Lyndal Oatley is no stranger to major championships, having competed at two Olympic Games and a World Equestrian Games prior to the 2022 FEI World Championships in Herning. No matter the level, dressage has a knack for producing curve balls and as Lyndal explains, you never know when the next one may present itself.

At Herning, Lyndal and Eros produced a fantastic Grand Prix test for the Australian team, scoring 72.189% for 25^th place – not only helping the Aussies to secure a start at the Paris Olympics, but also qualifying the pair for the Grand Prix Special. Unfortunately, their World Championship rollercoaster took a downward turn following the highs reached on day one, and they were belled out in the final stages of the Special. Anyone involved with horses knows there are inevitable ups and downs, but as Lyndal explains to Roger Fitzhardinge, at the end of the day the main thing is that our equine partners are happy and healthy. Once that’s established, it’s a matter of figuring out how to grow from the experience and look ahead to the future.

ROGER: What were your thoughts when you were selected on the Australian team?

LYNDAL: When I heard I’d made the team, my feeling was ‘let’s go!’ I feel like it takes forever to get to a championship once you’ve been told you’re on the team. I was really excited. I thought it was such a fresh, exciting team with some new blood coming in, and I thought it would be a really solid team that could achieve the results that we needed to get us to Paris. I knew my teammates on and off the horse, and I thought that we would have a good time and really bond. And we did that.

ROGER: What was the feeling when you got to Herning and began training before the first competition?

LYNDAL: The lead up went brilliantly. I got to the show and Ross settled in brilliantly. The first training session in the main arena went really well. He coped with the size, the displays, the cameras, the flowers and all the huts… that was all a new experience, and he coped brilliantly. I actually felt like everything was in place to do a really good job and that I’d timed everything well, and that’s what I really wanted to do, to make sure we did a really good Grand Prix.

ROGER: It was a great Grand Prix test with no mistakes. How did you think things were travelling afterwards?

LYNDAL: I was hugely proud because there’s been a journey with Ross; he was the horse I bought to come back into the sport after having (daughter) Emelia. I never had huge expectations or goals at that point with him. I just really wanted to have that journey again, to start riding and competing… and wherever that led would be great. I never anticipated to do a World Championships.

As you well know, he has had some issues with being scared of noises and crowds! At CHIO Aachen (just prior to the World Championships) he’d coped so well with that, so I thought, ‘okay, let’s give this a go’. I went in (to ride the Grand Prix) and the crowd clapped, and I thought, ‘no, you’re really with me’. I felt like he was going to give me a good ride. From start to finish, it probably was one of the best ridden tests I’ve ever had, where I’ve done my job really well. I’d prepared everything well, kept the tempos good… I’d fought where I could for the marks, and I was consistent where I needed to be. And Ross stayed with me and fought with me, which was such a nice feeling.

At the last extended trot, I actually smiled and laughed out loud because he actually really fought in that extended trot. It was such a rewarding feeling to think we’d come so far as a partnership, and him as a horse to have him feel confident enough to do that in the ring and cope with everything was amazing. When he halted, I was so focused on my job, and then I was ready in case the crowd was louder than I anticipated, but he actually coped with that. He was perfect. I came out of that arena immensely proud of how he coped and how much he developed. That was why I had my wide range of emotions, more so not because of the score, but because it was a pinnacle point of our career. He gave me his everything in that test in terms of competition and also coping.

ROGER: Was it hard not having your parents there on this occasion?

LYNDAL: It was my first major championship without my parents attending, and I won’t lie, I felt that – and I know they felt it too. It’s not easy. I’m lucky I have people like you and people that have always been on my journey and in my corner for so long; I didn’t feel alone. However, I’ve done this from the beginning with my parents, even since I’ve been over here; Mum believed in me so much with this journey with Ross and was so patient and understanding that he needed the development and the time and the confidence, and that takes a certain type of riding and a certain type of journey.

This was also my first championship with Emelia; when it’s a championship, and (husband) Patrik (Kittel) is with Sweden, you have to be in two different camps, keep everybody happy and do your job as part of your team to support the other riders. It takes a village and so with Ems it was complicated, but we made it work… but I was exhausted!

ROGER: How did it feel to make the Special?

