ABIGAIL LYLE ADMITTED that she had to first overcome her emotions before joining forces with the equine love of her life, Giraldo, for a fine score of 69.441 in the Dressage Individual Grand Prix in Paris.
Bangor woman Lyle, who would later describe her Olympic experience to RTÉ as “the best thing I’ve ever done and the hardest thing I’ve ever done as well”, added that she’d “do it all again tomorrow” after missing out on Sunday’s final.
Lyle and the 13-year-old gelding — known as ‘Arty’ among a team that includes Lyle’s fiancé, Giraldo’s groom Mark McVicar — produced an excellent routine to finish sixth in Group B.
And while that ended her Olympic campaign, Lyle could only beam afterwards having gotten to experience it at all:
I had expectations and my expectations were incredibly low. I wanted a comfortable, happy horse to do himself proud and take him home to look after him for the rest of his life.
“So here we are, with an amazing ride as well, and I can’t even fathom it. We both went into some kind of weird zone.
“My fiancé is my groom and I knew he would be able to stay with me until the last minute so I asked him to remind me to stay with Arty, to not let him have to do it himself in there – and that was it.
“I’m going to bawl when I get back to the stables to see him,” Lyle said of Giraldo, who she’s had since he was four. “I’ve been emotional for days. It’s been a wild ride of feeling overwhelmed and then excited and nervous but I’ve just been trying to remind myself how lucky I am to have a horse like that.
“And I’ve got these amazing people that have been with me for this whole journey and they’re with me now,” Lyle added. “And even on social media, people are so lovely and I’m so grateful.
“Everything went according to plan, maybe with the slight exception being the halt, but the main content of the test, I was delighted with.”
When asked to describe Giraldo further, Lyle said: “To handle him, he’s so polite. He would never get in your space.
“He’s completely perfect in every way. He’s sweet, he’s sensitive. He just wants to please but he’s very much like me, he’s an internal worrier so I have to remember that. I have to get myself out of that to help him. I have to be like, ‘Hey, it’s okay.’
“I often wonder, is it me? We’ve been together nine years. Has he picked it up from me? We’re figuring it out together.
“He’s very good in an atmosphere. I knew I could trust him and that he wasn’t going to get overwhelmed and that they’d be fine if they were clapping.”
Relaying her overall Olympic experience, Lyle said spending time in the Olympic village has been “class”.
“I’ve been just walking around, getting a coffee. It’s unbelievable. I’m a 39-year-old equestrian so it’s one way to definitely make you feel old walking around the Olympic Village. There’s all these tall athletes and they’re just pure muscle and I’m like, ‘I ride horses!’ Yeah, it’s class.”
I’m not trying to be unfair or smart but it seems we did very poorly in the equestrian events considering we’re a horse mad nation and there’s loads of money spent/earned in this area. I do admit to knowing very little about show jumping etc. Is my impression wrong?
@Michael Corkery: our main strength is horse racing and show jumping. These have not happened yet. Oh, no racing at the Olympics! A great performance by the young lady who did her best for the country with a horse she obviously loves.
@Ben Breathnach: appreciate the informative reply. Thanks Ben. Look forward to see how we do in those events.