Riders have shared their early thoughts on the Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials cross-country course, as Mike Etherington-Smith’s five-star track takes a new direction for 2023.
The twisting Luhmühlen five-star cross-country course runs in the opposite direction to last year, looping and turning back on itself so riders will need to have the roping – as well as the fences – clear in their minds ahead of cross-country day.
“I’m still just trying to get a feel for the track. It’s very twisty and has a lot of accuracy questions,” said US rider Boyd Martin, who has three rides in the CCI5*, noting the “relentlessness” of the track.
“I think it’s the accumulation, to be honest. There’s not one jump where I’m sick to my stomach, but it’s a bit relentless where it’s just combination after combination.
“The last three jumps look nice! If I get to there, I’ll be just holding them together and making sure I finish the job well.”
The first water, which comes a good way into the track at the LeMieux Lagune at fence 13, was mentioned by several riders as one that made them sit up and take note on their early walks.
The first water complex on the Luhmühlen five-star cross-country course.
“First of all, I hope the Sat Nav works,” said Laura Collett, with a laugh. “There’s lots of twists and turns and lots of different tracks, you need to choose the right one!
“There’s just loads of opportunities to have a blip somewhere. The first few fences, you think this is nice, this is okay, and then it kind of hits you.
“I wouldn’t say there’s any one fence in particular that particularly stands out, but I think the first water comes out of nowhere. I think that will come up very, very quickly. There’s not really a margin for error when there’s only three strides from the jump in to the corner.
“It’s a really well built track, they do such a good job building nice fences here. So hopefully the horses lock on and understand the questions.”
Luhmühlen Horse Trials cross-country: ‘There’s lots to do’
Kitty King, in second after day one, enjoyed a successful spin across Luhmühlen’s European Championship course in 2019 aboard Vendredi Biats, her ride in this year’s CCI5*. While the Europeans was run over a CCI4*-L track, she hopes that bodes well for her chances on Saturday.
“It’s obviously going a different route to the Europeans and it’s a little bit longer, but at the end of the day it’s got a very similar feel with lots of skinnies and angles,” she said.
“You’ve got to stay on your game the whole way. The first part of it is very twisty, like a short format, and then there’s galloping stretches towards the end, so we are just going to have to keep on it and keep their brains working.”
Thursday dressage leader Pippa Funnell added there is “plenty to do out there” on the Luhmühlen Horse Trials cross-country course.
“On his day [MGH Grafton Street] can be really good, as he showed when he won Burghley, but he also can be a little bit cheeky so I have to be with him there every step of the way,” she said.
“It’s not that he is cheeky because he wants to run out, it’s actually more that he’s quite difficult in his balance. Where I struggle with him is sometimes getting his eyes locked on and focused. If I get that, he’s normally very good.
“There’s plenty of arrowheads, corners and lines. It’s certainly not as big as Badminton and Burghley, but it’s twistier through the woods. It’s technical and there is lots to do.”
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