British horse one of two held at Luhmühlen first trot-up, plus loose horse drama

Two horses were sent to the holding box at the first trot-up at the German four-star at Luhmühlen, presented by DHL, this afternoon (14 June).

The first of these was French rider Denis Mesples’ Oregon De La Vigne, who became very excited when asked to halt in front of the ground jury, twirling round in little circles. He continued to be unsettled on the runway and was sent to the holding box, but passed on re-inspection.

The second horse to be held was Cossan Lad, presented by British competitor Kirsty Short, but he too was given the green light on his second attempt after a spell in the holding box.

The trot-up strip at Luhmühlen is tightly squeezed between the big grandstand and the people hanging over the rails of the main arena. A number of horses were a touch upset by the atmosphere, including Frankie, the mount of Denmark’s Peter Flarup, and New Zealand rider Tim Rusbridge’s Oneforthenotebook, who nearly backed into the ground jury. With flower pots down each side of the runway, riders have little room to manoeuvre if horses are a little tense.

There was drama at the end of the inspection. The final horse, Germany’s Andreas Dibowski’s 2013 European team gold medallist FRH Butts Avedon, was wound up on the trot-up strip and as he left the strip and went back into the main arena after his trot-up, he reared up and got loose. Fortunately a number of riders and connections were standing around and he was quickly caught.

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More eventing news:

Forty-eight horses were presented to the ground jury — Germany’s Martin Plewa, France’s Eric Lieby and Britain’s Nick Burton — in total and all passed. Oliver Townend’s ride MHS King Joules was on the list for the trot-up, but was not actually presented. Oliver will compete on Black Tie.

Fifteen British combinations are among the competitors, including Pippa Funnell (Billy The Biz), Sarah Bullimore (Lilly Corinne), Ros Canter (Zenshera), Nicola Wilson (Bulana) and Alex Bragg (Redpath Ransom).

Check back for regular updates from Luhmühlen all week, plus full report in H&H next week, out Thursday, 22 June.

Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.