“I Wanted to Show Off How Happy He Feels”: Emily King and Valmy Biats Lead Luhmühlen Dressage on Day Two

It’s been a short but sweet two days of dressage in Luhmühlen’s CCI5*, and as we reach the end of Friday – and twenty tests in the books – it’s Emily King and the evergreen Valmy Biats who hold the top spot going into tomorrow’s cross-country. The pair put a score of 27 on the board to edge the lead from Thursday leaders Hallie Coon and Kapriccio on a 27.8.

“He tries so hard,” enthused Emily. “He’s just the dream. He really kept his cool in there, which is so nice because sometimes he can try so hard that he nearly gets a little bit hurried and a bit frantic, and his little brain goes a bit too quick. Today I tried to keep it really slow and obvious.”

The pair come here after completing Badminton, though not quite with the result they’d hoped for: a tricky spring season, which saw Emily sustain several upper-body injuries after a fall off a young horse at Thoresby, meant that they were on the back foot going into the event.

“It was a funny spring, because actually, I felt that he was feeling the best he ever has in his work,” she says. “But then I couldn’t get it done, because I was injured, and I didn’t have the prep runs. So that’s why I rerouted here, even though we finished Badminton – because I just thought it was such a waste, when he’s feeling so good, not to make the most of that. The mistakes we had in the spring were purely because I couldn’t ride him how I need to ride him, because I had some breaks moving around inside me – and I’m a stubborn little determined monkey, which probably did bite me in the ass a bit.”

But, she concedes, “you just don’t know until you know.”

This week feels like the beginning of a redemption arc, as such, for the pair – and Emily is delighted to have helped ‘Granddad’ show off his best work today.

“I just wanted to listen to him and show off how happy he feels. It’s all about tomorrow, really – I didn’t want to sacrifice any oomph today when there’s so much out there to do tomorrow. We’ve had a few blips this spring, and when it comes to things like team selections that’s far from ideal, but actually, I’ve learned so much from this spring – I’ve pinpointed why those blips happened and hopefully now I can use that to try and deliver.”

Thursday leaders Hallie Coon and Kapriccio now sit second going into cross-country on their score of 27.8, while New Zealand’s James Avery and the five-star debutant Dallas 13 move into third place with a smart 29.6.

A sub-30 has always looked very possible for the quirky British-bred gelding, who James rides for Karie and David Thompson, but had thus far eluded the pair at the four-star level.

“He’s growing up,” says James of the twelve-year-old, with whom he jumped clear around Boekelo last autumn. “For him, it’s about being able to take what we train at home or in the warm-up and bring it into the ring – and be settled doing it.”

There’s been no magic button for the gelding, whose production has also been overseen by James’s partner, the event rider and in-demand dressage trainer Holly Woodhead.

“It’s just really been learning what ticks and what doesn’t. I think we’re still not totally there, but we’re getting that way.”

Today’s corner might have been turned twelve months earlier, but for a lighter 2025 season for the horse after a slightly nontraditional accident sidelined James.

“It happened just after Badminton last year. My mum and dad had come over, and as I wasn’t riding, we decided to go see some family friends who’ve got a house in Corfu for three days. While we were there I went running one morning and ended up getting chased by a dog, and it put me over a fence. As I jumped the fence, I got the steel pipe from the retaining wall stuck into my shin, which ripped right down to the bone – right where the stirrup leather sits. I had three months of not even really being able to sit on a horse.”

“I guess I need to think a bit more about protecting myself more when I’m off the horses,” he says wryly.

2024 Pau winners Caroline Harris and D. Day slotted into fourth place on a score of 31.1 after a test that divided the judges – Nick Burton at C had them in fifth, Christian Steiner at M put them into third, and Germany’s Edith Schless-Störtenbecker put them eighth in the lineup.

In any case, it’s less than a penalty more than the 30.3 they scored en route to winning at Pau two seasons ago, and a nearly four-mark improvement over the 34.9 they posted on the gelding’s debut here two years ago.

