‘Sadness’ and ‘excitement’ as Lottie Fry’s up-and-coming ride sold to USA

US Olympic dressage medallist Adrienne Lyle has boosted her Paris 2024 hopes with two new additions to her stable.

The van Olsts’ and Lottie Fry’s 13-year-old gelding Lars Van De Hoenderheide, and the Hannells’ 12-year-old gelding Helix, have been sold to Adrienne’s owner Heidi Humphries, with the Olympic transfer deadline approaching (15 January). Horses must be registered at least in part-ownership of the same nation as their riders by this date to be eligible to compete at the Olympics.

“I am incredibly honoured to have such an opportunity with two super talented horses,” Adrienne told H&H.

“There are not enough words to express my gratitude to Heidi for her support on this journey. I am excited to get them here and get to know them. Now it’s time to keep my head down, get to work and try to do the best we can with this amazing opportunity.”

Helix, who is by Apache, and out of a Jazz mare, was campaigned by Swedish rider Marina Mattson for Hannell Dressage, having made his international grand prix debut in February last year. Marina and Helix were part of the Swedish Nations Cup team at Falsterbo in July, where the team finished second.

“Lars”, who is by Negro and out of a Layout mare, arrived at Van Olst Horses as a 10-year-old. He made his international grand prix debut with Lottie in October 2022, and has continued to grow in confidence. Last May they scored a +81% personal best in the Compiegne CDI3* freestyle, and were second in the CDI4* grand prix and the grand prix special at Aachen CHIO in the summer. At their final outing together in December, they won the Kronenberg CDI3* freestyle on 78.48%.

Lottie told H&H that Adrienne visited the Netherlands to try Lars and the sale went ahead.

“Lars is kind of a good fit with everyone, he’s so easy to ride and he’s such an amazing character, I think anyone who would have tried him would have fallen in love with him,” she said.

Lottie said Lars has continued to “get better and better”, consistently scoring +75%.

“He’s just the most amazing horse because he loves being a show-off. At home he’s the biggest personality, he’s always playing in his stable and wants all the attention. He’s very, very cool,” she said, adding that the sale of Lars was “especially sad”.

“Anne [van Olst] trained him before I started riding him so she has a really good bond with him too, so everyone is really sad to see him go. His face brightens up the stable and he just has such a great expression. It’s exciting for Aderienne, and I think it will be a very nice home.”

Lottie said she has had a busy few weeks, having contested the World Cup legs at the London International Horse Show (13-14 December), followed by Mechelen (28-29 December), with 15-year-old Everdale. The pair were second in the grand prix and freestyle in London, and they won both classes at Mechelen.

“It’s nice that Everdale has taken the spotlight back a little bit. He’s now getting a bit older and really coming into his prime I think, he’s getting better every show. He’s really improving and it’s been really fun to be able to do some of the World Cup shows on him,” she said, adding that Glamourdale is doing “really good” and continues to be in demand with his breeding duties.

“He’s taking it easy at the moment and we’re slowly building him up looking towards Paris. We’re taking it as it comes and we’re looking first to the outdoor season and maybe some stallion shows.”

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