January 10, 2025 
Fresh off their first Olympic Games appearance together in Paris, American dressage rider Adrienne Lyle and her mount Helix topped the FEI World Cup Grand Prix on the fist day of this year’s Adequan Global Dressage Festival.
Lyle and Helix, a 13-year-old KWPN gelding (Apache x Jazz), would clinch the win with a margin of over three percentage points at the competition in Wellington, FL.
“It’s really good to be back here,” said Lyle. “It’s been nice to be home for a few months after Paris and to be able to relax and train without a big, looming deadline quite so close.”
Lyle’s score was a 74.065%, an unanimous win from the five judges in a class of 13. Germany’s Felicitas Hendricks and her 14-year-old Drombusch OLD Destano scored 70.913% for second. Sweden’s seven-time Olympian Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén finished third with Devanto, Lövsta Stuteri’s 16-year-old Holsteiner gelding by De Chirico, on 69.565%.
It was an unusually cold day in Florida, as a blast of arctic air from passing Midwest storms had lowered temperatures this week, but Lyle said Helix was unfazed.
“Conditions do not affect him at all,” she said. “It was 100 degrees in Paris and he was still hot to trot. Hot, cold, doesn’t matter—he’s ready to roll any day. Personally, I love it.”
Lyle has spent the last year competing with Helix, which gave them a tight window to qualify for the Paris Games. They made their international debut at this event last year, in late March.
“In our test today, I thought there were places we were able to show continued improvement in the self-carriage, and a better frame,” added Lyle, who trains with Debbie McDonald. “I thought the piaffe/passage felt good; a bit more powerful than the grand prix we had in Ocala in December. In the changes I felt like I could really relax and ride into them.”
Lyle said Helix’s willingness and adaptability has made him a trustworthy partner in their short time together.
“He’s a sensitive horse and he’s very hot in a good way,” she added. “He likes a routine, so I have to figure out what works for him and stick to it. If I do my job right, he does his and he doesn’t make mistakes, which is a pretty awesome quality to have in a horse. Now it’s a matter of building strength, improving the self-carriage and lengthening the neck. All of that will come from him getting stronger and carrying more weight on the hind legs. It just takes time.”
Lyle has not ruled out a run at qualifying for April’s 2025 FEI World Cup Final in Basel, Switzerland. She said they may also participate in the inaugural U.S. Equestrian Open of Dressage this year, which offers $200,000 in prize money. AGDF will host seven qualifiers ahead of the U.S. Equestrian Open of Dressage Final, which takes place in California in November.
“We will go step by step with Helix,” said Lyle, who will compete in the first ‘Friday Night Stars’ freestyle evening of the season under the lights on Jan. 10. “He’s still a relatively young grand prix horse with a lot of years left in him hopefully, so we’re just looking to keep slowly building him for the future.”
The Adequan Global Dressage Festival hosts seven weeks of CDI competition through March 30.
Stay tuned for more coverage from Wellington this season at horsenetwork.com
