Giraldo – meet the Paris-bound star flying the flag for Irish dressage

Successful grand prix dressage horse Giraldo – who is known as Arty at home – is Abi Lyle and Ireland’s leading light in the sport.

It’s been a whirlwind climb to the top for the combination who are set to compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics as Ireland’s sole Olympic dressage representatives. Their success seems to take even Abi aback sometimes.

“When I moved to England in 2009 my ultimate goal was to do a PSG [prix st georges],” she explains. “But now here we are, preparing to compete in Paris – even if sometimes I still feel like a wee happy hacker.”

Giraldo’s early years

Giraldo (Rousseau x Flemmingh) was bred by Leon Eggink and his grandfather Gerrit Eggink in the Netherlands.

“To be honest as a foal Arty looked a bit normal,” Leon tells Horse & Hound. “His confirmation was good but he would never trot in the field – he just liked to canter everywhere!

“After being turned away for a couple of years he eventually decided to trot and he looked amazing so we took him to the KWPN stallion licensing.”

Giraldo made the second round but was sold to prominent Dutch stud owner Joop van Uytert after the first viewing.

“In the end, he didn’t become a licensed stallion but my grandfather always loved his breeding and was sure he’d become a grand prix horse,” adds Leon.

Giraldo was later bought at auction by Lotty Chatterton who then gave the ride to Abi – who at that point was still quite inexperienced.

“I was at Talland Equestrian and she had seen me seen me ride a tricky young horse and liked how I handled it,” explains Abi.

“I was still very new to the gig so I bit her arm off. It’s cool because people think you must have been successful in getting good rides whereas she’d seen me getting squashed against a wall and took a chance on me!”

The pair made their debut in the four-year-old class at Somerford Park Premier League scoring 70.8%.

Abi Lyle: “With a little help from Barclay’s bank, I bought him”

When Giraldo was six years old, Lotty decided to sell him.

“I couldn’t give him up so with a little help from Barclay’s bank, I bought him,” Abi laughs.

“I didn’t even give it that much thought as to whether he was going to get to grand prix – to me he was perfect and even if he hadn’t made it I probably wouldn’t have cared.”

It was at that point that Giraldo began to come into his own. He made his debut at advanced medium and with Abi became the first combination to represent Ireland at the World Championships for Young Horses.

Leon explains that he hadn’t heard anything about Giraldo for years until he got an email saying that he’d been selected for the championships.

“I saw that Abi was the rider so I reached out to her and from then we’ve developed this amazing relationship where we now speak together every day which I think is quite rare for a breeder and a rider,” he adds.

Abi and Giraldo continued to progress through the levels and made their grand prix debut in 2021 at Alnwick Ford Equestrian – winning the class with 66.7%.

Their international debut came later that year, where they scored 64.8% at Keysoe CDI3*.

Giraldo breaks new ground

2022 was an outstanding year for the combination. Together, they won national grand prix classes at Vale View Equestrian Centre (70.43%) and Alnwick Ford (70.54%) before competing in CDIs at Keysoe, Compiègne, Wellington and Hartpury.

Their consistency saw them selected as part of the Irish team for the World Championships in Herning – Ireland’s first championship dressage team since 2019 and Abi’s championship debut.

Despite a few mistakes in their grand prix test, the pair showed some lovely work, including a smart halt and rein-back, a flowing canter zig-zag and a real boldness in their extensions to score 65.71%.

“I’m really happy with him. I can’t ask for any more,” said Abi following her test. “He’s young, I’m not experienced at this, so yes – it would have been nice to come and get more like a score like we’ve been getting the rest of the season.

“But he’s never been anywhere like that, I’ve never been anywhere like this, so it’s just going to take time for us. And I love him more than anything in the world. I just adore him, he’s the love of my life.”

The pair went on to score a personal best of 70.39% in the grand prix at the London International Horse Show – breaking the 70% barrier for the first time.

“I’ve been alive for roughly 13,673 days. Today was the best one so far,” she told H&H at the time.

“It’s an absolutely amazing place [to get a personal best] and I’m just so proud of Arty. He has been so chilled here, relaxing, eating, drinking. As we trotted in I told myself to just trust him, that it would be fine, and it was.”

“I was really happy with the walk – I wasn’t sure if the atmosphere would make Arty walk too short, but he took the rein and that makes me feel confident there’s more to come. And the audience were so fun. Before I went in someone shouted ‘Go on Abi’ and that gave me such a buzz.”

The pair took it up a notch the following night, scoring 75.25% to finish 10th in the freestyle.

Abi Lyle: “It’s beyond my wildest dreams”

Since then the combination has continued to improve. They set a new personal best of 75.55% in the freestyle at Hartpury CDI3* in 2023 and won their first international class together at Addington CDI3* in 2024.

“He’s always been a lovely horse all the way through the levels,” five-star judge Peter Storr tells H&H. “What Abi has done with him is a testament to what you can achieve with hard work, focus and determination.”

“He’s very well-rounded and doesn’t have any obvious weaknesses.”

Peter adds: “It’s one thing to train a horse to grand prix but to improve them once they’re there is more challenging and it comes down to training and riding – and that’s what Abi’s been successful at.”

As the leading Irish combination, they were selected as the nation’s individual Paris 2024 Olympic dressage contender.

“It’s so hard to put into words what this means,” Abi said following selection. “To say that [the] Olympics was beyond my wildest dreams is a teeny understatement!

“So many people have led me, propped me up, walked beside me and contributed in so many ways to get to this. There are so many to thank! But the first and most important to thank is Arty.

“Arty, you have no idea what you’ve done for me and I’ll spend the rest of our lives making sure you feel like the most loved horse in the world and that you never ever want for anything.”

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