Larissa Lubbeke and her homebred mare Caramia 34 lead the way after the first morning of dressage at the Agria FEI Eventing European Championships at Blenheim Palace.
“I was really happy with the walk and how concentrated the horse was. It’s just a pleasure to be here with her,” said Libussa who is making her senior championships debut for Germany this week.
“It’s great. It’s a pleasure to be the first one to go, and the other ones trust you so you try your best.”
The pair received a score of 28.3 to hold a 0.7 penalty advantage over their nearest rivals, Great Britain’s Yasmin Ingham and the 15-year-old gelding Rehy DJ.
“Small margins”
“His test was great today. I thought there was lots of highlights in there and he tried super, super hard, so I was delighted,” said Yasmin, who won the individual title at the World Championships at Pratoni del Vivaro aboard Banzai du Loir in 2022.
“We’ve been working super hard with Chris Bartle and Sarah Higgins on the flat. They’ve been instrumental in my dressage training just trying to gain those small margins, because that’s all it takes. I’m not riding a big, flashy horse, so I need to be accurate and try and maximise each mark for each movement the best we can.
“I’m very excited to be the pathfinder for Team GB. We’ve got a wonderful team with Bubby [Upton] and Caroline [Harris] making their championship debut as well. It’s great team spirit so far and even more special to be at home for a Europeans.”
Disappointment for Harris
Sarah Ennis and Dourough Ferro Class Act, a 10-year-old Irish Sports Horse, sit third on 31 while Nicolai Aldinger is fourth on 32.7.
British individual Caroline Harris confessed to being slightly disappointed with her test on D Day, her Pau CCI5* winning partner. They scored 34.4 and sit seventh at this early stage.
“There definitely could have been a lot that was better. He actually got more tense than I thought he would going in there. He’s normally really relaxed. Then he jogged in his walk so that was a real shame but it’s our first championship, we tried hard, and this isn’t our strong point. Hopefully the cross-country will prove tricky on Saturday,” said Caroline.
Dressage gets underway for the Thursday afternoon session at 1430 with Switzerland’s Melody Joyner and Erin.
Images by Tim Wilkinson/Your Horse.
Related content
- How to watch this week’s European eventing championships
- Celebrating the top 10 finishers of Defender Burghley in pictures
- British squad announced for FEI Eventing Europeans combines ‘experience and new talent’
- How to stop a horse chipping in a stride when jumping
- Five gears a cross-country horse needs to have
