Feb. 6, 2026
By KENNETH J. BRADDICK
Adrienne Lyle competed My Vitality at Wellington’s Global Dressage Festival Saturday as one of a handful of prospects that she hopes will earn her a place on the U.S. Olympic team in Los Angeles in 2028.
Adrienne was awarded 76.176% from the single judge, highest rated FEI official Janet Lee Foy of the United States, in the Intermediare II, one level below Grand Prix with the rider allowed to carry a whip in the national contest.
“I’m thrilled,” said Adrienne after the ride.
My Vitality is just one of several prospects being developed by Adrienne for Zen Elite Equestrian Center, owned by Florida entrepreneur Heidi Humphries.
Others include One Million, a KWPN stallion aged seven; Don Machiavelli, 11-year-old German-bred gelding; Hussmanns Topgun, a 10-year-old Danish-bred gelding out of Totilas Adrienne is competing at Prix St. Georges, and Lars van de Hoenderheid, 15-year-old Belgian gelding that was competed by Adrienne at Grand Prix in Florida and Europe in 2024.
Heidi’s Zen Elite also owns Indian Rock ridden by Christian Simonson, a student of Adrienne and who has already qualified for the World Cup championship in Fort Worth, Texas next April. Christian on the 13-year-old Dutch-bred stallion is currently the top ranked American at No. 9 in the world.
Marcus Orlob on Jane, the mare he competed in Paris in 2024, is the second ranked American partnership. With owner Alice Tarjan, he has dedicated the past 18 months to overcoming show ring tension that appears to be succeeding.
Helix that Adrienne competed on the U.S. team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the 2025 World Cup Final as well as Zen Elite’s Bohemian with Endel Ots aboard that was the traveling reserve for the team in Paris were also owned by Zen. So, too, are some younger horses.
My Vitality and Don Machiavelli are considered Adrienne’s top prospects for Los Angeles in 2028, although no one is willing speculate out loud.
Before then are the World Championships scheduled for Aachen, Germany this coming August.
However, USA as the host of the 2028 Games does not have to qualify either there or at the Pan American Games in 2027 which gives American prospects 2 1/2 years to prepare for Los Angeles.
Of the two top prospects, Adrienne told DRESSAGE-NEWS, “Our long-term focus with those is toward LA, especially with My Vitality.
“He’s young. I think for LA, he would be peaking right at the right time. If they’re ready, I’m certainly not going to hold them back, but I’m not going to do a short-term push to jeopardize the long-term success.”
If either horse is in contention for a World Championship team, she said, she would be inclined to follow the same track as with Salvino her Olympic and World Equestrian Games silver medal mount that she took to Europe to get exposure.
