Luke 140 - Luhmuhlen - June ‘23

This is a video for the Lute 140 Syndicate. Well, guys, mission complete. I've just finally arrived back here in America after a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. Spent a week competing at Bromont, then last week at Le Moulin. And I'm on a high mostly because of this horse. Luke was absolutely brilliant at Le Moulin. Unfortunately, our competition started a little bit rusty there. In the first medium trot, he broke decanter, which is probably his only mistake in competition all week. I was sort of going for the big medium trot and then he burst into canter. And for anyone of you that ride dressage, that's sort of the worst start you can have, is you come around this corner and you look up at the scoreboard and you get a 4, 4 and 4. Anyway, I took a deep breath and slowly climbed back up the ranks and Luke ended up getting a score of 30 in this dressage test. All the judges were pretty close together. They were all within a mark or two of each other, about 70%. So it was an interesting test. We had some terrible moments, a bit like the medium trot there, which we got horrible scores and then we got some brilliant scores, especially in the canter work. Bettina Hoy had been sort of training me all week, along with Silver. Silver and her are sort of good buddies and they on the same sort of thought process with their coaching and it actually works out really well, or it works out well from my point of view. They're sitting together and sometimes Silva will see something, sometimes Bettina will see something. And I really feel like Luke got some tremendous work, but there was some green moments, a bit like that. Like he was the last horse to go in the dressage on Friday afternoon. You can see the walk. He is a little bit nervous and he hopped and jogged a little bit. So there's lots of little mistakes in this test. But by saying that he put in a great result, I think he was finished ninth place. And don't forget, we're up against some of the hardest horses in the world here. Some of the toughest competition you'd ever seen. So to finish in the top 10 after the first day with a dressage test that had a lot of little mistakes, it's very encouraging just because the. The judges want to love him. Luke's got very, very good flying changes. He's got a wonderful canter. Perfect. It was an interesting competition. I really, to be honest, deep down I knew Luke was going to be great, but you just never know, you know, Luke hasn't had a hard, hard run since this New Jersey three day event in 2021. So we've sort of been pampering him and looking after him a little bit for his legs. And I've hardly ever gone fast on him cross country just because he's a real handful and I feel like if I went quick on him at the competitions, he'd be a bit out of control by the time we got to the three day event. But he was outstanding. He pulled up well after the cross country came out and show jumped perfectly. And to finish in fourth place is a huge accomplishment. So this next movement is the stretching circle and he got a nine from a couple of the judges here. He's supposed to let the rein slip through your finger and have the horse sort of reach down and stretch on the circle. And Luke does that movement perfectly. The encouraging thing for me is I think we got a score of 30 and it wasn't our best effort. You can see there's just all these little mistakes. Like that flying change was one stride after the aid. So give me six more months of training and. And I think the next time Luke goes to a big atmosphere, he'll actually be a little bit more relaxed thanks to this outing. All in all, part of me was a little bit disappointed with the test, just because you'd love to get through the dressage test without mistakes. But there was a lot of atmosphere, a lot of energy, and to sort of be in the top 10 after the. After the first phase was a good effort. I knew we were within striking range. So, guys, pretty much every cross country round I go in with Luke, I sort of just go a little bit steady and slow. And then after this first jump here, I said, all right, pal, you can go as fast as you want. And I could feel Luke just go, oh, yeah, he's been waiting for this moment in the first part of the course. I think this is about fence six. He really started to over enjoy his trip here and it was getting a little bit wild at the beginning of the course. You can see him sort of see the jump and run for it. And so the first third of the course he was being pretty aggressive and I sort of had to time it where I slowed him down with my hand. But then just as he took off to the jump, I had to sort of soften so he could see the fence and jump over it and like this coffin. I remember this was terrifying. You sort of got to come around this turn and slow them down. And Luke thought it was A galloping jump. And then right at the last minute, he's such a clever jumper that he pats the ground and pops over it and away he goes. This was the toughest fence on the course. It was a big drop three massive strides to that corner in the water. And Luke made short work of was about now that he started just to settle down a bit. You'll see this next fence. He actually didn't race at it so much. So I enjoy riding the, the tired Luke. He starts sort of pacing himself to the fences and relaxing as, as we went around. This was a tough fence. A lot of these horses went up in four strides to the brush and Luke zipped up there in three. And the next fence was also a really troublesome fence. Six strides to a narrow seven strides in the water, then three strides to a skinny. And Luke did it