News from Luhmühlen

Yasmin Ingham (GBR) and Banzai du Loir (29.3) take the win, Tom McEwen (GBR) and JL Dublin (29.6) finish in runner-up position, Michael Jung (GER) and fischerChipmunk FRH (30.9) drop to third place but win German Championship title.

It was her weekend: Yasmin Ingham already placed third in the LONGINES CCI5*-L, before taking the win in the CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy with a beautiful clear round in today’s influential show-jumping course.
The British rider was delighted with her horse’s performance: “It means the world to me. This weekend he’s excelled in all three phases. He was absolutely fantastic yesterday in the cross-country, on all his lines with pricked ears, looking for the flags. In today’s show-jumping he was also pretty perfect and felt brilliant. He’s the perfect athlete because he has ability in every phase: very elegant with a lot of presence in the dressage, brave and fast in the cross-country phase and agile in the show-jumping. So he has the ability to come out on top in all three phases. I feel very lucky that I’m able to ride him.”
Fellow Brit Tom McEwen, was also full of praise for his horse: “Dubs has been absolutely fantastic, he can go a lot better on the flat but he was really smooth across country and the show-jumping was beautiful. I’m delighted with him.”
Michael Jung was in the lead until fischerChipmunk had a rail in today’s show-jumping, dropping the pair into third place. He still mananged to secure the title of German champion and didn’t show any disappointment, focusing instead on everything that went well: “It’s been a fantastic week. I want to thank my whole team and the crowd here in Luhmühlen. Thank you for cheering us on, it means a lot. I’m very proud of my horse. Sadly, we had one fence down, but he gave me a very good feeling in the warm-up and also in the course, I was just a bit unlucky in the last combination.”
Sandra Auffarth, runner-up in the German Championship with Viamant du Matz was very pleased with her Luhmühlen weekend: “I’m super happy. It was a pleasure to ride here, so much fun to ride in the cross-country course and the show-jumping today with the crowd cheering us on. My horse did a really good job in all three disciplines. We’ve really worked on improving the dressage and it’s starting to pay off.” Calvin Böckmann, who took the bronze with his horse Altair de la Cense, explained that he’d come to Luhmühlen hoping to improve his horse’s self-confidence further: “We’ve been partners for seven years now. Last season we had some misunderstandings in some of the courses, so this was just the second four-star again, so I just wanted to help him gain self-confidence and take it step by step and fence by fence. He was just amazing yesterday and today.”

Lara de Liedekerke-Meier (BEL) und Hooney d’Arville (35,6) gewinnen die LONGINES CCI5*-L. Tom McEwen (GBR) mit CHF Coolister (36,0) und Yasmin Ingham (GBR) mit Rehy DJ (36,9) werden Zweite und Dritte.

