With the Olympic Games on the horizon, the Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials offer riders and horses ideal conditions to prepare for Paris – under the selectors’ attentive eyes.
Laura Collett with London 52, winners of the Luhmuhlen 5* 2023. ©Irish Eventing Times
This year, the Longines CCI5*-L, will mainly attract riders who are either in the comfortable position to compete several top-class horses or whose focus is not on the Olympic Games.
Event director Julia Otto does, however expect top-class entries: “As a five-star, the Longines CCI5*-L is part of the Champions-League of eventing, so I’m certain that a strong international field will guarantee exciting sport.”
The CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy, which once again serves as the national German Championship, will be targeted by many German and international Olympic hopefuls.
Germany’s Chef d’Equipe Peter Thomsen sums up the importance of the competition: “The Meßmer Trophy will be very influential. Luhmühlen offers perfect conditions to prepare for Paris, as the terrain is very similar: rather flat, with fields and some forest. I am expecting all the German Olympic contenders in Luhmühlen apart from a few riders who are heading to Kentucky.” Managing Director Julia Otto adds that she would be particularly pleased to see Julia Krajewski try to defend her title as German Champion: “Her historic individual gold at the Olympic Games was magical – watching her two young horses mature in Luhmühlen last year was also so very special. It would be lovely if Julia could write another chapter of her success story here.”
Julia Krajewski ©Irish Eventing Times
The Longines Luhmühlen Horse Trials are a year-round project and depend on their partners’ extensive and ongoing commitment and support. “The event is definitely a team effort. We are immensely grateful for the ongoing support of Longines. They are not only the title partner: Longines Timing also covers the professional technical performance for the eventing sport on the show days,” says Julia Otto.
Main sponsors Meßmer, the premium brand of the Ostfriesische Tee Gesellschaft, and Lotto Niedersachsen have supported Luhmühlen for many years. This year, they will be joined by another powerful main sponsoring partner: the Porsche Zentrum Lüneburg, part of Senger PZ GmbH.
“Due to the support of these companies, we can face the financial challenges of this major event. In addition, there are many local, German and international partners to be thankful for, such as the equestrian brand LeMieux, which has also been Luhmühlen’s new merchandising partner since 2023. We are extremely grateful to all these partners for their support,” adds Julia Otto.
Advance ticket sales via Ticketmaster are well underway: “It’s an established process by now: more and more visitors are using the Ticketmaster platform to secure their tickets well in advance and make travel plans for their Luhmühlen weekend. It’s interesting to see that the interest in season tickets is steadily increasing,” says Julia Otto.
The construction of this year’s cross-country courses began in February and promises both old favourites and interesting new features. Course designer Mike Etherington-Smith focuses on positive challenges: “Some riders will be using the event as a pre-Olympic run and so we want to give them and their horses confidence as well as a suitable test. Again, the emphasis is on the riders’ ability to ride well and make good decisions as they go around. There’s plenty to think about on both courses.”
