Ros Canter and Izilot DHI. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Yesterdays first day of dressage in Luhmhlens CCI5* saw none of the 21 initial riders clinch a sub-30 and today, they were nearly as hard to come by. At the close of this phase, just two of the 42 competitors were awarded scores in the 20s by the exacting ground jury helmed by Denmarks Anne-Mette Binder.And leading the way as we head into cross-country? Thats the sole five-star winning partnership so far, anyway of this line-up. Ros Canters Izilot DHI has always been very capable of excellent scores, and often delivers them, but hes also a notoriously quirky, spooky horse, and Luhmhlens main arena is bright, buzzy, and full of stuff not least several looky cross-country fences, awaiting their turn for the action tomorrow. And stuff, really, is Isaacs nemesis: when hes had issues in the past, be it on cross-country or, as at Pau last year, before his dressage test, its been with objects that he has to pass, and which turn into monsters in his busy brain.But today, he was cool, calm, and totally on the job, both before, during, and after his test, when he looked just about ready to take a nap during the stewards obligatory bit-check procedure. That zen attitude was well rewarded, too he and Ros were given a 24.9, just 0.6 penalties above the score that began his winning Pau campaign last autumn.Ros Canter and Izilot DHI. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Hes fantastic, says Ros of the eleven-year-old, who now holds a 3.4 penalty lead going into cross-country. That excellent score, and its resultant lead, came from some novel homework behind the scenes.To be fair, hes been on great form all week. Its just always a challenge with Izilot with his neck, and the way his neck is set on with his head, for me to know quite whetherI get the outline right, explains Ros. Often, I dont get it until my last ride. So I have to go back and watch old videos [of our tests] a lot. Thats what Ive been doing for the last hour, is watching old videos and going, quite how short do I need my reins? How exactly do I need him? because he just curls over so easily. Buthes become a real professional, bar being a bit spooky, which obviously he wasnt today.There was just one mistake in their test their second flying change came a couple of strides late, earning them two 4s and a 5.I really went for it in the extended [canter] and I probably just needed another half halt, and then his changes are so smooth I had to go another two strides to decide whether he changed or not, laughs Ros. Id say its rider error rather than his error I should have just brought him back a tiny bit more.Izilot DHI and groom Sarah Charnley. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Time, patience, and a rerouting of pressure continue to be the making of Isaac, who no longer schools on the flat at home, but instead, hacks a lot and is shipped elsewhere to school so he gets plenty of exposure to the unfamiliar.I learn more and more about him all the time, and he gets a year older every year, which helps. Hes much more settled in his brain than he used to be, and hes very established with the movements now, so Im able to really train the brain instead of having to go right, Ive got to teach him [the movements], I can keep him in a happier place much easier.Tomorrows Mike Etherington-Smith track will be Isaacs third experience of cross-country at this level; on his first, at Pau, he won, and on his second, at Badminton last month, Ros set out knowing that the huge atmosphere and much bigger challenge of the place may not suit him. When he went green at the busy lake complex, she sagely put her hand up and decided to reroute him here, where shes confident hell find his stride again.Im certainly going to go out with the intention of being fast and clear, to be honest, she says. I havent come here to be middle of the pack. So hopefully I can give him a good start. Its quite nice here at the start, in that its not overly dressed and theres not [a lot of decorations]. Going around things isoften what he finds a little bit worrying, and there isnt any of that really, at the start anyway. So Im going to go out and give it a good shot. He had a run at Little Downham, and he was good and fine there, so I dont feel hes lost any confidence from jumping at Badminton. Well go and give it a good shot, I think.Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Tom McEwen made a great start to the class yesterday with first ride CHF Cooliser, who now sits fourth going into tomorrows competition on her 30.8 but it was his second ride, the fifteen-year-old debutant Brookfield Quality, who really made a bid for the top spot today. The pair put a 28.3 on the board and are provisionally second overnight.He was mega, says Tom of Nervous Norris, who he inherited from fellow Brookfield rider Piggy March at the tail end of the 2022 season. He listened all the way through he never lets you down. He always tries his hardest, and thats all you can ever ask for.Although Norris is a relatively late debutant at the level, he comes to Luhmhlen with a very good lead-up he won a CCI2*-S section at Thoresby to start the year off, and then finished fourth in Bictons CCI4*-S last month.The preparations have gone really well, says Tom. We waited to start a little bit later in the season which, unless you went abroad, there wasnt much to do in the UK anyway. We had a