The Adequan Global Dressage Festival, the nation’s premier circuit in the discipline, came to an end last week after a run that began in early January. Going forward, there’s always curiosity about what’s next for exciting up-and-coming riders who earned special notice during the shows in Wellington, Fla.
One who attracted attention is Christian Simonson, the 20-year-old busy making a name for himself not only in the Under 25 category, but in open classes as well. He’s got the ability, he’s got the horses and most important, he’s got the work ethic. His dedication is paying off in many ways. In January, the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation presented him with its Lionel Guerrand-Hermès Trophy, given to a junior or young rider in an Olympic discipline who exemplifies the Team’s ideals of sportsmanship and horsemanship.
Christian Simonson and Zeaball Diawin. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Being in Wellington, he believes, has been important for his career.
“You feel a little bit in a bubble. Every time you go out to dinner, you see someone you know professionally. It’s kind of a privilege to be here, to be in an environment that coaxes you to perform better,” he pointed out, saying he likes “to be around good people who push you.”
Under the guidance of Olympic medalist Adrienne Lyle, Christian won the Intermediate 1 Freestyle at the end of February on the 12-year-old Danish warmblood Son of a Lady (Soreldo X Welt Hit II), with an impressive 78.445 percent. He led the U.S. team to silver behind Germany in the Nations Cup, where a combination of Big Tour and Small Tour riders were featured on the squads.
His other star, 11-year-old Danish warmblood Zeaball Diawind (Furstenball OLD X Zardin Firfod), topped the Prix St. Georges at the beginning of March with 72.500 percent. He finished the festival with starts in another PSG and two Intermediate I classes, earning scores ranging from 69.902 percent to 71.912. When he was 16, Christian began riding Zeaball, who was seven, and their partnership developed from there.
Christian said his horses are similar in several important aspects, noting “they have so much quality, elasticity and most of all, an incredible willingness to work.”
Christian Simonson warming up Zeaball Diawin. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
At the same time, they display their differences.
“Zeaball has a much more chilled-out demeanor,” Christian observed, while Son of a Lady has a “24/7 Energizer bunny demeanor about him.”
No matter which horse he’s riding, he has one principle in mind.
“Adrienne promotes harmonious riding. You do it because you’re trying to bring out the best in your horse and your horse is trying to bring out the best in you. That’s how it should be. It shouldn’t be this one-way street of `You have to do this.’ ”
Instead, the better approach is telling the horse, “This is what I’d like to do; let’s do this together,” while making sure “they’re as comfortable as possible.”
Describing Christian as “endlessly tactful and patient with the horses,” Adrienne called him “an information sponge,” always trying to soak up knowledge.
“I cannot say enough good things about him. He’s an incredible rider. It’s just a joy to get to work with him. His dedication to the sport is really admirable.”
Christian gets a pre-ride pep talk from Adrienne Lyle. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Christian began training with Gail Hoff-Carmona and then Jan Ebeling until he started riding with Adrienne four years ago. He calls her “the ultimate horsewoman. She has such an amazing ability to have a holistic environment that promotes horse performance from the hooves up. She puts so much time and effort into each one of her students.”
The rider, who is 50th in the world in the 1-star rankings, describes her training style as “intelligent,” noting “she’s such an in-tune horsewoman. It’s what really puts her above the rest.”
Each time his horses do well, he said, he gives credit to support from the team Adrienne has assembled, singling out groom Monica Stanke for her contributions to his endeavors.
Christian has always loved animals and used to volunteer at an animal shelter. That was where he met Cesar Milan of the “Dog Whisperer” TV show, who invited Christian to spend a weekend at his ranch to train with his dog.
Christian learned that “all animals have a big willingness to try to please. You have to learn to nurture that as much as you can in any animal, whether it’s a horse or a dog or anything, and you have to be really patient, trying to explain things in the kindest way possible.”
Although Christian is a professional horseman, he is multi-dimensional, having gotten a student pilot’s license and participating in other sports, including skiing and scuba diving. He is involved with Monaco Sport Horses with his mother, Christina Morgan; his father, Cliff Simonson, and Misha Knoll, who sources the horses.
Busy as he is, Christian manages to balance everything with his on-line studies as a business major at the University of Texas at Austin. This summer, he will go on a European tour; the highlight of his trip last year was a third place in the Young Riders Freestyle at Aachen on Son of a Lady, marked at 74.930 percent.
After the summer, Adrienne said, Christian is looking at the Oct. 20-Nov. 5 Pan American Games in Chile, if there is a mixed Big Tour/Small Tour team, as there usually is in the Pan Ams. But she won’t be going with him.
Adrienne, who is married to veterinarian Dr. David DaSilva, is 3 and 1/2 months pregnant and scheduled to give birth Oct. 3. As she noted, though, if Christian goes to the Pan Ams, he would be in good hands with her mentor, Debbie McDonald, the U.S. dressage team’s technical advisor, and U.S. Equestrian Federation Director of Sport Hallye Griffin, formerly the managing director of dressage.
Debbie called Christian and his horses in the ring “a beautiful picture.” But beyond that, she emphasized, “The thing about Christian is he’s very hands-on in the care of his horses.”
Meanwhile, Christian also has the ride on Adrienne’s former mount, Harmony’s Duval, and hopes to get Grand Prix experience with him. The plan is to ride him this summer in the Festival of Champions at Lamplight in Illinois.
“He’s learning a ton on him, which is the main point of him leasing him,” said Adrienne of Duval.
The highest-ranked U.S. rider at number 10 in the international dressage standings, she had hoped to be in the FEI World Cup Finals in Omaha this week, but her Olympic and world championships mount, Salvino, popped a splint and couldn’t compete in the final qualifier. Although Vinny is back in light work, he won’t be going to Europe this summer. The big goal for him is the 2024 Paris Olympics, but like all veteran riders, Adrienne knows plans don’t always work out. The 2023 World Cup is exhibit A in that regard for her.
Adrienne will keep pointing Vinny to Paris “providing he’s doing well and feeling well. I’ve always said he will dictate what he does. He’s given us so much. If he’s healthy and happy and wants to go, we’ll go, and if he shows signs of not wanting to, then he’s earned that right.” She doesn’t have a back-up mount at this point.
“If I don’t go, I don’t go. There will be more Olympics,” said Adrienne, who rode in the 2012 London Games as well as in Tokyo.
She had been training Nexolia Feodoro, with whom she made his Intermediate II debut in March. It looked as if he might be her back-up horse for Paris. But the owner moved him to Olympic veteran Lars Petersen, who runs the Helgstrand stable in Wellington.
Adrienne called the move “very much okay. I prioritize the camaraderie and team spirit in my barn. If you’re going to be in our barn, you’ve got be a team player. That’s my priority over any one horse.”
She is working with two young horses who could be championship mounts further down the road. They are Heidi Humphries’ Zen Elite’s Top Gun, a seven-year-old son of Totilas, and Furst Dream, who won the four-year-old championships last year. The five-year-old Hanoverian belongs to Betsy Juliano, the owner of Salvino and a great supporter of Adrienne.
