March 15, 2025 
At the 2024 Olympic Games, the story of Ecuador’s only dressage rider, Julio Mendoza Loor and his $20 horse dazzled audiences around the globe.
And Mendoza Loor would go on to a fairytale finish—he and Jewel’s Goldstrike, a 14-year-old gelding by Bretton Woods x Scandic, would score a 70%+ during his first ever Olympic performance, on his first ever trip to Europe. But Mendoza Loor’s success, who is based out of Tryon, N.C., was hardly a fluke.
He and Jewel’s Goldstrike won individual gold at the 2023 Pan American Games and last year, the pair were grand champion in the 4* Kur at the 2024 CDIO Aachen. Last night at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, they were hot on the heels of the Havensafe Farm CDI5* Grand Prix Freestyle winner Adrienne Lyle, scoring a 78.52% for second place.
“I’m always happy,” Mendoza Loor said. “If I have to lose against somebody, I’m happy to lose to Adrienne. This was our second show after the Olympics and it was very exciting. I’m so grateful to be competing in the five-star with mega riders and horses.”
Mendoza Loor competed this week hot off a CDI Freestyle win in Ocala earlier this month.
Lyle won the class with the 13-year-old gelding Helix, by Apache x Jazz, on a 80.6%. Anna Marek rode the Zizi Top gelding Fayvel to third place finish on a 77.135% score.
Lyle and Mendoza Loor went head-to-head the day before in the CDI5* Grand Prix at AGDF, with just 0.109 percentage points between them to settle the score. Lyle won on a 72.522% at their first five-star together, and their fourth show since the 2024 Olympics. Three of the five judges on Thursday placed Mendoza Loor first, setting the scene for the freestyle dance-off Friday night.
Mendoza Loor rode the freestyle to music which included the lyrics “Ecuador” by Sash!
“When I got him, I turned him out in the field to be a horse,” Mendoza Loor said about his horse. He acquired Jewel’s Goldstrike as an 8-year-old for just $20 because of his feisty nature.
“It took me a year and a half to be able to ride him, and he still lives out full-time. Right now I’m renting a field for him, not a stall, because he loves to live out. I’m not going to put him in a stall and take his happiness away for my ego.”
Week 10 of the AGDF hosted the only five-star dressage competition in the Western hemisphere, offering a total prize of $150,000. The class was also one of the 23 qualifiers held around the country for the inaugural season of the US Equestrian Open of Dressage, with the final set for November in California. Seven of the qualifying classes are held at AGDF. Marek sits atop the rankings with 88 points as of week 10, with Germans Evelyn Eger and Felicitas Hendricks in second and third.