really good run at Bicton, so that was a fantastic prep for coming here, and we had a few Open Intermediates. He doesnt tend to need too much, andhe knows what hes doing so we got all the work done at home and hopefully we can show it all off tomorrow.Tom chose Luhmhlen as the geldings debut, he says, because its obviously a bit flatter than the UK-based five-stars. The ground is always good, especially considering how much rain weve had out here.Tom will ride cross-country three times tomorrow twice in this class, and once in the CCI4*-S, where hes vying for an Olympic call-up with the former Nicola Wilson ride JL Dublin.Ive got three different rides; two very different in the five-star, so Ive got to reevaluate between horses and assess what I need to do on each one, he says. For Brookfield Quality, I think it suits him really well, I just need to build him up into the course and then let him flow. Theres plenty of questions all the way round, power questions, technical questions, so theres a lot to do.Nico Aldinger and Timmo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Day one leaders Laura Collett and Hester now sit third, while fourth place is held by Germanys Nicolai Aldinger and Timmo, who earned a colossal, and well-deserved, cheer when posting a 30.9 in their long-awaited five-star start. Nico, who lives just ten minutes from Luhmhlen and has frequently contested the CCI4*-S here, had planned to start in this class last year, but withdrew at the first horse inspection when Timmo knocked himself on the way down from the stables and took a few sore steps. Then, they put an entry in for Kentucky this spring, but at their final prep run in Strzegom, the gelding stepped on a clinch and, while uninjured, needed a few days off, disrupting his fitness work.And so just to start is a phenomenal feeling for Nico but to start on such a positive note, and with the full force of the home crowds enthusiasm behind him, is even better.It is pretty special, absolutely, he says with a grin. It helps a little bit that I have a cold ,so I have some pills inside, so Im more relaxed! I slept a lot today. Normally Im really nervous, but my girlfriend always says, Luhmhlen, you just have to ride like every other competition. I put myself under so much pressure, because my family is here, all the owners, all my friends, are my supporters are here and then I want to be especially good. Last time, it didnt work out too good. But today, I just wanted to have fun, and dressage can be a little bit fun. But I hope I have more fun tomorrow!Nico Aldinger and Timmo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Fourteen-year-old Timmo comes into this competition in very promising form: the Holsteiner, with whom Nico competed at the European Championships last year, finished in the top twenty in the CCI4*-S at Marbach in May, and then ran quickly at Baborowko last month at the same level to finish on his dressage score and take third place.He feels amazing, says Nico. Weve changed the plan a lot this year and in the end, its worked. Im hoping it works tomorrow and on Sunday too, but Im really happy, and I dont want to put pressure on him and just keep him happy. He was pretty good in Baborowko, where we were third,and I just want to keep the good feeling for him. Hes a bit special, and if you just keep him happy then he gives you everything you want back.Belgiums Lara de Liedekerke-Meier, third last night on her homebred debutant Hooney dArville, is now sixth going into the second phase, while a duo of young up-and-comers from two nations take seventh and eighth place, respectively.Jennifer Kuehnle and Sammy Davis Junior. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Libussa Lbbeke, who rides as part of Germanys Warendorf programme for talented young eventers, made a fantastic start to her five-star debut with Caramia, putting a 31.9 on the board for seventh, while Irelands Jennifer Kuehnle sits eighth on 32 with Sammy Davis Junior, who she inherited the ride on from partner Cathal Daniels.I was hoping to be this good, but you never know, says a delighted Libussa. For the first 5* test, there are many more flying changes and she felt really good, very comfortable, and I was very happy how relaxed she was. It was a good feeling.One of the great weapons in Libussas arsenal is the support of her fellow Warendorf riders, most of whom are on site either competing or helping, and who include among their ranks Jrome Rbin and Emma Brussau, both of whom made their five-star debut here last year and can share what they learned along the way.Its really nice. You feel really good with them around you, says Libussa, adding that its very special, too, with a homebred horse she was produced by my brother. Going into cross-country, I feel quite good, I have to say. Shes a real cross country machine and I can trust her 200%, and thats a really good feeling. So Im very much looking forward to it!Mollie Summerland and Flow 7. Photo by Tilly Berendt.2021 champion Mollie Summerland, who remains Luhmhlens youngest-ever winner, returned with a bang with a sparkling test with debutant Flow 7, who trended in the lead throughout much of his work but then slipped down the ranks due to his flying changes, which are still a work in progress. Mollie was thrilled to take ninth place overnight on a score of 33 with the young, talented, extraordinarily leggy gelding, who was bred in Germany and reunited with his breeder en