LYNDAL: It was a bit of a shock because the main focus was for us to help qualify Australia for Paris. That was my top priority, and one of the reasons why I chose Ross over Ellie (Elvive) was because I knew that he’d fight to do that Grand Prix really well.

Maybe it was my mistake, but I didn’t think of what was ahead. I just put everything into that Grand Prix test, so I knew that I’d given my best to help our team make Paris. And then I also supported Simone Pearce with her job as the final team rider that day.

I felt there was a small chance I’d make the Special, but not a high chance, and I wasn’t that prepared, if I’m honest. I’ve done a few of the movements and the basics, but the Special takes so much power and a lot of transitions. To have that the day after a Grand Prix, when you put everything into your Grand Prix… it was going to be a challenge.

ROGER: So how many Grand Prix Specials would you have ridden with Ross?

LYNDAL: Only four. His strengths are in his canter tour and his piaffe/passage, and this test is predominantly trot with a lot of transitions and a lot of extensions, and that is not his strength. To be prepared for that sort of test and have that much power needed, to be honest, a day off between would’ve been helpful.

ROGER: Your preparation and warm-up heading into the Grand Prix Special, how did it feel?

LYNDAL: Ross was great actually; he warmed up really well. I shortened the warm-up slightly so I’d have a little bit more power, because it was only 24 hours between the tests. He felt great: on the aids; the trot felt good; the canter felt very strong; and the piaffe/passage was actually really good in the warm-up. I felt like we could do a good job.

I was the first after the break and I came into the arena and through that tunnel, and everybody started clapping. I was after the break in the Grand Prix as well, but nobody clapped until they said our names and our country. But this time, I think a lot of people got a bit excited about Ross and so there was a lot of interest after the Grand Prix. I think people got a bit excited and they clapped a lot more coming in for the Special; for a few seconds Ross felt proud, and then after those few seconds, I felt him become quite introverted.

I thought, ‘uh oh, this has become something that he’s internalised’. I realised that I had a whole new ball game on my hands that I had never experienced with him. I thought, ‘okay, let’s canter’. I tried to get him to breathe and make him feel more confident in that arena, but I knew when the clapping was still going on that I would have a very different ride from the Grand Prix and that it would take a lot of skill from me to help him come out of his shell.

ROGER: How did the test feel from your perspective?

LYNDAL: The moment I went up that centreline and into halt, I knew I had a different scenario that I hadn’t prepared for, because he’s never internalised anything before like he did with that clapping.

I think the day before, where he seemed to cope so well, that actually his way of coping with that too was to internalise all of it. Consequently, the clapping immediately put him back into that phase, but with a tired mind and a tired body. So he locked through his body, through his jaw, through his poll and he drove down onto the bit and there wasn’t a lot I could do.

I really tried to give the rein, I tried to encourage him to be in front of my leg more, I tried everything I knew. Unfortunately, he wasn’t coming to the party mentally or emotionally, he was just wanting to hide. I did the best I could; I did feel that he was a bit stuck, for sure. But then as the test progressed, I felt he got better and he did a really nice right half-pass in trot, which had nice flow and that transition felt good into passage. And then it continued into the piaffe/passage, and he started getting his rhythm back. Okay, his frame wasn’t as secure as normal, but I felt like I was getting him to start breathing a little bit more and being more comfortable in that arena.

Then the canter tour, we made no mistakes. It was a little bit too low on the forehand and a little bit stiff for sure, but we did good pirouettes and good changes. The sequence changes between the pirouettes felt very good and straight. The transition into canter was really nice. There were moments when I started to feel like it he was beginning to feel more comfortable in there and not like he needed to hide.

ROGER: And then there was the transition from canter to trot and then down the long side in extended trot near the end of the test…

LYNDAL: It was hard. I’ve never been in that situation and I don’t think you’re prepared for this sort of thing or plan for it. I came into trot and was like, ‘oh, thank goodness, we’ve made it through’. And I started to feel him breathe a little bit at that point, so I pushed him a little bit more in the extended trot, just to see if he’d feel a bit more confident and start to show himself.

And then the bell rang, and my first instinct was thinking, had I gone the wrong way? Had he nipped himself or trodden on himself? So I’m quickly looking to both sides. I was aware that the rhythm wasn’t ideal at times, but it wasn’t a consistent problem. I wasn’t sure what it appeared to look like versus what my feeling was. So I went up to the judge and she said, ‘I think you felt it, that there were rhythm issues at times?’ What can you say? Yes, there was. So I nodded and I left the arena, and I felt a very deflated little pony under me, it was a sad moment.

