Lyndal Oatley and Elvive

Viva Elvive! Lyndal's new soulmate 

By Ellie Jolley

Lyndal Oatley’s Elvive has triumphantly burst onto the Grand Prix circuit, collecting a new personal best score for the European-based Australian at a national dressage show in Germany.

Lyndal Oatley’s 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare showed her outstanding potential for high-level competition scoring a massive 76.2 per cent to win her Grand Prix debut in Germany. If that performance is anything to indicate what Lyndal and Elvive are capable of achieving, the world may have just caught its first real glimpse of the Australian rider’s future Olympic champion.

Now home with husband, Swedish dressage rider Patrik Kittel, at their spectacular property, Eulenhof, in north-western Germany, Lyndal has had time for the extraordinary test sink in. “I was super thrilled and excited,” she says. “It’s really hard to get good scores nationally in Grand Prix in Germany. I don’t think even Patrik’s had 76 per cent in a national GP, particularly as a debut. But I wasn’t really thinking about the score… this mare’s my heart and soul and I’ve put everything into her.”

Lyndal and Patrik set out for the FEI Grand Prix at the Sportshorse Scholz Dressage Day at the start of March. Due to restrictions on numbers, this was the first time the couple had gone to a show on their own. “Patrik was groom, husband, and trainer which all the home team found hysterical!”...

Read the full article here in the April issue of Equestrian Life!