When Abi Lyle relocated to Gloucestershire from Bangor, Co Down in 2009, aged 24, she was aiming to attain her BHS {qualifications} and, presumably, in the future, don a tailcoat and trip a prix st georges (PSG).
She’s now set to trip down the centre line as Eire’s sole dressage consultant on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“To say that [the] Olympics was past my wildest desires is a teeny understatement,” Abi stated. “It’s exhausting to place into phrases what this implies.”
We meet up with Abi to seek out out extra about her profession thus far…
1. She doesn’t come from a horsey background
“If something horses had been closely discouraged!” laughed Abi on episode 131 of The Horse & Hound Podcast. “My mother and father didn’t need me to do it as a result of it was too costly”.
Abi added that she will be able to’t pinpoint when her “obsession” with horses began. However she remembers insisting her mom pull her round on the Hoover as a two-year-old and that driving to see horses in a close-by area was all the time a deal with.
Abi then spent her teenage years “lingering round” a using faculty. She went on to work in retail, earlier than seeing an advert for a groom’s job when she was 23.
2. It was one other Irish rider that impressed her curiosity in dressage
“I’m fairly a visible individual and my curiosity in dressage began as a spectator – I used to be blown away by the aesthetic of it, how they moved their our bodies,” Abi instructed H&H.
She added that she’ll always remember seeing Sorrell Klatzko – who went on to be one among her teammates on the 2022 World Championships – using on the Irish nationals in 2009. “I noticed her and thought, ‘I wish to trip like that’.”
By means of connections made in Eire, Abi landed a working scholarship with Pammy Hutton at Talland in Gloucestershire.
“I deliberate to go for six months, however the day I arrived at Talland in 2009 I knew I’d by no means transfer again – I’d by no means seen something prefer it,” Abi stated. “And as soon as I arrived I knew I’d by no means return residence. I arrived not figuring out what tempi adjustments or what a piaffe was, however I used to be obsessively eager.”
3. Abi Lyle on Giraldo: “He’s the love of my life”
It was at Talland that Abi met the defining horse of her profession thus far – Giraldo.
“A consumer had purchased him at public sale and was curious about getting concerned within the dressage world,” Abi defined. “She’d seen me trip a tough younger horse and preferred how I dealt with it and requested if I’d be curious about using Giraldo – who’d simply been backed.
“I used to be nonetheless very new to the gig so I bit her arm off. It’s cool as a result of folks assume you should have been profitable in getting good rides whereas she’d seen me getting squashed towards a wall and took an opportunity on me.”
When Giraldo was six years outdated, his proprietor determined to promote him. “However I couldn’t give him up so with just a little assist from Barclay’s financial institution, I purchased him,” Abi stated.
“I didn’t even give it that a lot thought as as to if he was going to get to grand prix – to me he was excellent and even when he hadn’t made it I in all probability wouldn’t have cared.
“However now right here we’re, making ready to compete in Paris – even when typically I nonetheless really feel like a wee joyful hacker.”
4. Abi Lyle on her group debut: “It makes me emotional enthusiastic about”
“It wasn’t one thing I ever thought attainable,” stated Abi, reflecting on the 2022 World Championships in Herning, Denmark. “I makes me emotional enthusiastic about using on that group.”
Abi and Giraldo completed on 65.71% within the grand prix. Giraldo had solely been competing at grand prix for lower than a 12 months at that time.
“I’m actually pleased with him. I can’t ask for any extra,” stated Abi, holding again tears in her interview after the take a look at.
“Sure, it might have been good to come back and get extra like a rating like we’ve been getting the remainder of the season. However he’s by no means been wherever like that, I’ve by no means been wherever like this.
“And I really like him greater than something on the earth. I simply adore him, he’s the love of my life. So to have the ability to do this….” she added, emotion overwhelming her voice. “He’s taken such excellent care of me.”
5. Abi Lyle on her coach, Carl Hester: “He’s one of the best factor that ever occurred to me”
Abi has been coaching with Carl Hester for nearly 13 years. She credit him as being a “huge affect” on her profession.
“He’s one of the best factor that ever occurred to me,” stated Abi. “It’s exhausting to explain what it’s that’s so nice about him. He has that uncommon stability of being reassuring and inspiring, but in addition trustworthy in a method that doesn’t go away you feeling horrible.”
In 2022, Abi relocated over 300 miles from her base in Morpeth, Northumberland, to Chippenham, Wiltshire, to be nearer to Carl for coaching.
“I’m transferring for a person, if you wish to put it like that,” she joked on the time.
6. Abi Lyle: “If I’m going to ask them to offer me these few additional steps of passage, I can do these additional squats”
Abi loves yoga, circuit coaching and particularly operating. It helps clear her thoughts and supplies one other outlet for her aggressive streak she instructed H&H in 2022.
She added that she additionally feels a profit in her focus ranges if she will be able to squeeze in a run earlier than using at a contest.
However her dedication to health serves a wider objective, too. “The fitter I can maintain myself, the longer I can do dressage for, and since I got here to it at fairly a late age, I wish to maintain going so long as attainable,” she stated.
“I additionally assume that making use of your self to your personal health makes you a extra empathetic rider.
“It’s simpler for me to really feel when the horses are drained to know what I’m asking of them.
“If I’m going to ask them to offer me these few additional steps of passage, I can do these additional squats, that’s the best way I see it.”
7. On the significance of being genuine on social media
“I’m a little bit of a compulsive over-sharer, however that’s simply me – I wrestle to be anything,” Abi revealed.
“I truthfully cringe at myself a lot. I’ll publish one thing then go residence and assume, ‘Why did I say that’. However folks have already messaged me thanking me for sharing it.”
Abi defined that she feels it’s vital to be genuine and to share the highs and the lows of competing.
“The place the positives of social media are available is from folks sharing not solely their good instances, but in addition the dangerous.
“When a high rider tells me one thing has gone improper, or they’ve had a tough trip, I feel, ‘Oh thank god I’m not alone’.”
You may additionally be curious about:
Abi Lyle at residence together with her canine in November 2022.
Credit score: Steve Dawe / Actual Time Imaging
Credit score: Kevin Sparrow
Abi Lyle and Giraldo within the grand prix on the 2022 World Dressage Championships in Herning (7 August).
Credit score: Peter Nixon
Credit score: Future
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H&H dressage and sport horse editor
Oscar graduated from York St John College with a grasp’s diploma in Literature in 2021 and joined Horse & Hound in October 2023. Oscar labored for high dressage rider Emile Faurie for 4 years after ending an equine administration course at school. Beneath Emile’s tutelage, Oscar competed on the 2015 Nationwide Dressage Championships and travelled with Emile’s horses to CDIs at Aachen, Vidauban, Saumur and Achlieiten. Oscar continues to compete in dressage, alongside his day job.