I actually would’ve understood (hearing the bell) more in the trot at the beginning, because that’s where I felt he showed some rhythm issues more, when he was tight. I felt that, so I would’ve understood it there. But I suppose the judge made a decision, and maybe she felt after the canter it was going to get better and maybe in her mind it wasn’t good enough. I have to accept that decision and that’s dressage; it is what it is.

At that point, the most important thing was to make sure that Ross was okay. I needed to be back in the stable and with the vets and physio just to check and make sure he was okay. Our team vet wasn’t concerned about the soundness of the horse because he watched him the entire warm-up; he and our Chef d’Equipe and all of us felt the same thing, that he just became introverted and lost power after giving his all the day before.

I would never want to put a horse in a situation that’s not ideal where he can’t perform and be healthy and happy. Thankfully he was fine, so that was a relief. The physio felt that he was a bit tighter in the neck, so we worked on that in the afternoon and then he had a day off and I stretched him the day after to make sure he was fine, and he was perfect. He was his total normal self: bright, alert, cheeky and really fresh on his feet. So I knew that it wasn’t a lameness thing or anything like that. It was more just a coping mechanism, and something that I now need to learn to address in the future.

ROGER: And how did you cope mentally with the situation?

LYNDAL: In a championship position, I’ve learned that you need to put your personal emotions aside quite quickly. Because first of all, it’s not about me. It’s about the horse. Second of all, once the horse is fine and everything’s okay, then my job is to be a supportive team member. In this case, it was for Simone, because she was going into the arena. I didn’t want my emotions or concern to affect her. And then after that, Patrik was going straight away to do his Special. My focus had to be to put my emotions to the side and be a supportive teammate and wife. That meant me being very there in ‘the here and the now’.

My focus then went to, what would I do differently? How will I prepare better in the future in these situations? I need to keep that in mind now for the future, if he does do a cracker of a Grand Prix, then the Special is a high possibility. When I’d ridden in Aachen he had a day off between the Grand Prix and the Special, and he was great. So I might prepare a little bit differently in the future… perhaps I need to give him another day off during the week if I need to prepare for the Special as well.

When I got back home, for sure I felt more the deflation of it all and the reality of it, but at the same time I look at him and he is happy and healthy and it’s just one moment in time when things didn’t go my way. But wow, we had a great Grand Prix and Australia is qualified for the Olympics. As long as he’s healthy and happy, then it’s just one moment in his career and it won’t be a defining one if I have my way!

ROGER: What’s next for Ross?

LYNDAL: At the moment he feels great, and I’m thinking about the World Cup season. I’m going to try and train him to better cope with the crowds. I won’t go straight away and throw him into one of the bigger World Cup shows. I’ll take him to something smaller and then just chip away at it, and make sure that every experience I’m giving him will be something that will help him develop his confidence.

Originally when people were clapping he would bolt, so at Herning I more expected that outcome, but instead he took it internally. So in one way I’m proud of him for coping better, but in another way, that gave me a whole other challenge that I wasn’t prepared for. He’s never reacted in such a way and it’s a massive learning curve… you can’t predict where and when you’ll get these learning curves.”

STRAIGHT SHOOTER

Lyndal Oatley has always been a straight shooter and to talk to her about such an up and then down championships, and to hear her honest and heartfelt response for the world to know her feelings, is quite remarkable. Her attitude is simply endearing, and she has an amazing ability to keep to the reality of each day and evolving situations and stay positive at all times.

Lyndal, her family and team around her always makes everyone feel inspired to make the most of every day, no matter a good or not so good one. Her innate ability to interpret and understand situations, and to always keep then in perspective is quite amazing – no matter how big or small, how exciting or devastating. Lyndal shows a maturity and logic way past her years of experience in this difficult sport. That is something I believe is simply in her heart and soul. It is Lyndal. A sportswoman that is loved by all and on hearing her positivity, even in times to total devastation and troubled times, makes everyone realise the worth of positive, honest self-appraisal, especially in this subjective sport of dressage. One focused and life-loving person. I am sure she will not be in anyway backward in facing the next competition with her head held high. EQ

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