Some riders have shared their initial thoughts on the five-star 2025 Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials cross-country course.
The 6,340m track, which has been designed by Mike Etherington-Smith, and has 28 numbered fences and 46 jumping efforts has got some of this year’s five-star competitors scratching their heads.
Ros Canter, who has two rides this week in the form of MHS Seventeen and Izilot DHI, describes the track as “pretty intense”.
“You get a nice gentle start and then there are lots of combinations,” she says. “Each individual combination is very jumpable, but riders have to put it all together.”
Ros’ compatriot, Laura Collett, who has two rides this week – Hester and London 52 – says that she thinks riding the track will “feel like being in a tumble dryer”.
“I think it’s very intense and it’s not going to be a smooth ride, that’s for sure, and I think the time is going to be near on impossible to achieve,” she states.
Luhmühlen Horse Trials cross-country course: ‘Combination after combination’
Selina Milnes, who leads after the first day of five-star dressage aboard Cooley Snapchat, agrees with Laura’s sentiments about the course being intense.
“There is combination after combination and horses aren’t going to get much of a breather,” she says. “I’d like there to be just a few more galloping fences where you can just say to your horse, ‘well, that was good, well done’.”
In terms of a specific fence that Selina thinks will cause problems, she pinpoints fence 8abc, the Longines Kombination, in the main arena.
“I think it looks a hell of a long way in one stride between the b and c element. I think you’ve just got to jump the parallel first and then give yourself time to jump the final two elements. The skinny fences at the the Meßmer-Teich water at 11 and 12ab are very skinny too.”
Note: the screen in the bottom left-handed corner of this picture will be removed prior to the cross-country starting.
This question at fence 8 in the main arena includes two acutely angled brush fences on a one stride distance.
Fence 12b.
Aaron Millar, who holds second place with KEC Deakon after the first day of dressage, describes the course as “twisty”.
“It’s a good test,” he says. “There’s a lot of combinations where you’re going to have to think quickly about where you’re going and where you’re turning and there’s a lot of acute angles – the course is going to keep us working and thinking.”
Swiss rider Nadja Minder is in agreement, saying that there are “ a lot of angled combinations”.
“It seems like you have to jump everything on an angle,” she says. “But I think it’s clear for the horses and there are set up fences before combinations too, so I think if you can have a good rhythm and gallop, you can use the set up fences to re-balance and I think it will be a lot of fun to ride.”
The Luhmühlen Horse Trials cross-country course has an optimum time of 11 minutes and 8 seconds and gets underway tomorrow (14 June) at 8.45am (7.45am British time).
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