch an interview from Mike last fall detailing his vision for this year’s course.
There is some new acreage at the event’s disposal, which Mike said expands the scope of what can be done with cross country at the venue. The additional fields are “flat as a pancake” now, but Mike says the terrain will be made more dynamic in the years to come and allow the course to stretch beyond its usual twisty, turny inclinations. “It’s very much looking at the future and then working backwards,” explains the veteran course designer, who took over the helm of Luhmühlen from Captain Mark Phillips in 2017, in the interview with Juliane Barth.
“You want horses to grow as they go around,” Mike said. “There’s a story to a course — it’s not just randoming dumping a load of jump in places. It’s how to tie this in to everything else we’ve got … it’s how to bring this addition into play so that it adds value to the course.”
“There’s a story to it. It has to benefit the horses, it has to benefit the riders. There’s a beginning, middle and an end and that always takes a little bit of time to get the balance right.”
Tilly Berendt is on the grounds to bring you wall-to-wall coverage — click here to catch up on her coverage Keep it locked on EN for everything you need to know from Luhmühlen.
Go Eventing.
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