route to the event this week.I do think that he has all the ability to go really low in this phase, but I wanted to not do too much work and leave him as fresh as I can for tomorrow, because I think thats the biggest and hardest test for him, says Mollie, whos well known for her prowess in the first phase with her string of tall, dark, and handsome European geldings and, most notably, her Luhmhlen-winning former partner, Charly van ter Heiden.Of the changes, she says, I felt he was a little bit more nervous down the bottom of the arena. So those ones on the counter canter, I didnt really practice them outside, because I know hes green with them and I didnt want to upset him. We were going to be happy with anything under 35, so I was pleased with that.Pleased, too, were Flows owners, Paula and Adrian Cloke, who had played a crucial if long-distance role in Mollies success in 2021, when they lent her a lorry to use for the week and offered plenty of emotional support through the process of tackling a pandemic five-star.We all cried when he finished the test, didnt we? says Paula.No, no, I just had dust in my eye, protests Adrian.No judgment from us: theres plenty of reason to get a bit teary, not least because Flow, their first-ever event horse, has been a bit of a child prodigy.He only started eventing when he was seven, so hes only been doing this just over three years, explains Mollie. So hes really lacking in mileage even the other ten-year-olds in the field, they might have started when they were maybe five or six. So its all really new to him, and hes just kept coping, and stepping up all the time. Hes exceeded all our expectations.I bought him unseen off the internet when he was a six-year-old, so I didnt even go and try him, she continues. He just came off the lorry, and hes a really similar type to all of mine, so I kind of knew that he would probably be a horse Id get along with well, and hes just gone from strength to strength really. I think he has so much more to give, and thats the most exciting thing.In the longer-term, she hopes that will take them to a five-star closer to home but for now, Mollies delighted to have a reason to return to her happiest hunting ground.I love this show, and I just felt that if we were possibly thinking about Badminton, that this might be quite a good stepping stone on the way there, she says.Emily Hamel and Corvett. Photo by Tilly Berendt.Both of our US representatives have now completed their dressage tests: yesterdays, Katherine Coleman and Monbeg Senna, will go into cross-country in sixteenth place on a 34.2, while todays, Emily Hamel and Corvett, are 35th on a 38.7 after some tricky moments in the latter half of the test.The trot work, I was pretty pleased with, but then its just, like, the canter work is what gets us, she says. But thats kind of the usual he anticipates the changes ,and weve been working on it, but just couldnt quite show that today. But on to the jumping, I suppose!The jumping, as fans of the pair will know, is absolutely where they shine: the huge-jumping, bold gelding and his gutsy rider know one another inside and out after eight years together, and this will be their seventh five-star start, though its a Luhmhlen debut for both.Im feeling pretty good about it, and I think I have a good plan at the moment, says Emily, whose last run at the level, at Maryland last year, saw them finish eleventh. Now, shes excited to add another event to a tally that includes both US five-stars, Burghley, and Badminton.Ive always wanted to do [Luhmhlen], because I think itd be cool to do all the 5*s and Ive heard its a really friendly event, she says. Everybodys just like, everyones so friendly, and theres lots of arenas, and the footing is good. I think the footing on course is great. So theres a lot of positive things, but actually, this was kind of my plan B. I wasnt originally coming here, but with Chatsworth being cancelled I came over to the UK with the USEF Development Programme, and so this was not my plan. But then it turned out that way, and now Im here, and Im glad because I can get another 5* in.The relationship between horse and rider is a huge part of their success together so far.I think its a big factor we do know each other really well. So it just feels really comfortable going out there maybe I should be a bit more nervous! But I just trust him and I know he can jump anything, from anywhere, she says. Hes a really quirky horse, but for some reason he kind of chose me. I havent tried to micromanage him too much; his jumping style is not your ordinary jumping style, but it works for him, and so Ive just kind of tried to stay out of the way and let him figure it out.Tomorrows CCI5* cross-country will kick off bright and early at 8.45 a.m. tomorrow (7.45 a.m. BST/2.45 a.m. EST), with fourth-placed Tom McEwen and CHF Cooliser pathfinding. You can check out the times in full here, and keep it locked on EN for a gallery of all the fences thatll be jumped out on course. To rewatch all of the action from the last two days, and to catch tomorrow live, head on over to Horse & Country TV and, as always, Go Eventing.The top ten following dressage in Luhmhlens CCI5*.ENs coverage of the Longines LuhmhlenHorse Trials is brought to you by Kentucky Performance Products, your go-to source for science-backed nutritional support across all types of horses, disciplines, and needs. 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