well, except he wanted to go across here in five strides and I was holding him back with all my strength. I have to say Luke found this competition quite easy. I was shocked because it was for sure the toughest, most technical, twisty, accurate course you've ever seen. And look at him, he's just got his ears pricked and he was flying around the course. So we're just past halfway here and actually for the first time ever, Luke started to get quite nice to ride because he'd got rid of a little bit of his nervous energy. And we started to get on the same page, seeing good distances to the fences. He's so bold, he's so brave, he's so game. He's an amazing athlete, an amazing animal. You know, when a horse has a long layoff like that, they don't have that sort of base fitness. And I was, part of me was a little bit worried that his first three day event he'd get a little bit winded just because he missed so much sort of fitness and stamina and endurance work over the last couple years. And how wrong I was. Luke was full of vigour the whole way around and he's quite a fast horse and the hardest part is to try and sort of get him settled. We came up this hill, this is sort of nearing nine minutes. So we had two minutes to go and gee felt good. Obviously this first big five star back since his injury. I was the back of my mind a little bit nervous that this sort of hard run might knock his legs around, saying that he was perfectly sound. After the competition he trotted up great on Sunday morning. His legs look really clean. So I do think being patient, sort of Letting him fully recover from his injury before the Olympics was a good choice because to me, look, Luke looks at me and bucks now. I'll get his legs scanned and my vet to check him over at the end of this week. Once again, back to America. But I think this is the beginning of a good five star run for Luke. My gut feeling is our next big, big event should be the Maryland five Star. I think this competition perfectly suits Luke. It's very exciting, actually. I think he's going to be a real chance because by the time we get to Maryland five Star in October, I'll have the dressage a couple points better. And then after this cross country run at Le Moulin, I think Luke could jump any course in the world. He's bold, he's brave, he's enthusiastic, and his sort of attitude and fearless demeanor comes in handy, especially over these big long courses. And you could see this is sort of coming to the last minute of the course and Luke is still pulling my arms out, so I'm trying to balance him and slow him down to the end. And to be quite honest, he, he made the time very, very comfortably. Sort of glanced down at my watch there and there was no need to push him any faster over the last 30 seconds because I knew I was within the time and I just tried to coast home and not have an ugly last jump. But there was a huge sort of sigh of relief on my part that after all these years we'd finally sort of done what I'd set out to do and finish one of the toughest cross country courses in the world. He was all the talk at the competition. No one sort of knew who he was. And to get in there and not just go clear around the course, but to go under time was a great achievement and caused a lot of interest from all the horse enthusiasts in Germany. Sunday morning, Luki was up on his toes. I got up early and I actually rode him on the flat before the trot up just because I wanted to sort of stretch him out a little bit and, and get a bit of energy out of him for the show jumping. Interestingly enough, Luke's father, Landos is also the same father as, as the winning horse. So Landos would be very, very proud. Stay in to have two horses in the top four. Laura Collette's London 52 is also by the same sire as Luke. So there's a bit of pressure going into the show jumping. I knew I had to jump clear to keep my fourth place. I'd also jumped Thomas and Bruno and had Thomas jumped. Great. And then Bruno had an uncharacteristic rail, both at the same jump. My jumping coach, Peter Wilde was there, who does a sensational job. Obviously there's only so much you can do to help the performance at the competition. But we've been working closely with Peter for many years with Luke. And if you remember, a couple weeks ago we rode him at a jumping show in Sogarty's, which didn't definitely helped. This is the jump I kept knocking down. I gave Luke a bit of a tug off the ground there and just look at him flying over this course. It was easily a meter 35. The time was tight, so I had to make a couple of inside turns.

Look at the air he's getting. Should I say that? I mean, you've got to. You.

I've got to say things. He's jumping well. He gets a little bit feisty at this one. I remember. Anyway, guys, I know I thanked everyone the other day, but I'd also like to thank everyone again in the syndicate. It's. I know it's a huge commitment getting behind this horse and it's many, many years of ups and downs and highs and lows and to finish in fourth place in our first five stars, a massive accomplishment and time is going to be tight. Very proud to finally get a massive performance like this on this horse. And I. I truly think the best is still to come. So thanks to everyone in the syndicate for getting behind me and Luke. And I really think, come Maryland, five star at the end of the year,

huge chance in the show jumping. There goes the goosebumps, there goes the hairs again. Some really nice feeling when I just wish it would stop happening. Boyd Martin jumps clear 30.1 and he keeps the pressure on. He will finish no worse than fourth. Harry Mead will finish no worse than fifth.