Harby rider Heidi Coy savours debut at five-star elite level at Luhmühlen Horse Trials

Luhmühlen is one of only seven five-star world championship level events in the world, the others being Badminton and Burghley in Britain, Kentucky and Maryland in the USA, Pau in France and Adelaide in Australia.

Heidi finished 22nd aboard Halenza and now wants to build on that debut.

“Riding at five-star level has been a long time coming,” said Heidi, who won team and individual silver medals at the junior European Championships in Fontainebleau, France, in 2018 aboard Royal Fury.

She went on to win team silver and individual bronze at the 2019 Your Rider European Eventing Championships in Maarsbergen, The Netherlands aboard the same horse.

Heidi bought current mare Halenza as a four-year-old, and has produced her from scratch.

“I’ve done everything with her myself – I got her when I was 16 and we’ve gone up the levels together,” said Heidi, who completed her A-Levels at Stamford High School, on the doorstep of Burghley.

“So it’s nice to finally be here and just enjoying it. It felt amazing and I am absolutely thrilled.

“I have had her since she was a four-year-old and to take her from her first event to our first five star competition is an unreal experience.

“I am so grateful to her for giving me that opportunity and generally she was great.

“It was a long drive over there and definitely the toughest level of competition I have experienced so far.

“It was an amazing event and the atmosphere was great.

“It was tough so I am delighted how my horse went.

“It was a longer cross country course at this level – just over 11 minutes – and it was also the intensity of the course. It was a lot more technical.

“The showjumping on the last day was bigger than I had done before, so it was a great test for me and a great place to go.

“I learned a massive amount there working alongside the top riders. It was a great experience.

“I would love to now go and do another one and build on my placing and do even better.

“If she is all good there is another one in France towards the end of the year, but she has done quite a few this year now so maybe we will put her away now and save her for next year.

“She is going to have a bit of a holiday now and then we will make a plan and see what happens.”

Heidi, who rides full-time and has several top-10 placings at four-star level, was entered at Badminton on this mare a couple of years ago.

“She just picked up a minor injury beforehand and so our preparation plans disappeared and meant that we didn’t get there,” she said.

“We’ve slowly brought her back from that blip and last year she had three runs, including winning the CCI3*-S at Little Downham.

“She’s come out on great form this year, jumping double clear in the CCI4*-S at Thoresby and double clear in the CCI4*-S at Belsay too, so I just thought ‘do you know what? Sometimes you’ve just got to go for it’, and so here we are.”

Heidi added: “Hallie tries so hard and one of the things I love about her is that when I get on, she’s so well behaved and so genuine and always tries her very best.”

“Even though she’s not built for dressage, she really tried.

“Jumping-wise she is really cool and just gets on with it. She’s very laid-back – sometimes too laid-back, but she can be a bit of a diva in the stable and she doesn’t really like other horses. But as soon as I get on her, her ears are pricked and she loves her job.”

“It’s so nice to look back and think I did her first event on her and now we’re here – I know her inside out.”