IRELAND’s sole Olympic dressage rider, Abigail Lyle was overcome with emotion and joy after completing her Grand Prix test at the Paris Olympic Games today (Tuesday).

Riding the 13-year-old gelding Giraldo, the pair produced a superb clean test to score 69.441% and finish sixth of the 10 combinations in Group B. “I had expectations and my expectations were actually incredibly low. I just thought I love my horse and I want to be able to come out here with a happy, comfortable horse and take him home and look after him for the rest of his life. So here we are, but with an amazing ride as well. I can't even fathom it,” a delighted Lyle commented afterwards.

Speaking about her test and staying with the horse the whole way through, Lyle said: “I got my ones [time changes] and, after my ones, I thought ‘I don't care what else happens’, then I turned down the centre line and went ‘No, you've got pirouettes, so you'd better care’. And then I did those and then I thought, now I don't care what happens! So, when I came down the final centre line, I thought, I'm just going to be fine. So yeah, I probably did really take my relief moment then when we halted.”

Speaking so positively about the experience, she said: “I am going to bawl (crying) when I go back to the stable. I've been emotional for days. It's been a wild ride, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and then excited and nervous, but I’m trying to remind myself how lucky I am to have a horse like that and he's mine.

“I've got these amazing people that have been with me for this whole journey and even just people on social media that have just been so lovely. I just feel so grateful.”

Lyle was warmed up for her test by Britain's Gareth Hughes and is supported at the Games by her fiancé Mark Vicar, who is also her groom, high performance director Anne Marie Dunphy and a large group of family and friends.

Hester emotional

Britain's seven-time Olympian, Carl Hester got his nation underway in the dressage when riding in Group A this morning, with the 14-year-old stallion Fame. They finished with a score of 77.345%, which saw them third in the strongest group of the day. That means he will not qualify for the Freestyle as one of the top two in the group, however, his score should easily be enough to see him through as one of the six next highest overall scores.

After a turbulent week, which saw his teammate and friend Charlotte Dujardin withdraw from the Games and was then temporarily banned from the sport, Hester said: "I’m here, I haven't seen her, but I know that things are very difficult. She’s a mother, she has a child at home. She's paid very heavily for this in a way that you just wouldn't believe. But she's surrounded by people that are trying to help her.

"She obviously accepts what she did, which she had to do, and I'm glad she's done that for her. This is four years ago, people do make mistakes. Right now, it's going to be a long road for her and a lesson for everybody, we have to put the horses first."

Hester’s teammate Becky Moody made her Olympic debut, after being called in for Dujardin, and riding her home-bred 10-year-old gelding Jagerbomb, she topped Group C with a score of 74.31%.

“He's so special to me,” Moody said. “I bred him, so we have done everything together. And yeah, I think we both went in there a little bit nervous and apprehensive, but we helped each other out. And I'm just so proud of him."

Qualification system

The FEI Grand Prix test, in which all athletes must participate, is a qualifier for both the team (Grand Prix Special) and individual competition (Grand Prix Freestyle).

Athletes compete in six groups, with three groups competing on each day. The composition of the groups is based on the FEI World Ranking list position of the horse on the date of definite entries. The top two riders from each group go through to the Freestyle individual final, as well as the next best six across the competition.

With the first three groups performing their Grand Prix tests today, the qualifiers so far are Denmark’s Nanna Merrald Skodborg (Zepter) and The Netherlands’ Dinja van Liere (Hermes) from Group A; Denmark's Daniel Bachmann Andersen (Vayron) and Germany’s Frederic Wandres (Bluetooth OLD) from Group B; Britain’s Becky Moody (Jagerbomb) and Sweden’s Patrik Kittel (Touchdown) from Group C.

After tomorrow's second Grand Prix competition, the competition will begin to take shape.

Results from day one of the Grand Prix test here.

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