THE Irish Field’s 2022 Dressage Rider of the Year, Abigail Lyle, scored a personal best of 75.555% with the 12-year-old KWPN gelding Giraldo for second place in the Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) class at the three-star show in Hartpury, Britain, last weekend.

Reflecting on her Freestyle, Lyle said: “I’m delighted, I had the absolute ride of my life and what an honour to ride in front of such a fun and up for it crowd in the indoor arena. It was such a cool atmosphere! It was a really long day. I competed a young horse at eight o’clock in the morning and I didn’t ride my Freestyle until 10pm.

“I kept Giraldo (Arty) fresh today just walking him. I decided to put my foot on the gas tonight. He was a little tight in the trot tour, so as soon as I hit canter I thought ‘Go for it! Let it out!’. I scored my first ever international nines and we ended up in second place with a personal best. Arty and I scored 75% at the London International World Cup show before Christmas. I was interviewed at The Irish Field awards earlier this year and said then there was more to come. Scoring 75% twice shows that we can go higher in the future and that is the plan.”

There were some technical issues with the music before Team Ireland rider Sorrell Klatzko’s Freestyle test. However, she maintained her concentration scoring an international personal best of 74.465% with the Totilas progeny Turbo to finish in the top five.

Lyle and the 12-year-old Fabregas gelding Farrell scored 69.213% for fifth place in the Grand Prix Special.