Happy Flag Day! Also International Bath Day… Boyd Martin (Olympian and ice-bath lover) will be one of the riders flying the flag for the USA in Luhmuhlen. Boyd with Tstetserleg TSF. Photo by Abby Powell.
It’s 5* time once more! We’re off to Germany this time to live it large in Luhmuhlen.
Flying the flag for the US in the 5* are Kentucky champion and World No. 5 Tamie Smith, who brings forward Solaguayre California, Bromont hat-tricker Boyd Martin (appropriately) has three rides – Fedarman B, Luke 140 and Tsetserleg TSF, and keep your eyes peeled for Katherine Coleman (RLE Limbo Kaiser), Hallie Coon (Global Ex), Sydney Elliott (QC Diamantaire), and Matthew Flynn (Wizzerd).
In the 4* Dan Kreitl comes forward with Carmango and Hallie Coon rides Cute Girl.
There’s a healthy British interest in the 5* with World Champion Yasmin Ingham bringing Rehy DJ, Badminton 2022 winner Laura Collett comes forward with two rides – London 52 and Decapo, and Pippa Funnell will be flying high after her win in the Bramham 4*-L at the weekend – she brings MGH Grafton Street. They’re joined by David Doel (Ferro Point), Tom Jackson (Farndon), Fiona Kashel (Creevagh Silver de Haar), Emily King (Valmy Biats), Kitty King (Vendredi Biats), Harry Meade (Tenereze), Imogen Murray (Roheryn Ruby), Will Rawlin (The Partner), Kyle Roddy (Carden Earl Grey), Izzy Taylor (Happy Days and Monkeying Around), and Oliver Townend (Swallow Springs, Cooley Rosalent and Tregilder).
We’ll also get to see World No. 1 Tim Price coming forward with Happy Boy for New Zealand and 2022 winner Felix Vogg with Colero for Switzerland.
Read all about all of the 5* horses and riders in EN’s form guide – coming soon!
In the 4* (which is also used as the German National Championship) we have German superstar Ingrid Klimke with EQUISTRO’s Siena Just Do It, reigning Olympic champion Julia Krajewski with Nickel and Ero de Cantraie, and Britain’s Mollie Summerland with Charly van ter Heiden.
The 5* action trots off today (Wednesday) with the Horse Inspection at 4pm local time (that’s 10am EDT / 3pm BST). Then we have two days of dressage (Thursday and Friday) with the first horses up the center line at 1:30pm (7:30am EDT / 12:30pm BST). Saturday – yay! – is cross country day, when competitors will get the chance to take on the Mike Etherington-Smith (assisted by Kai-Steffen Meier) track. The galloping gets going at 9am (3am EDT / 8am BST). Sunday’s Horse Inspection begins at 8am (2am EDT / 7am BST), followed by the show jumping at 10am (4am EDT / 9am BST).
And then we’ll know who’s joining Shane Rose (Adelaide), Tamie Smith (Kentucky) and Ros Canter (Badminton) as 2023 5* winners!
You can follow along with the live stream on H&C+ with a subscription or a one-time viewing pass. If you choose to purchase an annual H&C+ subscription, you can save 15% if you use the code EVENTINGNATION15. And if you just can’t wait ‘til Saturday to see the cross country course, you can check out the route and fences here. We’ll be bringing you live updates of all three 5* phases, so keep it locked onto EN to read about all the action as it happens.
EN will have boots on the Luhmuhlen ground, where Tilly will be bringing us ALL the news from the event. Keep up with the EN coverage and follow @goeventing for all the 5* – and 4* – content you can handle.
Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [How to Watch] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] []
Let’s go eventing in Luhmuhlen!
U.S. Weekend Preview
Aspen Farm H.T (Yelm, WA) [Website] [Volunteer] [Entries / Ride Times / Scoring]
Full Gallop Farm June H.T (Aiken, SC) [Website] [Volunteer]
Honey Run H.T. (Ann Arbor, MI) [Website] [Volunteer]
Horse Park of New Jersey H.T. I (Allentown, NJ) [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [Volunteer]
Seneca Valley Pony Club H.T. (Poolesville, MD) [Website] [Entries] [Scoring]
Shepherd Ranch Pony Club H.T. I (Santa Ynez, CA) [Website] [Entries / Ride Times / Scoring]
Silverwood Farm Spring H.T. (Trevor, WI) [Website] [Ride Times] [Scoring]
Wednesday News and Reading
Got an opinion on the recommendations made by The Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission to the FEI? A survey has been launched to find out what those involved with horses think of the 24 proposed recommendations. It’s available in English, French and Spanish and is directed at anyone involved with horses. There are 10 questions covering topics such as horses in sport, how well the recommendations meet the needs of improving welfare in horse sport, and the responsibility we have to respect the horse “as a sentient creature capable of feeling both positive and negative emotions”. The survey is open until June 22nd. [Have Your Say]
Eventing power couple Tim and Jonelle Price are giving their first Eventing Masterclass together. They’ll give an insight into their training philosophy and show demonstrations across the levels – from young horses and riders to 5*. Tickets are available now and they’re also accepting applications for demo riders. [The Masters at Work]
A comprehensive look at bitting in relation to social license. Dr Robert Cook, Professor of Veterinary Surgery Emeritus at Tufts University in Massachusetts, argues that a change in equipment is necessary for the future of horse sport – in particular embracing a bit-free approach. [A Fair Bit About the Bit]
How much horsepower does a horse have? The term ’horsepower’ doesn’t actually have anything to do with horses – huh. It’s actually just a unit of measurement. The name comes from the time when horses were used for tasks which vehicles later took on – think plowing and the like. This blog post is full of fun facts like how much horsepower a horse has (hint – it’s not one horse = one horsepower), how much more powerful horses are than humans (a lot), and which vehicle has the most horsepower (FYI it’s not a horse trailer). [The Power of the Horse]
If there was a race between a human and a horse, who would win? We don’t have to surmise, or hypothesize, do complicated calculations or guess, thanks to the annual Man V Horse race which happened last weekend in Wales. A bunch of runners took on some horses in a 22.5 mile race across the mountainous Welsh terrain, and for the second year running, the result was somewhat of a surprise. [Who’s Your Money On?]
Eventing legend Mary King has swapped four legs for two wheels and completed an epic journey. She’s been cycling from John O’Groats at the very top of the UK to Land’s End at the very bottom – 874 miles in total! I feel for her bottom – equestrian saddles are MUCH more comfy than bicycle ones! She’s been raising money for her local dementia charity along the way – what a truly impressive woman she is! (But we already knew that, didn’t we?) [Read about Mary’s adventures on her Facebook page]
Sponsor Corner
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Offered for sale for the first time, you could have a farm of your very own just 2/10ths of a mile from the PBIEC showgrounds.
See more here.
Video Break
Get pumped for Luhmühlen with this promo video:
