Christian Simonson wins Grand Prix in Wellington with over 76 percent

Christian Simonson and the 13-year-old Apache son Indian Rock won yesterday’s Grand Prix in Wellington with 76.043 percent. This was the pair’s best result to date in an international Grand Prix. A small world separated them from the rest of the field in Wellington.

Geñay Vaughn came second with 70.870 percent on Gino (by Bretton Woods), trained by Holga Finken, followed by Sweden’s Caroline Darcourt with Lord Django (69.196). Michael Klimke, a German rider, was also at the start in Wellington. He presented the twelve-year-old Oldenburg gelding Fado by Fairytale and came sixth (67.348).

US Dressage 2026: No riders in the elite squad

After the glorious times with pairs such as Laura Graves and Verdades, Adrienne Lyle with Salvino, Sabine Schut-Kery on Bocelli or Kasey Perry-Glass on Goerklintgaards Dublet, the USA currently has no pairs at a comparably high level. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Lyle and Schut-Kery sensationally won silver together with Steffen Peters on Suppenkasper as the third man. They were eliminated in Paris after Marcus Orlob with Jane had to be taken off due to a bleeding spot on his fetlock. And the USA currently has no pairs in the elite squad, which corresponds to our Olympic squad.

The composition of this squad is determined on the basis of the competition results of the past twelve months. Anyone wishing to be included here must have scored 74 percent or more in CDI Grand Prix competitions at least twice within this time frame. No US pair has met this criterion in recent months. Until now.

Simonson breaks the sound barrier

Because now there are the shooting stars Christian Simonson and Indian Rock, stable name “Rocky”. The two have been a team for a good year now. After the Olympic Games in Paris, the 23-year-old took over the KWPN stallion from his trainer Emmelie Scholtens. Since then, the pair have been unbeaten and also won the World Cup qualifiers in Myakka City and Ocala at the end of 2025. Simonson has worked his way up from nobody to number 15 in the world rankings. He is currently the best US rider in the world.

With yesterday’s victory, the pair have now fulfilled the minimum criterion for inclusion in the elite squad. Although they were victorious at their international debut in Ocala, they “only” scored 70.543 percent. However, in their second Grand Prix, the qualifier for the World Cup Freestyle in Myakka City, which is also in Florida, they broke the required barrier with 74.804 percent. At the beginning of December in Ocala, they then narrowly missed it with 73.369 percent. Yesterday they not only overcame the 74 percent hurdle, they pulverized it. And they did so at their first appearance on the big arena, the “International Ring” in Wellington. “I’m still processing this,” said Simonson on his Instagram page.

About Christian Simonson

The 23-year-old Simonson may be a newcomer to the international Grand Prix sport, but he is no stranger to it. After various successes as a junior, he competed several times in Europe as a young rider with Son of a Lady, where he attracted positive attention at the Future Champions in Hagen and in the Young Riders Tour at the CHIO Aachen. He already stood out at these shows with his fine riding.

Simonson has been training with Adrienne Lyle since 2018 and for some time now, both Lyle and Simonson have been part of the Zen Elite Equestrian Center team in Florida, with which the former pediatric nurse and later entrepreneur Heidi Humphries has fulfilled a childhood dream. She has not hesitated to buy top-class horses for her riders.

Indian Rock and others

In addition to Indian Rock, Christian Simonson also rides the KWPN stallion Fleau de Baian. This is the full brother to Adelinde Cornelissen’s long-standing successful horse Parzival. Like Parzival, Fleau de Baian was also trained by Cornelissen.

The Belgian chestnut Lars van de Hoenderheide also moved from the Netherlands to the Zen Elite Equestrian Center, although he was intended for Adrienne Lyle, but has not been in action since mid-2024. Charlotte Fry, a British rider based at Stall van Olst in the Netherlands, presented the gelding to Lyle. A KWPN that was previously owned by Sweden is the Apache son Helix, with whom Lyle represented the USA in Paris in 2024. However, his last competition was some time ago. That was the World Cup Final in Basel, where the gelding was completely out of his depth.

Perhaps the Zen Elite Equestrian Center’s most prominent purchase was the Westphalian gelding Bohemian, Cathrine Laudrup-Dufour’s 2021 Olympic horse. The Danish rider had the Bordeaux son under the saddle at a young age and trained him to become a highly successful Grand Prix horse. They achieved results above 80 percent on several occasions. At the 2021 European Championships, they won bronze in the individual and team competitions as well as silver in the freestyle.

However, Bohemian was then sold and did not really harmonize with his new rider Dong Seon Kim. After Patrik Kittel (SWE) had also ridden the gelding in the meantime, he finally moved to the Zen Elite Equestrian Center as a partner for Endel Ots at the end of 2023. He had never ridden an international Grand Prix before, but regularly scored over 70 percent with Bohemian straight away. However, their last competition was Aachen 2024, when they were named as reserves for the Olympic Games. Bohemian was not seen again after that. As Heidi Humphries explained to Eurodressage at the time, the gelding had contracted an aggressive sinus infection, which first had to heal.

In mid-December they were back in the arena in Wellington, albeit in the national tour for the time being.