IRISH Olympic dressage rider Abi Lyle’s foray into eventing is taking a forced pause after she fractured a vertebra in a fall this week. Lyle was training for an arena eventing competition with the dressage mare Francesca II, when she fell after a “massive buck”.

Lyle was having a jumping and cross-country lesson with Nigel Taylor at Aston le Walls when the fall happened. “We’d jumped the whole show jumping course, and I was halfway through the cross-country. She’d been jumping amazingly, and there’s a little hill where you go from one arena to the next. She surged up the hill, full of excitement, but when we got to the top, she threw in a massive buck and twisted to the right – and I just kept going straight!” she told Horse & Hound.

“It was one of those ones where as soon as I landed I thought ‘Oh, I don’t feel okay…’ So, I writhed around for a bit and I thought I was going to be sick.”

Lyle thought about driving the lorry home, but was very uncomfortable and was advised to go to the hospital, where it was discovered she has a stable fracture of her vertebra. “I’m still up and walking around. I’m waiting to hear from the spinal clinic about what the next steps are, but the doctor said I could be back in four to six weeks – so as far as these things go it’s not bad at all, but in the meantime I’m on box rest,” she added, despite fulfilling a trip to Amsterdam this weekend.

Lyle’s aim for the year was to do a BE80 and an Inter II on the mare and that is still the goal for when she gets back in the saddle.