Thursday runners-up Tim Price and Happy Boy will head into tomorrow’s cross-country in fifth place on 31.7, followed by Kiwi compatriots Abby Jones and Henton Audacious, who trended in the 20s in the first half of their test but had to settle for a 32 and sixth after losing a mark or two in the canter work.

It’s clear, though, that after their superb effort in their five-star debut at Pau last year, which saw them sail into the 20s and the business end of the leaderboard in the first phase, that this level suits the charismatic Henton Audacious to the ground.

“I think the harder test definitely helps,” says Abby. “She’s a classic orange mare, and she gets a little hot, which will be my favourite thing about her over the next couple of days because she’ll never give up on me and that energy will be endless. But trying to contain all that to produce a test is hard.”

The mare, who Abby has had since a three-year-old, is “definitely more of a long-format horse. The longer I can be here, and the more I can do at the grounds before she goes into the ring, the better. At Pau I discovered that she really likes coming to a place with a surface, where she can really work in the arena familiarisations – that settles her more than if we’re in a place with a grass arena, where you can only really walk around the outside in familiarisation.”

One of Henton Audacious’s most admirable qualities in this phase is her extraordinary engine, which allows her to produce expressive, emphatic extensions – but can also be one of the trickier elements to manage.

“I lost her a little bit in the canter, because it can be a bit difficult for me when she gets like that, but she wanted to stay with me,” says Abby. “She was really trying, but there was a little bit of a buzz there as soon as I went into the canter. That can be the tricky thing – she’s got so much engine that trying to condense that into a little test and make it look pretty can be hard.”

It’s one heck of a top ten for the Kiwi contingent across the board, actually: Jonelle Price takes two places in the top ten and will start cross-country in seventh place on Capitaine de Hus Z on 33.1 and tenth on 2022 Pau winner Grappa Nera, who put a 35.5 on the board yesterday.

British five-star debutant Harry Horton far exceeded his own expectations with the eleven-year-old Cooley With Ambition, putting a 33.5 on the board to take overnight eighth.

“Since we got here on Monday, he hasn’t managed to trot around the arena once without spooking,” he laughs. “But he put his professional hat on in there and was very good. His way of reacting has always been to go a little bit numb, basically – he can get a bit backward and spooky, but he’s very capable of doing that kind of good work.”

Time and an endless well of patience have been the key to unlocking Cooley With Ambition’s best side this week.

“It’s just about knowing that it’ll pass eventually,” says Harry. “He doesn’t hold onto it, and he’s not nasty or anything. He just sort of likes to have his say on the whole thing. But today, as soon as I got on him at the stables, I thought he was a much more relaxed horse than I’d had all week, and I was very happy.”

On the flip side, though, he continues, “I thought I was going to be getting a 40 today, and going cross-country on a 40 would have been far more comfortable for me – now I’m nervous!”

Great Britain’s Steve Heal, who was third yesterday with Heather Chapman’s Hagonda, now sits ninth overnight on their score of 33.6, ahead of Jonelle Price’s first ride, Grappa Nera in tenth.

Boyd Martin and Shanroe Cooley sit in equal eleventh with Great Britain’s Sam Ecroyd and first-timer Mister Big Ears after scoring a 35.7 for a test that had some expensive moments of tension in the latter half.

“Shanroe Cooley is a new ride for me, so we’re still sort of figuring each other out,” says Boyd, who inherited the ride from Liz Halliday. “We had moments of greatness in the test, and we also had a couple of bobbles, but all in all, I feel like it’s a work in progress. I feel like this event is going to be a great learning event for us, and hopefully this is the beginning of his five-star career.”

Although the lanky eleven-year-old isn’t quite the finished product in this phase, Boyd is backing his brain as his best asset for the future.

“You wouldn’t find a horse that tries harder,” he says. “He’s a really good horse. He’s a very different ride to what I usually ride – he’s a warmblood, and he’s a quiet horse. I think this is the first time in my life I’ve had a horse that I didn’t have to pre-ride the morning of the dressage. He just does a twenty minute warm-up to keep him fresh.”