Lara de Liedekerke-Meier begeisterte das Luhmühlener Publikum mit ihren hervorragenden Leistungen und ihrer offensichtlich so besonderen Bindung zu ihrem Pferd.
Das Paar hatte sich von einem sechsten Platz nach der Dressur durch eine fantastische Geländeleistung auf den dritten Platz nach vorne gearbeitet, bevor sie heute den anspruchsvollen Springparcours fehlerfrei bewältigten. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt erschien es der Reiterin unwahrscheinlich, dass sie die Prüfung gewinnen könnte, denn die bis dahin Führende, Weltmeisterin Ros Canter, hatte einen komfortablen Vorsprung von zwei Springfehlern.
Als bei Ros Canter und Izilot DHI jedoch zwei Stangen fielen und dazu noch zwei Strafpunkte für das Überschreiten der erlaubten Zeit addiert werden mussten, konnte Lara de Liedekerke den ersten Fünf-Sterne-Sieg ihrer Karriere kaum fassen. Die erste Umarmung galt Hooney, bevor sie in der Siegerehrung versuchte ihre Emotionen in Worte zu fassen: „Ich hätte niemals gedacht, dass ich am Ende als Siegerin einer Fünf-Sterne-Prüfung hier sitzen würde. Ich habe diesen Sieg meinem Pferd und meinem Team zu verdanken, ohne sie würde ich hier heute nicht sitzen. Vielen Dank an das ganze Team in Luhmühlen für die Organisation eines so fantastischen Events.“ Die Reiterin ergänzte, dass sie mit gemischten Gefühlen in das abschließende Springen geritten ist, da sie in der Vergangenheit schon mehrfach einen Sieg im Springparcours vergeben hatte: „In den letzten beiden Jahren musste ich einige Rückschläge hinnehmen und habe schon öfter den Glauben an mich selbst verloren. Ich bin nicht als die beste Springreiterin bekannt und habe einfach nur gehofft, ohne Fehler durch den Parcours zu reiten. Ich wusste immer, dass es ein besonderes Pferd ist und sie das Potential für einen Sieg hat – an diesem Wochenende hat endlich mal alles zusammengepasst und jetzt sitze ich hier neben zwei so erfolgreichen Reitern. Ich bin überglücklich!“
Die beiden britischen Weltklassereiter Tom McEwen und Yasmin Ingham bewiesen einmal mehr tollen Sportsgeist und gratulierten der frischgebackenen Siegerin zu ihren tollen Ritten über das gesamte Wochenende.
Tom McEwen und CHF Coolister blieben als eine von nur sechs Reiter-Pferd-Kombinationen ebenfalls fehlerfrei und schoben sich damit bis auf den zweiten Platz nach vorne: „Ich bin super glücklich mit dem Verlauf des Wochenendes. Mein Pferd ist sehr ehrgeizig und liebt es zu springen. Wenn ich im Parcours noch schneller geritten wäre, hätte ich vermutlich die Kontrolle verloren. Die Pferde der letzten Starter sprangen alle so toll, ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass ich mich noch um zwei Plätze verbessern würde.“
Yasmin Ingham rollte im Laufe des Wochenendes das Feld von hinten auf. Nach der Dressur lag sie noch auf einem für ihre Verhältnisse enttäuschenden 28. Platz, konnte die Prüfung jedoch als eine von nur zwei Pferd-Reiter-Kombinationen mit ihrem Dressurergebnis beenden: „Das ist das Besondere an der Vielseitigkeit – es ist erst mit der letzten Teilprüfung vorbei. Natürlich war ich nach der Dressur etwas unzufrieden, denn das können wir definitiv besser. Aber jetzt kenne ich meine Hausaufgaben und weiß, woran ich arbeiten muss. Er ist ein phänomenales Gelände- und Springpferd, deshalb habe ich mich riesig auf das Gelände und den heutigen Tag gefreut. Er war einfach spitze: vorsichtig, rhythmisch und schnell. Er ist so rittig und durchlässig, dass ich vor den Sprüngen wenig Zeit verliere. Wir sind ein sehr eingespieltes Team. Es ist schon etwas Besonderes, wir haben uns über Jahre zusammengefunden und sind gemeinsam an unseren Aufgaben gewachsen – es ist einfach eine ganz besondere Partnerschaft!“

Lara de Liedekerke-Meier (BEL) and Hooney d’Arville win the LONGINS CCI5*-L Tom McEwen (GBR) with CHF Cooliser and Yasmin Inham (GBR) with Rehy DJ take second and third place.

Lara won the hearts of the Luhmühlen crowd with the obvious love for her self-bred horse. Having steadily moved up the leaderboard from sixth after dressage to third after cross-country, the pair went clear in the final show-jumping. Happy, but not expecting to take the win, she retired to the warm-up for a quiet moment with Hooney. When the news hit, that she’d won the first five-star of her career, the first hug was reserved for her horse: “It’s hard to take in. My horse is an incredible athlete. I never thought there would be a chance to win the five-star today. I just knew I had a good horse and wanted to jump the best round that I could. Today was our day. I just managed to put everything together. Thanks to my team and thank you Luhmühlen for organizing a show of this caliber - all the public was amazing.”
Tom McEwen: “I’m absolutely delighted with Cooliser. She was brilliant yesterday and today. She’s very game and in the arena, I remembered why it’s much easier to do things her way. I wasn’t expecting to move up the ranks. Ros is probably the best rider in the world and Izilot is one of the best jumpers, so I absolutely wasn’t expecting this.”
Yasmin Ingham, who has climbed from 28th to third, finishing on her dressage score was delighted: “That’s the sory of eventing, it’s never over until we have finished on the final day. I was a little disappointed after the dressage because we lost some points there but I know what to work on now. I know he’s a phenomenal cross-country horse and jumper, so I was really looking forward to Saturday and today. He was just amazing, careful, rhythmical and fast, making my job so easy. He doesn’t look fast but he just eats up the ground and is just so ridable and adjustable, I don’t have to set him up much before the fences. We know each other inside out, because our partnership has developed over such a long time. I’ve had him for so long now and we’ve worked our way up the ranks from novice.”

