Kiwi riders have improved their positions markedly following the yesterday's cross-country phase at the Boekelo Horse Trials in The Netherlands, but not enough to make an impression on the leaderboard.
The cross-country time was tight, with all but two of the 95 starters incurring time faults.
Germany still holds pole position from Great Britain in the teams event, but New Zealand has dropped to sixth.
German rider Julia Mestern and FRH Schorsch (39.20) zoomed around the cross-country in the fastest time to take a narrow lead from dressage leader Simone Deitermann on Free Easy NRW (40.80). In third is France's Nicholas Touzaint on Tatchou (41.80), and in fourth is Britain's Ruth Edge and P.C. Wilson (44.00). Oliver Townend and ODT Master Rose moved up from ninth to take fifth with 45.80.
Australia's Andrew Hoy (Grand Joca) and Britain's Zara Phillips (Secret Legacy) were among those eliminiated on the cross-country.
New Zealand's Mark Todd and Grass Valley moved up from their 38th ranking in dressage to 25th to be sitting on 58.00 penalties going into today's showjumping. Dan Jocelyn and Special Advocate are now 42nd with 69.80, improving from 69th, and Neil Spratt and Upleadon had an unfortunate stop at the sixth jump to drop back to 70th on 94.00 after being 19th after the dressage. Bruce Haskell and Not Kidding improved slightly to place 77th on 103.20. The remaining Kiwi, individual rider Debbie Mitchell, withdrew Waimak before the cross-country.
The event winds up today with the showjumping, with 86 of the original 96 starters taking part.