Germany's Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH
Today’s first horse inspection kicked off this year’s Longines FEI Eventing European Championships in Luhmühlen. Spectators made the most of checking out the 73 competing horses and riders, which all received a well-deserved ‘accepted’ from the ground jury and the competitors are focussed on producing their best possible dressage test, taking place on Thursday and Friday.
The first day of this year’s Longines FEI Eventing European Championship was held in temperatures of more than 30°C; a short press conference was held with with riders and officials, and Julia Otto, managing director of the TGL, used the opportunity to express her gratitude to the FEI for awarding Luhmühlen yet another European Championship.
“We are tremendously proud and thankful to work alongside a partner like Longines, especially with two events this year.”
Catrin Norinder, FEI Director for Eventing and Olympic, thanked Julia Otto and her team for being such a worthy host, saying “It is going to be an exciting race for the final two places for the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo as there are still eight nations who are hoping to qualify. I keep my fingers crossed for all competitors and am looking forward to a great event this weekend.”
First impressions from the cross-country course
The panel of the opening press conference was included a number of top riders such as Ingrid Klimke, Michael Jung and Kai Rüder (GER), as well as Piggy French (GBR) and Louise Romeike (SWE).
Before the meeting, the riders had the opportunity to walk the cross-country course for the first time, giving them a first impression of Mike Etherington-Smith’s course which they thought was fair and inviting with some very technical questions along the way.
“The course has been beautifully built yet again and I am very much looking forward to Saturday’s cross-country phase. The first water complex is quite demanding, especially since its early on in the course” said Ingrid Klimke, who is riding her tenth European Championship here in Luhmühlen.
Britain’s Piggy French says she feels “honoured to be part of the British Team and I am excited to be competing here in Luhmühlen”
Piggy French
Following the first horse inspection, Richard Waygood, Team GBR Chef d’Equipe, confirmed that the British team will consist of:
Pippa Funnell MBE with her own and Marek Sebestak’s Majas Hope (groom Emily Gibson)
Piggy French with Jayne McGivern’s Quarrycrest Echo (groom Amy Phillips)
Tina Cook with Elisabeth Murdoch’s Billy The Red (groom Rachel Tolley)
Oliver Townend with Angela Hislop’s Cooley Master Class (groom Suzanne Cooper)
Laura Collett with her own, Keith Scott and Karen Bartlett’s London 52 (groom Zanie King), and Kitty King with Diana Bown, Sally Eyre, Samantha Wilson and Sally Lloyd-Baker’s Vendredi Biats (groom Chloe Fry), will be competing for Team GBR as individuals.
The first two British team dressage tests will come from Pippa Funnell (09:45BST) and Piggy French (13:31BST) and one individual test from Laura Collett (14:46BST) on Thursday
Well-presented horses at the first vet check
All 73 horses presented to the first vet check received their ‘accepted’ today. They all looked fit and ready to compete. Some were so fresh, the commentator had to ask the spectators to only applaud when the horses were out of sight in order to avoid horses ‘exploding’ with energy.
First day of dressage
Tomorrow’s dressage will be kicked off by guinea pig Nicolai Aldinger at 9:40am followed by the first competitor Tim Lips from the Netherlands with Bayro at 10:00am. In total, we will see 35 horses and riders in the dressage tomorrow. Part two will commence on Friday morning with the final 38 competitors.
Livestream: Luhmühlen will be streamed by FEI TV.
Start Lists and results here
