‘The best test we’ve ever done’: two-time world dressage champion Lottie Fry reveals how it all came together for her and Glamourdale in Aachen

I had a proper debrief after the Europeans last summer with my trainer Anne van Olst. It wasn’t the result we wanted, so we went right back to basics and started again from there. What did we want to change? What could be better in the preparation? It was about becoming more of a team again, really – harmony, seeing what works.

It’s difficult when it doesn’t go to plan, but we never doubted Glamourdale would get back to his best. He always feels like he’s getting stronger and there’s always a little bit more in him – the hard part is getting it all right at the same time.

One thing we worked on was my position – just being quiet, sitting still, taking a breath instead of thinking, “Come on, we have to do it,” the second I’m in the ring.

The other was the basics: taking time off for him so he could hack, gradually building him up, then giving him a weekend to relax before we upped it again.

We kept to a variety all winter and didn’t compete him too much beforehand, so he arrived at the world championships in Aachen happy and fresh rather than campaigned into the ground.

We arrived on the Sunday, with the vet check on the Monday. It isn’t far to travel for us, so there was no need to go early. We were in the new stable block in Aachen, which was amazing even in the heat, with our own section for the British horses.

Things like the wash bays were well set up and big, too, which makes life easier with a stallion. Getting him there can be tricky if there are mares and other horses around, so having that sorted made a big difference.

He’d had a couple of weeks off breeding work before Aachen – not long, because he’s in demand. It’s part of what pays his costs, so that side matters, too. Mentally, he’d happily breed all the time, but we have to balance that against keeping his body fresh. And before Aachen, as a team, we got everything right.

We ride him over to the trot-up rather than leading him in-hand, because it keeps everything separate in his head from the breeding work. As soon as I’m on his back, he knows it’s dressage. It’s a system that works well with the stallions; if they’re led in-hand, they can get confused.

But from the moment we arrived, he was quiet and happy in his stable. We had one familiarisation session on the Monday, then I just sat on him and walked on the Tuesday to give him a leg-stretch before the grand prix the next day. That morning, he felt so good that I thought to myself, if there’s going to be a time, it’s now.

Glamourdale loves the crowds; he’s always been like this. Even at seven, when he won at the young horse World Championships, he loved that crowd. He’ll walk out on a long rein afterwards, just listening to them cheer.

But in the warm-up at Aachen, every time I let him go on a longer rein, he’d look over towards the main stadium and try to go there. I’d have to tell him, “No, we have to wait, it’s not our time yet.”

The whole way in, he was whinnying, ears pricked, trying to go faster. Then as soon as he was actually inside, he’d go quiet, and you could feel how settled he was. He’s done it in London, too – heading off to the main arena on a long rein because he knows that’s where everyone is. It’s an amazing quality for a horse to have.

I thought the grand prix went well. He warmed up beautifully and there was just a small misunderstanding going into the first piaffe. After that, we were completely in tune. At this level, you can’t dwell on a mistake – you’re already onto the next movement. It’s milliseconds, millimetre work – the slightest shift of a seat bone or a wrist – and over time it just becomes instinct through repetition.

But we did what we needed to for the team that day, which was the most important thing.

We had a day off before the special. We did a light training session in the covered arena that day so it wasn’t too warm for him, just working a few exercises in walk to get the feeling I needed without riding him too much – half-passes, walk pirouettes, that kind of thing.

At the end, I picked him up and rode the last line of the canter pirouettes, then I just sat there and said to Anne: “He’s so ready.”

It gives me such extra confidence having Anne there on the ground.

She’s so knowledgeable and she knows us inside out. Having her there also means someone’s making sure you don’t do too much, because you’ve still got two more days of competing ahead.

At that moment we both knew that whatever happened, we couldn’t have prepared any better.

On the day of the special, we had a long break between morning and evening sessions due to the heat. I was competing in the evening. I watched Becky Moody and Jagerbomb’s test in the morning, then went back to the hotel for lunch: simple pasta with tomato. It’s always pasta before a competition, so I know I’ll have the energy. Then I put on a sleep playlist to zone out properly.

