Adrienne Lyle and Harmony’s Duval in the Grand Prix

© Susan Stickle

The 2021 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) kicked off its tenth season at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington, Florida, on Thursday January 14. The first week of AGDF continues through Sunday, January 17, and the circuit hosts 10 weeks of international and national dressage competition until April 4.

On day 1 Adrienne Lyle (USA) and Harmony’s Duval were victorious in the FEI Grand Prix CDI3*, presented by Harmony Sporthorses. Lyle and the 13-year-old KWPN gelding by Rosseau owned by Duval Partners LLC have been dominating in the Global Stadium at PBIEC lately, coming off of a double victory weekend in December. The pair’s winning streak continued on Saturday with victory in the FEI Grand Prix Special CDI3*, also presented by Harmony Sporthorses.

“I was quite happy with him,” said Lyle after her first win, which resulted in a score of 71.304%. “He’s a little more nervous than I was anticipating. I don’t know if it’s the cooler weather or what, but he was a little on edge, which is interesting because we’ve shown here plenty of times before. There was a bit of a different horse in there today. We lost a few points in our piaffe and passage, were lacking a bit of harmony and elastic energy, and that can be such a highlight for him. Now we take this, and we move on to the Grand Prix Special. That’s a test that really counts for us, but this was a good starting place.”

Adrienne Lyle and Harmony’s Duval in their awards presentation with Judge at C Cesar Torrente and Caitlin Lane of AGDF.

© Susan Stickle

The gelding has now marked seven wins in his last 14 starts, and Lyle hopes to continue on and refine their work this season. “With him,” she explained, “this is his second year at the Grand Prix. He knows his stuff now, but we’ve been trying to polish it all up. We’ve done a lot of halt rein-back, a lot of cantering and halting, [and] just a lot of work with halts because he’s not a huge fan of them, so we’ve worked on those moments where he could possibly get distracted and lose points.”

She continued, “We’re focusing on the Special with him this year. We’ve chosen not to focus on the Freestyle or World Cup Qualifiers in hopes of making the short list to go to Europe with him. We have a wonderful group of owners who are supporting us, and we’ll just keep on enjoying the season for now.”

Despite plenty of training time at home due to the global pandemic, Lyle is excited to have Duval back in competition, and admitted that the break wasn’t as beneficial for him as it was for others.

“We had time to train at home due to COVID, but it wasn’t a big advantage because he is a horse that needs to be exposed, out, and doing something,” she noted. “To sit at home all summer, it was a bit difficult to get his mind back into it, but his strength in the collection work is continuing to improve. His overall rideability has always been the biggest focus with him because he can get a little distracted.”

Second place in the FEI Grand Prix CDI3* was captured by Susan Pape (GBR) on Harmony’s Eclectisch, Harmony Sporthorses’ 12-year-old KWPN stallion by Zenon, earning a 70.522%. Third place went to Jennifer Williams (USA) on Millione, Millione Partners’ 18-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding by Milan (70.456%).

Adrienne Lyle and Harmony’s Duval went on to score 74.830% in Saturday’s FEI Grand Prix Special, three percentage points above second-place finisher Jennifer Williams, who earned a personal best score (72.192%) with Millione, an 18-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding by Milan owned by Millione Partners. Third place went to Susan Pape (GBR) on Harmony’s Eclectisch, Harmony Sporthorses’ 12-year-old KWPN stallion by Zenon, who received a 71.724% from judges.

Adrienne Lyle and Harmony's Duval in the Grand Prix Special

© Susan Stickle

“He felt much more comfortable in his own skin today,” said Lyle after her ride in the Grand Prix Special. “I was really happy with him. He felt much softer in his back, and the connection through the ride was a lot better than in our test on Thursday. He was really able to show off some of his highlights today, and I’m thrilled with the overall performance.”

“He’s always had a lot of talent for the collected work,” she continued, “the piaffe, passage, pirouettes. When he’s nice and supple and happy like he was today, he really shows it off nicely. With him, we’re always trying to find ways to keep him relaxed mentally in his work. He tries very hard, and we always work to keep a very clear understanding between us about what I’m asking of him.”

After two successful competition weeks (AGDF 1 and competition at the AGDF venue in December) Lyle does not have a definitive plan as to when the pair will compete next, but intends to give Duval a chance to have a bit of fun. “He has done so well, and we won’t train super hard in between shows,” she said. “He gets to go home and have a little bit of fun!”

On Day 2 Olivia LaGoy-Weltz (USA) and Rassing’s Lonoir bested an impressive lineup of riders in the day’s FEI Grand Prix CDI-W, presented by Lövsta.

In their first international competition since February 2020, LaGoy-Weltz and the 17-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding (by De Noir 3) owned by LaGoy-Weltz and Mary Anne McPhail came out on top, earning a score of 73.978%. Second place in the class went to Great Britain’s Susan Pape on Harmony’s Don Noblesse, Harmony Sporthorses’ 14-year-old Hanoverian stallion by Dancier, who ended with a 73.022%. Third place was awarded to Yvonne Losos De Muniz (DOM) on Aquamarijn, her own 16-year-old KWPN mare by United, earning a 71.717%.

Olivia Lagoy-Weltz and Rassing's Lonoir at the 2021 CDI-W Wellington 

© Sue Stickle

“I’m really happy with how this has started off,” began LaGoy-Weltz. “We went out and rode in a national competition last week, and it was harmonious, but plain. It served its purpose to go out and ‘shake out the bats,’ and that’s part of the strategy. We’ve been trying to push it to the next level with Lonoir. I’ve kept him quiet for so many years, but there is a lot of horse in there. The goal was to push that more today; we did, [but] we had a few costly bobbles in the zigzag and in the pirouette. We can fix that next time. I know that [coaches] Debbie [McDonald], Ali [Brock], and Charlotte [Bredahl] say that he has never looked better. That’s a good place to start, so we want to keep going from there.”

LaGoy-Weltz and the gelding enjoyed some downtime this summer when major shows were put on hold, hacking and waiting for competition to resume. “After everything came to a screeching halt last year,” she explained, “we finished in such a good place and were like, ‘Now what?’  With a 16, coming 17-year-old horse, we didn’t want to keep him in that spot all summer long, so we did a lot of working on things but also a lot of hacking and hills, with a goal to ramp back up slowly down here. So far it seems to be going okay!”

As the duo prepares for the remainder of the season and beyond, LaGoy-Weltz is planning accordingly with her team, including coaches Debbie McDonald and Allison Brock. “The plan is to keep options open and pick what is right for Lonoir,” she said. “You never know what is going to happen these days [due to COVID], so we are keeping it open. We will switch over to some Grand Prix Specials eventually. We just have to determine whether it’s for the four star, or if we are going to wait for the five star, and then decide what we really want to do.”

She concluded, “Ali stops by in the afternoons once a week, and we take that and check in with Debbie, so Debbie is very much still a part of our work. They’re both amazing and work so well together. Everyone ultimately wants the same thing: more up, more sit, more hind legs, more elasticity, more perfection!”

The first week of AGDF concludes on Sunday, January 17, and the circuit hosts 10 weeks of international and national dressage competition until April 4. Free live streaming and on-demand of select classes are available to view at GlobalDressageFestival.com.

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