Michael Jung (GER) and fischerChipmunk FRH are at the top of the leaderboard in the CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy (26.1), followed by Laura Collett (GBR) with London 52 (26.4) and Yasmin Ingham (GBR) with Banzai du Loir (29.3)

Michael Jung added 3.2 penalties to his dressage score and now holds a tiny lead of 0.3 over Laura Collett after a riveting cross-country day. “Today was amazing – pure joy! fischerChipmunk is a real cross-country machine. He was brilliant, supple, attentive and focused, making made my job very easy today. In two lines, I added an extra stride, everything else rode as I expected when I walked it. The conditions were great, despite the rain.”
Laura Collett didn’t take any chances, tackling Mike Etherington-Smith’s intense four-star course with focus and determination: “You can’t not smile when you ride a horse like that. He’s just phenomenal. He seems to love it here, he loves the crowd. It was an absolute joy to ride. I got him when he was seven and he’s 15 now, like a fine wine he gets better each year and I’ve just thoroughly enjoyed every second of that horse. He’s just very, very special. The aim of today was to have a good, confident ride. He covers the ground and the ground is amazing. I was having a real wobble earlier when it was torrential storm. But it was absolutely perfect going, which meant I could just let him run and make sure I set him up for the fences to make sure there are no silly mistakes. He trusts me and I trust him, we’ve built a real partnership over the last years. I know how fortunate I am to ride a horse like him.”
With just 1.2 time faults, Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir moved up four places: “This year things have really come together and we’ve had some really exciting top results. To have had such a great round here today is absolutely exciting. He was pretty perfect everywhere, looking for the flags, an absolute pleasure to ride.”

Longinges Luhmühlen Horse Trials broadcast
NDR live (German broadcast)
Sunday, 16 June 2024 13.45 - 14.45

Horse & Country
H&C+Livestream, all days, both competitions German/English commentary

Start- and result lists: www.luhmuehlen.de

With a picture-perfect cross-country round, Rosalind Canter (GBR) and Izilot DHI held onto their Longines CCI5*-L lead (26.9) with Jennifer Kuehnle (IRL) and Polly Blue Eyes in the runner-up position (35.5), closely followed by Lara de Liedekerke-Meier with Hooney d’Arville (35.6)

A morning of rain, storm and brilliant cross-country: Ros Canter, who added only two time penalties to her dressage score on Izilot DHI, was overjoyed after her brilliant cross-country round: “I’m absolutely delighted, Izilot felt so grown up today. He’s brave and he’s genuine, sometimes he gets a little spooky, and he was at the beginning but then he really settled down and he gave me b ride. He was fantastic all the way around, absolutely on point today.”
Jennifer Kuehnle’s Polly Blue Eyes seemed absolutely unfazed by Mike Etherington Smith’s influential five-star course, smoothly tackling all the questions, one of only four horse-rider combinations to finish without time-faults: “My horse is just great. I’ve had her for six years and we’ve worked our way up the levels. She’s just the best horse I could ever wish for, she’s just amazing!”
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, who only added four time penalties to her dressage score, worked her way up the leaderboard into third place. The joy about her brilliant cross-country made her beam: “I’m totally overwhelmed! Hooney d’Arville is now a five-star horse. She is such a fighter, I’m so happy!”
Tom McEwen, who had a brilliantly smooth round as pathfinder with CHF Cooliser and is in fourth place after cross-country (36.0), was full of praise for his 14-year old mare: “She jumped every fence well. The lines rode brilliantly, the ground is absolutely perfect, and we’ve even brought the British weather. She cruised, picked up everything on a lovely line, we had a brilliant flow – I couldn’t be happier!”
German five-star debutante Libussa Lübbeke was over the moon, despite eleven penalties for an activated MIM clip: “It was our first five-star, so I’m very happy with our round. Riding a five star really is something special. There’s a lot of time between the questions to think, recover and sharpen your focus again. I’m really proud of my horse, she fought for me all the way round. I think the eleven penalties were my fault. She didn’t put a foot wrong throughout the course. I’m as happy as I could be.”

Longinges Luhmühlen Horse Trials broadcast NDR live (German broadcast)
Saturday, 15 June 2024 14.30 - 16.00 Sunday, 16 June 2024 13.45 - 14.45

Horse & Country
H&C+
Livestream, all days, both competitions German/English commentary

Start- and result lists: www.luhmuehlen.de