*Exclusive* ‘Arty is my heart horse – I sat watching him for hours in Paris’: Abi Lyle shares her special Olympic memories

Abi Lyle solidified her position at the top of Irish dressage when she was named as the country’s sole Olympic rider at the Paris Games this summer, with 13-year-old gelding Giraldo (Arty), whom she has produced since a four-year-old.

The Games weren’t Abi’s first taste of championship experience, having competed at the World Championships with Arty in 2022, and the 2023 European Championships with her own and Fenella Quinn’s Farrell, but now she can add Olympic rider to her credentials.

“You think Worlds, Europeans, they’re both great – but you know the Olympics are different,” says Abi.

Ireland missed out on a team spot at Paris, but in late February it was confirmed they had secured one of 15 individual places. It was then all to play for with Abi, Anna Vervedlt, and Judy Reynolds in contention.

“At London International in December there were two countries ahead of us in our group for the individual place so we didn’t think it was going to happen,” explains Abi.

“When we found out that Ireland had a place, I said: ‘If you pick me you pick me, and if you don’t you don’t’. I felt if I started grabbing the bull by the horns thinking ‘I’ve got to get this’, it would just be a disaster.”

That magical selection phone call

That all-important telephone call that Abi will “remember for the rest of my life” came around six weeks before the Games – and while she was paying at the till in the garage.

“We’d been given a time slot and I’d planned to be in the tackroom. I’d heard on the grapevine that they do commiseration calls first, so when our high performance director Anne Marie Dunphy phoned me 15 minutes before my slot my heart dropped because she was calling early,” laughs Abi, who had to ring Anne Marie back.

“My heart was in my throat. I got in the car, phoned her and I was told I’d been selected. I drove back to the yard and my best friend Georgie (Round), who owns the yard, ran to the car and gave me a big hug, and then I told Mark (McVicar – Abi’s partner and groom).

“It’s funny because at first it’s amazing, and then you think ‘Oh, now I need to do the Olympics!’.”

The journey to Paris

Abi says it was important not to change anything in Arty’s routine.

“We checked his field daily, and the only thing different was if it was absolutely pouring he didn’t go out. I really trust him and he’s not a silly horse – so I thought keep letting him do his thing and he’ll be fine,” says Abi, who trains with Gareth Hughes and Carl Hester.

“There’s no two better people to keep me on the straight and narrow. Gareth is about 30 minutes from me so I’d see him once a week, and he’s made a big difference. He’s able to simplify things, for example the hardest part of the grand prix is getting the paces right and he’s really good at helping me to identify if I’m in the right trot or the right canter.

“Arty is a less is more kind of guy, in the lead up I schooled him three times a week at the most and did the test movements once a week. The rest was hacking and poles.”

Abi put a lot of emphasis on preparing herself, too.

“I couldn’t have done more on my mindset, and I’m so glad that I did. I had sessions with performance coach Debbie Hill from Ahead for Life, I did a lot of journaling, and I cut down on social media,” she says.

“Every week I did a circuit session, yoga, a long run, an easy run, and speed interval sessions – my own goal was to look and be really fit. I eat pretty well and don’t eat a lot of sugar anyway, so it was just watching what I ate. There was also a special Paris playlist, it was quite personal, but one song on it was So High School by Taylor Swift. It was the second last song I listened to before I got on to do my test, it’s very much a song that will always make me think of Paris.”

“We had a call to say Arty wasn’t happy”

Abi and Arty enjoyed a smooth journey to Paris, with Arty’s owner Caroline Clarry, and Mark and Georgie accompanying them at the Games. Abi was invited to be part of the Olympic opening ceremony, an experience she says “took my mind off dressage, and allowed me to just appreciate being there”.

But the evening took a turn for the worst when Mark received a call after midnight to say Arty wasn’t happy.

“You can imagine the panic,” says Abi. “He is the most easy-going horse, and he’d settled in well. The aircon had been blasting when we left him and I’d put a thin cotton sheet on him, but didn’t realise they would turn the aircon off at night. He’d gotten a little warm and all it was was that he needed his sheet taken off. But of course I then didn’t want to leave him, so we sat for two hours watching him until the stewards eventually had to ask us to leave.”

