Irish Olympian Abigail Lyle will be sidelined for a while after fracturing a vertebra falling off a horse riding cross country.
Dressage rider Lyle is a firm believer in bringing variety in dressage training and picked up a keen interest in three-day eventing. She has recently been training show jumping and cross country with Nigel Taylor at Aston Le Walls equestrian center.
On 21 January 2025 a cross country training session aboard small tour mare Francesca (by Franziskus x Sandro Hit) did not go as planned.
"I got bucked off going arena XC," she told Eurodressage. "She was going soooooo well too. I jumped the whole show jumping course, was halfway around the cross country course and there is a wee hill to canter up to get to the next arena, she galloped up the hill and when she got to the top she threw in a big buck and twisted to the right…I kept going straight," she added with a wink.
Lyle knew she hurt herself and was brought to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a fractured vertebra.
"It’s a stable fracture though so just a bit of rest and I’ll be grand," she said.
Abi should not ride for four to six weeks.
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