For three-time Olympian Adrienne Lyle, the Adequan®/USEF Brentina Cup Dressage National Championship has taken on the status of a tradition.
The Cup for riders under 25, is named for the stellar dressage mare ridden by Adrienne’s coach and mentor, Debbie McDonald, who guided Brentina to glory in the FEI World Cup, the Olympics and the World Championships. The competition is meant to be a bridge for young equestrians as they move on to higher levels.
Adrienne won the Cup in 2008, and it’s something toward which she has pointed her students. You might even characterize it as an heirloom for Adrienne’s training operation. Quinn Iverson, who Adrienne took on as a working student, won it twice. Then this weekend, Christian Simonson, whose career Adrienne is guiding, took the honors after a sweep of all three classes leading to the title at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions in Illinois.
“It’s kind of fun to be watched it passed down in the family,” Adrienne commented.
Citing the Cup’s family tree, so to speak, Christian said after taking the title, “I feel truly honored to be among those riders. That’s the biggest feeling I have right now.”
He appreciates the team that Adrienne has put together, thanking groom Nicole Baergen and the others who contribute to the success of the stable..
“It’s truly a team effort and I’m just kind of one part of a really big machine to help something happen,” he said.
Adrienne made her own mark at the show on Sunday, winning the six-year-old championship on Zaunkonig (Blue Horse Zack X DeNiro), who received a mark of 9.2 for his canter. The Westfalian stallion belongs to Heidi Humphries of the Zen Elite Equestrian Center, who also owns Adrienne’s Paris Olympic mount, Helix. Zaunkonig’s winning score in the Six-Year-Old Final Test was 87.600 percent, to 84.800 for MW Mercury, ridden by Charell Garcia.
Christian, 21, was aboard Son of a Lady (Soreldo X Welt Hit II), his team gold medal mount from the Pan American Games last year. At that time, Sonny was a Small Tour horse (and number one in that division’s rankings during 2023). But this year, he has stepped up to Big Tour. He and Christian took the Grand Prix last week with a mark of 68.103 percent, followed up with a win in the Intermediate II (68.030) and capped it with the top mark in Saturday’s Freestyle, 73.675. Second in the division was Josh Albrecht and Goldenboy Vickenburgh.
Christian, who hopes to finish up his on-line college studies this year, is a business major, which should be a big help as he pursues a future with horses. Earlier this month, Christian won the Freestyle at the North American Youth Championships. But he noted, “It’s such a new level for me to compete at and it’s new also for Sonny.”
Christian Simonson and Son of a Lady. (Photo by Avery Wallace for USEF)
“This is really a whole different ballgame, trying to get piaffe/passage and everything on a horse who’s been a career Small Tour horse. It’s a new challenge,” said Adrienne
“I was really happy with him. I think he improved his performance every day,” she mentioned, but noted, “The horse is still green at this level, and the rider as well. They not that long ago were doing the Pan Ams and really focusing just on the Small Tour. When you’re on a senior team like that, you don’t want your horse playing around with one-tempis and accidentally have one in the middle of your Prix St. Georges.”
So Grand Prix training was put on hold in 2023. The focus this year involved staying in the U.S. to improve the skills for that level. Adrienne notes that Christian still has a few more years in the U-25 ranks. She feels “it’s important for him to take advantage of that. If he has a horse going that he can do some of the senior Grand Prix as well, we would take that option. Getting miles in the ring is the goal for him, as well as getting him on young horses,” whether they’re his or belong to others.
He is working with new horses from Zen Elite. Those two, Fleau de Baian and Guinness, are important projects, but he’s still in the “getting to know you” period and thanked Heidi for her vote of confidence and support.
What’s next for Christian in an off-year for championships?
A European trip could happen in 2025, but “we’ve got to see where the chips fall and take it step by step,” said Adrienne.
She added, “it’s really important to keep building the foundation and never jumping ahead too soon. There’s always a temptation when you have a talented horse and a talented rider to maybe push for something before their time. I’ve seen that too many times where either the horse or rider gets in over their head and you have a bad experience.”
She is not tempted, however.
“Making sure you have this foundation of all these experiences and all this knowledge so secure and moving up incrementally, is so important for the horse as well as the rider. Both of them need confidence.”
An illustration of that philosophy is the fact that Christian had 8’s on all the artistic marks in his freestyle set to electric dance music, but degree of difficulty ranged from 7.6 down to 7.1.
“I think we made the freestyle very creative and interesting to watch,” commented Adrienne, who worked on developing the freestyle with Karen Robinson and Christian.
“The horse is still green in his piaffe/passage work so we kept that part of the freestyle very basic and minimal and highlighted more of his strengths. We wanted something that showcases the horse well, but no need to make it so difficult that the horse or rider can’t accomplish it in this moment.”
Christian appreciates the guidance, since he is so committed to dressage.
“It’s the best sport ever. It’s so awesome,” he said, then explained his enthusiasm.
“These big powerful horses that are so beautifully trained. It’s such an amazing technical sport. Every horse can do dressage. You can have a fancy dressage horse or you can have your Shetland pony in the backyard and they both can do dressage to an extent. It’s a very inclusive sport that way.”
Click here for results of the Dressage Festival of Champions
