Meet the charming home-bred mare and her elite amateur rider making their Badminton debut

Elite amateur Arne Bergendahl and his petite grey mare Luthien NRW kept their cool in the Mars Badminton Horse Trials main arena on their first trip to the British spring five-star.

Luthien NRW, owned and bred by Arne’s father Helmut Bergendahl, is by La Calido and out of star broodmare Taramanga, whose off-spring also include four-star horses Lamango and Carmago, Ingrid Klimke’s ride Cascamara, and Julia Krajewski‘s young horse Cool Tonic.

Arne, 34, studied environmental technologies and balances his job for Wesel city council in Germany with producing and competing. He finished 14th with this 13-year-old home-bred at Luhmühlen in 2023 and won a CCI4*-S at Maarsbergen last year.

“This is my very first time here. Luhmühlen and Pau are also big events, but to come here on Tuesday, see Badminton house and all the facilities – it’s quite amazing,” says Arne. He adds he was also wowed by the number of spectators here on Wednesday to support competitors in the LeMieux Grassroots Championships.

Arne Bergendahl and Luthien NRW are on a first-phase score of 36.2 and in equal 25th position after the opening day of dressage.

“I’m really pleased, that was our best five-star test so far,” says Arne. “She was really calm in the big arena. She’s normally very nervous – the first two competitions this year were also quite good, but I was a little bit afraid that in this main stadium, she would feel different. I’m really happy.”

He adds: “She’s really small, she feels like a pony sometimes. She’s a nervous horse, but always wants to do her best. She’s been getting better and better in the last few years and I think I understand her better now.”

How will this little mare do around Eric Winter’s big and bold cross-country course?

Arne says: “She’s a big jumper. She competes in 1.40m classes showjumping for training more or less – she’s scopey and brave.”

How to watch Badminton Horse Trials

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