Now in his third year as the Longines CCI5* Luhmühlen Horse Trials cross-country course designer, Mike Etherington-Smith has set out a technical and challenging track for this year’s competitors (13—16 June 2019).
The course is run over 6,398m and has an optimum time of 11min 14sec. There are 30 numbered fences and 45 jumping efforts.
Mike said: “The course is a mix of big, bold, stand-alone fences, angled fences, corners, drops, and skinnies and will hopefully provide a suitable all-round test, physically and mentally, of horse and athlete.”
With the first combination due on-course tomorrow morning (15 June) at 9.15am (BST), let’s take a look around the track…
Fence one: Aufrakt der Sparkasse Harburg-Buxtehude
Fence two: Rathaus
Fence three: Fledermaushotel
Fence four: Trakehner
Fence five AB: Charles Owen Royal Works
Fence six ABC: Luhmühlens Wasserspiele
Alternative six C
Fence seven: Luhmühlens Wasserspiele
Fence eight AB: Luhmühlens Wasserspiele
Alternative 8B
Fence nine: Holzstoß
Fence 10: Hof Sudermühlens Jagdszene
Fence 11 ABC: Heiners Wellenbahn
Fences 12 and 13: Horseware Jump
Fence 14 ABC: LVM Am Waldrand
Fence 15: Hof Sudermühlens Jagdszene
Fences 16, 17 and 18 AB: Meßmer Teich
Alternative 17
Alternative 18B
Fence 19: Tisch
Fence 20 AB: Manzke Kombination
Fence 21 ABC: Longines Kombination
Fence 22: Gärtnerei Wredes Rennbahnsprung
Fence 23: Luhmühlens EM Brücke
Fence 24 AB: Auf dem Trainingsplatz
Fence 25, 26 and 27 AB: Longines Wasser
Fence 28: Voltaire Vogelnest
Fence 29 AB: Cottages
Fence 30: Longines Final Jump
Don’t miss the full report from Luhmühlen in the 20 June issue of Horse & Hound magazine