Sammi and Hunter Valley ( Gizmo) left the UK last week for a spot of showjump training with Nelson Pessoa and an outing at Lier International CSI on the way to Luhmuhlen. As you do. And she took The Kincooley Ceili ( William) with her as well for the ride. As you do. Logistics actually worked out pretty well as Chris Burton got the call up to ride Nelson's stallion at the show.. which is the sort of opportunity you do anything for hence Burto was spotted, not on a plane, but at Dover in an empty two horse truck on Friday night! Sammi had picked up Limited Edition on the way and Burto was bringing home William with Limited Edition when Sammi drove on to Luhmuhlen.

All organised to perfection except...Hels had put a bottle of Virkon ( stable bleach) up on a shelf and the bottle had broken which has left her with burns on her face and arms. Ever the stoic ( not to mention a steely determination which carried her through pneumonia whilst still smoking 20 a day back in the day!). It sounds odd to use the term luckily but it was lucky that she was wearring a baseball cap and her glasses. After some considerable time in A and E Hels is healing but the burns have such a high infection risk that Sammi and Ed have pulled the plug on her traveling out to Luhmuhlen.

So its left to new supergroom Jo to continue looking after Giz whilst Millie is looking after Charlie. Sammi has had great time in Belgium where she described her experiences as being terrified of the 1m 35 track and delighted with the restaurant. You don't get more Sammi than that. It basically means she breezed the 1m35 and ate salad at the restaurant.

So Giz and Sammi do their dressage at 9.15 am on Friday ( CET) and you can follow the links below for the live scores and the livestream.

https://tgl.luhmuehlen.de/start

https://youtu.be/rEkXQJC4hUo