New constellation in the course design of the Luhmühlen eventing: Kai-Steffen Meier assists Mike Etherington-Smith

The organizers of the eventing in Luhmühlen are not only promising some innovations in terms of the surroundings. There is also news to report from the Lüneburg Heath as far as the jumps are concerned.

Mike Etherington-Smith with new assistant

Briton Mike Etherington-Smith is still responsible for the course design. In other words, he is the one who comes up with the course layout. He determines which type of obstacle is to be overcome where and when on the cross-country course. They not only have to ensure that the dimensions – height, width, etc. – comply with the international regulations, but also which obstacles can be built to the maximum dimensions, for example. And where it is advisable not to demand the maximum. To do this, the course designer not only has to bear in mind when the obstacle will come along the course, i.e. “how much is left in the tank”, but also the nature of the route – uphill, downhill, winding or straight – and also the nature of the ground in the water complexes.

The challenges of Mike Etherington-Smith

Mike Etherington-Smith has built just about everything that has had to be tackled in cross worldwide. Including at the Olympic Games. For him, the quality of the riders is the biggest challenge: “It’s a well-known fact that the riders always outsmart the course builders. If I think I have my course well laid out, the guys always find a way to trick me. The top riders are so good, but we can only go up to a certain height and width because we have to look after the horses. We have to be fair to the horses. That’s the most important thing.”

Kai-Steffen Meier new to the Luhmühlen team

New at Mike Etherington-Smith’s side is Kai-Steffen Meier, who will act as assistant. Kai-Steffen Meier, whose wife, Belgian rider Lara de Liederkerke-Meier, has already won the five-star test in Luhmühlen, is not only a coach in Belgium, he is also an internationally successful event rider himself. He has completed the cross-country course of the world’s most difficult eventing competition in Badminton several times without any faults. He promises a few visible changes to the course: “We have given many things a bit of a new look. New questions. Interesting things that you might not have seen here before.”

Teamwork and discussion

In recent weeks, Etherington-Smith and Meier have repeatedly discussed and pondered together in Luhmühlen how which obstacle should be placed on the course. What the tasks that are set for horse and rider should look like. And, of course, whether these tasks should be clearly visible to the pairs on the cross-country course. “We set off on Monday morning and put obstacles everywhere. It’s a really cool thing, because everyone just sets a line like this. And then you walk it. And discuss it: What is here then? What is this?”

What the duo does on the Luhmühlen cross-country course

The course designers, or rather the designer and his assistant, think about how the individual obstacles should be positioned on the course – the direction of the jump, distances and, of course, the alternatives. It is then the job of the obstacle builders to implement the designers’ theoretical ideas. Not in flesh and blood, but above all in wood. Christian Zehe has been responsible for this for the first time this year.

The man from Sanitz in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is also an international course designer himself, and in Luhmühlen he is the course designer. Zehe, who comes from near Rostock, knows the feeling of riding over the course in Luhmühlen. After reunification, he was one of the first riders from the former GDR to compete in Luhmühlen. In 1992, he made it into the German Olympic squad.

Safety first

Christian Zehe has been internationally renowned as an obstacle builder for many years. He is someone who has worked a lot in the field of “deformable” obstacles. The majority of the new jumps are built in such a way that elements fold away in the event of an impact, minimizing the risk of injury for horse and rider.

When Christian Zehe received a request from the organizing committee in Lumühlen in October asking if he could imagine working as an obstacle builder in 2026, he swallowed dryly. Not only because the big name Luhmühlen hovers over everything, but also because the time was very tight.

But all schedules are currently being adhered to. The CCI4-S course for the German Championships and, of course, the course for the most demanding eventing competition in Germany, the CCI5*-L, are currently under construction. It all starts in 14 days.

Further information on the TGL Luhmühlen website