Bangor’s Abigail Lyle admits it has been a “very emotional” time over the last few days but is proud to have made her Olympics debut on 14-year-old Giraldo in Paris.
At the stunningly picturesque Palace of Versailles, Lyle would turn in a strong performance in the Dressage Individual Grand Prix heats, but her score of 69.441 was only good enough to finish sixth in her group.
That was not enough to see her into the Final but, nevertheless, she was delighted to get the chance to compete in France and to see Giraldo get his chance to shine.
“I had expectations – I wanted a comfortable, happy horse to do himself proud and take him home to look after him for the rest of his life, but here we are, with an amazing ride, in an amazing stadium, and I just can’t fathom it,” beamed Lyle.
“He was so comfortable in there – we both went into some sort of zone.
“I’ve been very emotional over the last few days, sometimes nervous, sometimes overwhelmed, but I’ve reminded myself that I’m so lucky to have such an incredible horse and such an incredible team around me.
“Everything went according to plan, maybe with the slight exception being the halt, but the main content of the test I was delighted with.”
Lyle’s performance on Giraldo – affectionately nicknamed ‘Arty’ – was almost inch perfect and her score reflected that, but the standard in the dressage was so high that it wasn’t enough to qualify.
Denmark’s Daniel Bachmann Andersen took top spot in Group B with a stunning score of 76.910, with Germany’s Frederic Wandres taking the second qualifying spot having scored 76.118.