Yoga in the sunshine on competition day

Abi and Arty competed in Paris on Tuesday 30 July, the first day of the grand prix.

“I hand walked Arty then I did yoga out the back of the stable in the sunshine. It was lovely,” says Abi, who was stabled next to New Zealand’s Melissa Galloway, who she describes as her “favourite person of the Olympics”.

“I wanted to watch one combination so that I could hear what the bell sounded like, how much the crowd were cheering, and things like that. I watched Nanna Skodborg Merrald and Blue Hors Zepter, who is one of my favourite horses.

“Then it was time to warm up. When it comes to warming up I like to do a movement then walk, then another movement, and more walk. It really works for him and keeps us both super relaxed. Because of the heat I had allowed 15 minutes longer, and it worked out perfectly.”

“I felt so in the zone”

Abi and Arty put on a beautiful and assured performance to score 69.44% in the grand prix, finishing sixth of group B. The group session was won by Denmark’s Daniel Bachmann and Vayron on 76.91%.

Abi says the test went “better than I ever could have imagined”.

“Arty and I went into a little bubble, and I felt so in the zone. Afterwards it’s a wave of relief and emotion,” she explains. “I’ve had very few rides like that in my career, and I don’t know how many I’ll have again. It was the best we could do. He just did everything even better than usual.

“Someone asked me when did I know Arty would be capable of this, and it’s weird because I always knew he would, but equally I didn’t care because if this never happened with him I’d feel exactly the same about him. We’re bezzie mates, I absolutely worship him and always have since he was four.”

The one-time tempi changes from the test stand out in Abi’s memory.

“If you watch the test back, I did my ones and took the biggest breath of relief – I wanted to nail them so badly. I turned on the line towards the big Paris sign and I just stared at that sign. I thought ‘These are going so well, don’t give up! Ride them, ride them, ride them’ and I got them all.

And while Abi says she wouldn’t change anything about her test – there is just one minor detail.

“Looking at it analytically, I lost 1.4% on my halts which is tragic,” she laughs. “My first halt he didn’t want to stand still, then the halt into my rein back I thought ‘Hmm’. But there’s battles to fight, and battles to not fight – and this was one of them.”

The grand prix was a qualifier for the individual medal-decider, the freestyle. The top 18 combinations from the grand prix – made up of the top two from each group plus the next six highest overall ranked combinations – advanced to the freestyle.

Although Abi did not qualify for the final, she has absolutely no regrets – nor was it even on her radar.

“Before the Games I had to give an expectation to my Olympic federation, and we were hoping for a mid 67%, so to score mid 69% I was over the moon, and everyone on Team Ireland was delighted,” explains Abi, who says she went to Paris with “realistic aims”.

“If I went thinking ‘I want to qualify for the individual final’ I would have come away feeling really disappointed. It was almost frustrating because people would say ‘You shouldn’t be thinking like that’. But I’m 96th in the world, and this was going to be the top 18. I surpassed the score I wanted by a good amount, and I am absolutely delighted.”

Back to normality: “I just want to be doing day to day things”

Abi and Arty remained in Paris until the dressage competition had concluded, during which time she enjoyed hacking him around the venue.

“We thought we’d see other sports and do things while we were there, but when you’ve got a horse and you want to see the other dressage, there wasn’t really a lot of time so we just hung out with Arty,” she says.

“Arty is my heart horse, and then Mark is my heart person. To have this experience with both of them, and knowing Mark got to walk all the way to the rope with me, I could cry thinking about it because it was so, so special.”

Abi and Mark gave themselves one day off, then it was “pretty much back to normal”.

“We had a little party when I got selected, and we were talking about having another little party but we haven’t done anything yet. The whole thing felt like a celebration anyway. The build up is so huge, and I know people can feel disappointed when they strive for something then it’s done, but I don’t because I feel so relieved,” she explains.

“As an Irish person we don’t like to blow our own horns but I feel very proud that I was able to ride well in that pressure, because I really didn’t know if I could or not. Now I just want to be doing day to day things, I was so excited to get back to teaching and riding. I just want normality, it’s a funny thing.”

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