Today, perhaps, that freshness just beyond requirements – but as far as educational experiences go, Luhmühlen’s ring provides them in spades.

“I think this is a really nice first five-star to bring them to, if you can wrangle the money to get them over here,” he says. “It’s not quite as tough as a Kentucky or a Badminton, and for a heavier horse with less blood, it can be an easier trip for them with no hills. The first couple of five-stars where it’s a bit of a learning process, it’s a great, safe course to get an understanding of how they feel.”

In this morning’s CCI4*-S, Julia Krajewski took the lead over from herself – yesterday, she’d taken the top spot on the relatively inexperienced Tullabeg Platinum on 27.2 in the best test of the gelding’s career so far. Now, he sits in third place going into cross-country, while stablemate Uelzener’s Nickel quite unsurprisingly takes the top spot on a 22.9.

“He knows his job now, and when I ride into the arena he’s like, “okay, I know this!’,” says Julia. “There’s always small things where you think you could do this or do that, but with him, the aim is really to do the work good enough without overdoing it. I want to increase it a little bit so that he can peak where I want him to in eight weeks; today is a show where he has to do a little bit but we’re still getting the condition on top for the rest.”

Their test – which showed so much promise for even more boldness and expression – puts them just over four points ahead of their nearest competitors, compatriots Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K, who scored a 27.

“Now that he’s older, it’s just the most fun with him,” says Malin. “You come in and you feel that the crowd lifts him up, and you can go forward and collect him again, and he’s just right there. In earlier times, you’d think, ‘okay, stay cool, stay cool,’ but now I can really use it.”

In her corner is the queen of dressage herself, Bettina Hoy, who Malin credits with helping create a consistent first-phase competitor of the rangy horse.

“She always says that preparation for every movement is everything – to hold the horse all the time and make good movements, good shapes, and just be so precise. You can then just keep going for it.”

Former five-star champion Lara de Liedekerke-Meier takes fourth place going into cross-country with last year’s Boekelo champion Kiarado d’Arville, who posted a 27.3 after a smart, workmanlike test, despite a shift in Lara’s warm-up routine.

“My dressage trainer left this morning, so I was a bit confused and upset not to have him here, but we did the training through the earphone,” says Lara. “But really, I wasn’t concentrated enough, and I think despite all of that, Kiarado did really well. I just wanted him to have a nice experience, and really, when he came into the arena with all the electricity after Julia’s test, I thought he held it all together pretty well. There’s more in him, but he’s only ten, and he’s solid. He does everything I ask, but there’s more there.”

New Zealand’s Sam Lissington rounds out the top five with Lucas Stone on a 28.8, and also sits sixth with yesterday’s ride, the professional little Delarado, who posted a 29.2.

“I think he’s got a lot more to give, and at the moment, he’s just developing that confidence in the ring,” says Sam. “I think there’s heaps in there, though, once we’ve got that all really established. For now, the goal is just to stay level throughout the test, which we did today, so that was great.”

Compared to Miss Reliable, as Sam calls Delarado, “he’s more on high alert – and he’s very horse-shy, so it requires a bit of tact to develop a warm-up programme that doesn’t involve other horses. We’ll usually try to ride early in the morning, before the arenas get busy, because he doesn’t even like horses walking towards him – but then, when he gets into the arena, he takes a bit of a breath and it’s like, we’ve got our own space, we’re not trying to dodge anyone.”

Tomorrow’s sizzling hot cross-country day begins at 10.00 a.m. local time (9.00 a.m. BST/4.00 a.m. EST), starting with our twenty CCI5* competitors. Then, we’ll head into the CCI4*-S cross-country from 13.25 p.m. (12.25 p.m. BST/7.25 a.m. EST), wherein 51 horses and riders will compete for the title, the attention of their respective selectors and, in some cases, the German National Championship. We’ll be bringing you a look at the course that awaits our five-star competitors, and some thoughts from the riders themselves, soon – and if you want to plan your Saturday viewing schedule, you can tune in on Horse&Country TV to catch all the action. Until next time – Go Eventing!

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