United States Eventing Association

Luhmühlen, Germany —June 15—You could have heard a pin drop. The show-jumping of the Longines Luhmühlen CCI5*-L was exciting right up to the last second. The beaming winner Ros Canter (GBR) was the penultimate rider to enter the jumping course and showed no nerves whatsoever.

Thanks to a faultless ride within the time allowed, she secured victory with the 12-year-old gelding Izilot DHI (28.8). Following her Badminton (England) victory in May 2025, this was Canter's second five-star success in just a few weeks. “I’m just so thrilled," she said. "He hasn’t been an easy character, but he’s come out with so much confidence. He’s such a genuine, unique horse. Some people think he’s just a bit naughty but he's genuinely spooky. I’m so thrilled that we’ve managed to build a relationship to overcome that and show him off to his best.”

The time allowed in the final jumping course turned out to be one of the pitfalls that the winner had also thought about beforehand. “I feel like last year I lost my first place due to time faults, and I blame myself," she said. "I worked quite hard on the mental side behind it. We changed a few things, made sure I had more time, and I was more relaxed and gave him a much better ride. So, I’m just delighted with that.”

In the prize-giving ceremony, Ros was full of praise for the Luhmühlen crowd. “First of all, I want to thank Luhmühlen for putting on such a fantastic event, one of my favorites to come back to. A big thank you to the crowd for making it so special," she said.

The second-placed New Zealander Samantha Lissington with Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ can look back on a thoroughly successful week. As a pupil of Canter, she only added 0.4 points to her dressage score for exceeding the time limit on the cross-country course. With 29.3 points, she was delighted to take second place in the five-star competition with the rather small horse in terms of height. “He’s just amazing, such a pocket rocket," she said. "The jumps do seem rather large when you sit on him, but he’s got a big stride and a heart of gold. I’m just delighted with how he went all week.”

Last year’s CCI5*-L winner Laura Collett (GBR) who was still leading after the cross-country, was the last rider to enter the arena with her successful horse London 52 and knew that she could not afford to make a jumping mistake due to Canter and Lissington's clear rounds. At the last fence of triple combination, a pole fell. With 29.4 points, the pair slipped to third place. “Obviously I’m very disappointed as everybody would be in my situation," she said. "I really wanted him to win, because he deserves it so much. Last year I had a fence in hand and didn’t need it. Today I would have needed it, but that’s life. For me, London 52 is the perfect event horse. He might not have the best conformation, but he has a big heart and the right attitude. He’s my horse of a lifetime!”

Full Results: https://www.rechenstelle.de/en/agenda/2025/luhmuhlen-3/