A couple of hours before I got on, I switched to more of a high-beat playlist to switch on. It’s always the same songs, Titanium by Sia, Diamonds by Rihanna. Then I watched old videos back and ran through a few exercises to make sure my body felt ready. By the time I got on, I had total focus.

Going into the special, all you see is your pathway in and you just stay in it. I don’t remember much else, I was in such full focus.

I remember the trot extensions, the passage, the half-passes – we just floated through. It gave me a read on how he was feeling, and from there, you know how much to ask of him and how much risk to take.

After the Europeans, that pressure around the first piaffe – where we had made a mistake – was definitely in my head too, but we’d worked hard on my head as much as anything: relax, don’t panic, he can do it. In the special, I believed it and I think that showed in him.

I could hear the crowd. I remember I was in the middle of my one-time changes on the centre line and I just heard gasps. I almost laughed, I was like, “Really? In the middle of my ones? What’s going on?”

But his changes are incredible – so natural and big that sometimes I actually play it safe and don’t allow him too much forward, because he naturally goes into them. I wasn’t going to ask him to wait this time though.

I thought, if you want to do it like this, let’s do it, and show them the best we can. It’s always a risk showing changes that big. They take up the whole diagonal and if you start them even slightly late, you can find yourself in trouble by the end. But I’ve done them enough times now, I know if I get the timing right going in, we’ll be fine.

I hadn’t watched anyone else’s test beforehand or taken note of the scores, although you can’t really avoid hearing them over the loudspeaker while you’re warming up, so I did hear a few before I went in. Coming out of the arena, my legs were shaking. I don’t think I’d ever felt adrenaline like it.

There was one combination after me, Katharina Hemmer and Denoix PCH, who won bronze. I didn’t watch them go. I took Glamourdale back to the stable, gave him a carrot and walked back to the mixed zone because there’s nothing worse than standing there waiting.

But I knew it was the best test we’d ever done. There have been amazing tests before, but for the whole thing to come together like that was incredible. And to win, you’re doing it for the whole team, not just yourself. You don’t want to make a mistake for “Glammy” either, because he deserves the win. It was incredible.

In the freestyle, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an atmosphere quite like it, but for me it was the complete opposite of the special. It’s strange. I’ve never been so relaxed. We were just chilling in there, enjoying it, going with the music, taking our time. In the special, we both felt we needed to fight for it. In the freestyle, it was purely about enjoying it.

Our freestyle came together in bits. I’d picked out a few songs, and Joost Peters, who puts the music together, noticed they were all to do with flying, so he suggested a flying theme. I’d been playing We’re Going to Ibiza! by Vengaboys while riding him at home and thought, this fits so well – so we wrote in the line where I say, “Welcome aboard Glamourdale Airlines,” like an air hostess before we go into the ring.

The crowd laugh so hard at that bit that they almost miss the second line – “Please fasten your seatbelts, we’re about to take off. Enjoy your flight.” It’s such a fun idea and it suits him perfectly.

I could hear the crowd through the extended canters. Hearing them get excited while you’re riding is such a nice feeling.

When I got off, I said to everyone, “We couldn’t have done any more.” That’s such a good feeling to have – not, “If only I’d done this or that,” just that was everything. Whatever happened next, even a silver or a bronze, that was everything we could have ever dreamed of doing.

There were a few more to go after me in the freestyle, but again, I didn’t watch anyone. I wasn’t able to watch the test back straight away, so while we waited for the last scores to come in, I was just watching clips people were posting on Instagram from the test – just to feel it again.

When Isabell Werth was going, I had Anne in one ear telling me how well she was doing, and I was saying to her, “Can you not? I already know she’s amazing!”

No one had ever successfully defended two individual titles before. To be honest, it’s taken a long time for it to sink in – I had my first proper night’s sleep again only recently. It means more than our wins in 2022, I think, because staying at the top is mentally so much harder than getting there, and to prove we could do it again four years later, with the same horse going better than ever, is a huge testament to the whole team.

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