Holly Woodhead, the youngest member of the British squad at 21, produced an excellent display on board DHI Lupison which was rewarded with a total of 31.50 penalty points.

Her near-flawless performance sees her head the leaderboard going into the second day with a slender two-point advantage over reigning Olympic champion Michael Jung riding FischerTakinou.

“I just kept my cool and remembered what we had been working on at home and it paid off,” Woodhead, making her debut at the event, said.

“It is hard work to get him like that - but when it comes off he’s amazing and I can’t fault him.

“I’m really excited about Saturday (September 11) - I’ve got all day tomorrow to walk the course and get my head in cross country mode so I’m really, really excited.”

Germany’s Jung, winner at the 2013 European Championship in Malmo, is lurking dangerously in second place and claimed  he feels relaxed ahead of the rest of the event, due to come to a close on Sunday (September 13), while giving his reasons for choosing FischerTakinou over Halunke, the horse he rode to the title two years’ ago.

“My horse is always very relaxed and concentrated, so it is easy to ride him in the arena,” the world number one, who won at Burghley last weekend, said.

“It has always been my plan to bring FischerTakinou here.

“Halunke does not have thoroughbred blood for the hills.”

The duo of Nicola Wilson and horse One Two Many maintained the excellent start to the competition for the British team as she currently lies in third place on 34.60.

Wilson’s performance also helped the home nation take the lead in the team event, with France second thanks to scores of 36.80 and 38.70 from Thibaut Vallette and Karim Florent Laghouag, while Germany are third.

The competition in Scotland is due to continue tomorrow as the next lot of dressage riders make their 2015 European Championship bow.

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