Christoph Wahler has slotted into second behind Britain’s Kitty King in the European Eventing Championships dressage standings at mid afternoon on the first day.
The German rider and Carjatan S, owned by Lena Thoenies and his rider, scored 28.3. Their test showed good cadence and lift in the trotwork particularly, but was marred by the horse doing a dropping in the first trot half-pass and breaking into canter in the final extended trot.
“To begin with I was super pleased with the horse because he stayed absolutely relaxed and maybe even a little bit too relaxed in there because he started started to poo in the first half-pass – that’s a shame,” said Christoph.
“I think they were good flying changes but we didn’t really get the marks we were looking for. And then we had a big mistake in the last extended trot, because I just lost a little bit of rhythm crossing the centreline and then he went into canter. But overall it is what it is and we’ll keep on going.”
Christoph and Carjatan S were world team gold medallists last year and seventh individually at the last Europeans in 2021.
The other riders in the first block of competitors after the long lunch break on day one did not make any impression on the very top of the European Eventing Championships dressage leaderboard. Evelina Bertoli and the elegant mare Fidjy Des Melezes were the best of them – they scored 30.9 and currently hold fifth for Italy.
Britain’s second team member, Yasmin Ingham on Banzai Du Loir, is still to come today, at 4.47pm local time (3.47pm British time).
End of day update: Christoph now holds fourth place. Full results here.
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