Arguably, the Aachen World Equestrian Festival is the greatest horse show on earth. But Adrienne Lyle won’t be joining her U.S. Olympic dressage teammates there this week.
Instead, she’s staying at Swiss equestrian Daniel Ramseier’s farm in Germany to focus on working with her Games mount, Helix, as there is only a little more than three weeks to go before the opening ceremonies in Paris.
Adrienne Lyle and Helix. (Susan J. Stickle Photography)
“I think we can fine-tune little stuff to maybe bring the scores up a little bit,” Adrienne responded when asked what she would be doing with the 12-year-old by Apache. Since she started riding him only this year, she’s appreciative of any extra time she can have with Helix when a competition isn’t imminent.
It’s a nice opportunity, but she observed in the window available, “you’re not going to change dramatically the strength and the training and all that. So I really like to just maintain and perfect the little details. But we’re not going to introduce anything new or really challenging at this point.
“We want to grow his confidence and make it routine,” the two-time Olympian explained.
Chef d’Equipe Christine Traurig noted, “I supported that idea because I feel she has made such great progress on Helix that she now really focuses. It’s a very good strategy. We talk about these things and consider all aspects very carefully.”
Christine Traurig with Steffen Peters and U.S. Dressage Federation President George Williams. (Photo courtesy Christine Traurig)
She said plans are implemented “in consultation with the riders and the team around them, their personal trainers, coaches, home veterinarians, team vets and of course, the USEF staff.”
Meanwhile, Steffen Peters, who rode with Adrienne on the silver medal Tokyo Olympic team three years ago, will be participating Wednesday as an individual on Suppenkasper in the 4-star competition at Aachen during his preparation for Paris.
Adrienne’s other Games teammate, Marcus Orlob, will be on the U.S. Nations Cup squad in Aachen’s elite 5-star competition. He has had even less time with his horse, Alice Tarjan’s Jane, than Adrienne has had with hers. And it’s a comparable situation with Olympic traveling reserve rider Endel Ots and Zen Elite’s Bohemian, who belongs to the same stable as Helix.
He and Marcus will be joined on the Dutta Corp. team at Aachen by Pan American Games double medalist Anna Marek (Fire Fly) and Anna Buffini (Fiontini).
Aachen will have more atmosphere than any other competition experienced by Jane, who is only 10. But Adrienne noted that Helix’s resume included some big shows with his Swedish former rider, including Rotterdam in the Netherlands, so he knows about crowds She pointed out, however, that at Olympic Games, the crowd generally is seated further from the arena than in big stadiums like those in Aachen or Rotterdam. That would make fan presence less of a factor than in the other venues.
In the Olympic observation competitions, Adrienne and her mentor, Debbie McDonald, took care to make sure Helix didn’t startle.
“He is Dutch bred and can be a little looky,” she mentioned.
“We do a lot of groundwork with him. We knew it might rain at Kronberg (the venue for the final trial), so Debbie and I spent a lot of time doing umbrella training the week before — opening umbrellas next to the arena while I was riding and throwing tarps over the letter boxes (the markers around the arena).
“He got really comfortable with that and I was really glad. When we went in for the Grand Prix, it started to sprinkle and they threw a big rain jacket over the (video) camera. He took one look at it and said, `No big deal. I’ve been practicing that.’”
Helix has adjusted well to travel and his new crew.
“He enjoyed himself. We were all commenting on that at the last show,” Adrienne revealed.
“The more he’s kind of gotten to know us, the more his personality has come out. At the end of these long shows, some of these horses have this feeling of `Just leave me alone.’ ”
But not Helix.
“He still walks to the front of his stall, he’s still nuzzling whoever walks by. I think he enjoys the attention and enjoys being a show horse and having that much interaction with people,” Adrienne mused.
“He’s been going pretty strong since he arrived (in the U.S.) at the end of January. He’s had an intense spring and a lot of CDIs to complete for our initial qualifying, and then, of course, our trip to Europe.
“Right now, he’s having a week of down time, tack walking, trail riding a little light trot work to let him have a little rest and recovery and that’s why we chose not to do Aachen. He’s proven himself at many different venues. And he’s been very good about it. I thought it would be the best plan for him to get to rest a little bit and then focus on training.”
