IRISH Olympian Abigail Lyle will not compete at the 2025 FEI Dressage European Championship. With her Paris Olympic mount Giraldo, they are the only Irish horse and rider combination with a MER qualification for the Europeans at present. Their last international outing was at the Paris Olympic Games.

Speaking on her social media this week, Abi said she is not aiming at the event due to finding 2024 “so tough mentally. As wonderful as it was, I was absolutely wrecked [after last year]. I had the whole business with the [Jonathan Creswell] murder trial… so not just because of the Olympics.

“I just wanted to spend this year getting myself into a good place and enjoying the horses,” she added. “I know I am so lucky to have two horses at the level fit and healthy but, at the end of the day, they don’t mind if they do the Europeans or not. I’m glad with the decision and feel like I really want to get back in the ring at Grand Prix, whereas at the start of the year I couldn’t think of anything worse.”

Abi spent six weeks out of the saddle following a fall while cross-country schooling in January which resulted in a fractured vertebra.