2025 proved to be a year of transition for Irish international dressage. The year started with the news in January that Irish Olympian Abi Lyle sustained a fractured vertebrae when she was bucked off halfway around an arena eventing cross-country course. In April, Horse Sport Ireland announced that Anne Marie Dunphy would continue at the helm of youth and senior dressage as High Performance Manager.

In May, Rio Olympics’ finalist Judy Reynolds confirmed the 14-year-old Fuerstenball Old gelding For Fun 51 (‘Fritzi’) had been sold to Switzerland. Abi Lyle would subsequently announce in June that she would not be competing at the FEI Dressage European Championships with her Paris Olympics Games partner Giraldo. This news really heralded a period of transition for Irish international dressage. For the first time in over two decades, none of the ‘Girls in Green’ quartet that qualified Ireland for the Tokyo Olympics - Anna Merveldt, Heike Holstein, Kate Dwyer and Judy Reynolds - along with Abi Lyle, would compete at international level in 2025. It was clear that for a small dressage nation like Ireland, it would be an uphill task on the world stage in the 2025 season.

Championship concern

Probably the biggest concern for Team Ireland is, that apart from Abi Lyle and Giraldo, no Irish horse and rider combination achieved the FEI MER (Minimum Eligibility Requirement) scores for the 2025 FEI Dressage European Championship in Crozet, France. Once Abi Lyle withdrew, it meant that Ireland would not be represented at a European Championship for the first time since 2017. In the sport of dressage, the FEI world ranking athlete points are awarded on the score achieved and not on class placings. They cover a period of eight months and not 12 as with the comparable eventing and jumping rankings. With the best six scores counting, there were just three Irish horse and rider combinations, out of a total of 331, in the CDI3*/CDIO3* and above world athlete rankings published in December 2025.

Dutch-based Jennifer Harnett and her 16-year-old Lusitano stallion Eximio were the highest-ranked Irish combination at 174th. Harnett placed third in the Grand Prix Special with Eximio on a score of 65.447% at the three-star show in Jardy, France, in June. Italian resident James Connor and the 12-year-old Westphalian gelding Vanotti made their international debut as a combination, scoring 65.783% for fifth place in the CDI3* Grand Prix in San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy, in February. They went one better at the same venue for fourth place in the Grand Prix Special on a 66.085% total.

Former 2022 Team Ireland World Championship rider Alex Baker returned to international action after three years, placing sixth in the Intermediate I class in Herning. Denmark with Elverhojs Polka Royal on their CDI1* debut as a combination. Baker and the 11-year-old Danish Warmblood mare scored 68.088% for fourth place in the Prix St Georges class at Aalborg CDI1* in Denmark in May. Having spent over two years riding at Helgstrand Dressage in Denmark, Alex was appointed head rider at Newton Stud in Great Britain in July. Now training with Isobel Wessels, Alex and the Totilas progeny Top Gear made her national big tour debut as a combination in the Grand Prix at Hartpury in November scoring 71.82%.

Juniors

At underage level, only a handful of Irish combinations achieved MERs for the European Championships. Ultimately, Ireland would only have two representatives at the FEI European Championships for ponies and children in Le Mans, France in July. That number was reduced to one when Millie Cosgrave withdrew Let’s Dance from the Children on Horses section on veterinary advice, after her mount was found not to be 100 per cent. Kate Murphy and the 15-year-old Westphalian gelding Top Hero 2 scored 62.943% for 32nd place in the Pony Team Competition and 61.162% for 36th place in the individual competition. In advance of the pony Europeans, Murphy completed a great show at the Haras de Jardy showgrounds in France in June. The Irish rider scored 68.825% with Top Hero 2 for third place in the FEI Pony Freestyle to Music class. Kate also placed second in the FEI Pony Individual class and third in the FEI Pony Team Test class. The previous month, Millie Cosgrave won the Preliminary Competition scoring 71.322% with Let’s Dance at the Children on Horses international show in Addington, Great Britain.

Kate Murphy and Top Hero 2 were third in the Pony Freestyle to Music class, second in the FEI Pony Individual class and third in the FEI Pony Team Test class at the Haras de Jardy showgrounds in France in June

New champion

After a torrid 2024, the mood music for international dressage was slightly more harmonious in 2025. The FEI Dressage European Championships in Crozet, France saw a new champion crowned in Justin Verboomen with Zonik Plus, a landmark moment for Belgian dressage. The new world number one brought some much-needed fresh blood to the top echelons of the sport this year. For Irish riders, there was positive news when it was announced that international dressage would return to Hickstead, Great Britain in 2026. Moscow-born Palestinian international rider Diana al Shaer won the vote to become chair of the FEI Dressage Committee at the November 2025 FEI General Assembly in Hong Kong, succeeding Mexico’s Maribel Alonso who declined to run for a second term. The new chair will be working alongside Ireland’s Ronan Murphy, the FEI Director for Dressage, Para Dressage and Vaulting, in the new Olympic cycle.

In the 2024 review, this writer noted that the high performance stand-off involving Horse Sport Ireland and the affiliates was not helping Irish international dressage. Sadly, all parties are now further apart than ever. At the time of writing, no Irish horse and rider combination has achieved an MER (Minimum Eligibility Requirement) for the 2026 FEI Dressage World Senior Championship in Aachen, Germany, which is the first team qualification event for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. This is a significant challenge for the HSI High Performance Dressage Manager. On a brighter note, Abi Lyle was voted the winner of the 2025 Horse & Hound ‘Inspiration of the Year’ award in November. In addition to her dressage prowess and having come back to the sport this year from a broken back, Abi has been an outspoken advocate for victims of domestic violence, having been a victim herself in the past. Speaking to MC John Kyle at the awards ceremony, she confirmed that she would be “back in the game for 2026, with a world championship to look forward to”.

Looking forward

So where to now for Irish international dressage? An in-person presentation to Irish international athletes took place in December to launch the Horse Sport Ireland 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games roadmap. The international qualification criteria published by HSI in November states that for all qualifying scores ‘athletes must ensure scores are achieved while compliant with all current FEI tack and equipment regulations for the relevant level and without a whip’. This change brings the national qualifying criteria into line with international class participation rules, where whips are not allowed. Each athlete will have to abide by a structured international competition schedule agreed with the High Performance Manager as part of their IAPP (Individual Athlete Performance Plan). There will be a focus on transitioning promising young riders to the senior ranks and expanding the overseas search for horses and riders of a suitable standard to declare and compete for Ireland alongside the current Team Ireland squad. With the Olympic qualification clock ticking down relentlessly, here’s hoping for a brighter future for Irish international dressage in 2026.