The winning Grand Prix Freestyle presented by Christian Simonson and Indian Rock Friday night at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala was performed to music with a double significance.
The tunes were from the Rocky movies, obviously appropriate since the 12-year-old Dutchbred stallion’s nickname is Rocky. But also, the Rocky story — of an underdog boxer who fights his way to the top — strikes a special chord with Christian.
He sees the series of movies as unreeling “a cool journey of a person that commits all their time and effort into one thing, and then they deal with the trials and tribulations and they end up successful.”
The 23-year-old rider certainly is committing his time and effort to dressage, on horses owned by Zen Elite Equestrian Center with training provided by three-time Olympian Adrienne Lyle.
The class at WEC was an FEI World Cup qualifier, and Christian is hoping to ride in the Cup finals next April in Ft. Worth, Texas. After that, there is the goal of the World Championships during the summer in Aachen, Germany, and beyond the Worlds? Well, the U.S. will be hosting the Olympics in 2028.
Christian and Rocky doing their freestyle at Wec. (Andrew Ryback Photography)
The class at WEC was Christian’s second Cup qualifier victory with the Dutchbred son of Apache, putting him third in the standings for the finals. North America gets three representatives in the competition, the first U.S. location for the finals since Omaha in 2023.
Christian was more than three percentage points ahead of his closest competition. He scored 78.840 (with one judge giving him a remarkable 83.525), while second place went to Canada’s Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu on Jaccardo (75.115).
The USA’s Ben Ebeling, who is second in the Cup qualifier rankings with Dressage at Devon winner Bellena, finished fifth in the class (71.790). Kevin Kohmann, who leads the rankings on Dünensee, did not compete at WEC.
Rocky was ridden in the 2024 Olympics by Emmilie Scholtens of the Netherlands, who placed eleventh in the Paris freestyle with a score of 81.750. Christian came close to that in October at TerraNova with a total of 81.405. Christian keeps in touch with Emmilie, and they have shared many conversations about her former mount.
Adapting to a famous horse is no small task, but in typical Christian style, the rider was totally focused on becoming a partner with the stallion.
“I probably spent more time with Rocky than most of my family. We pushed things forward in that way. He’s truly an amazing horse,” Christian said good-naturedly.
Reflecting on his freestyle, Christian emphasized, “I’m really proud of his performance. It was kind of a little bit of a different environment for him and I. It was obviously an indoor (arena) with some modern music and a crowd. Adrienne constantly has me working on new things and giving me pieces of guidance and ways that we can improve what we’re doing. For me, the most fun is learning a lot all the time. It makes me just the happiest person ever.”
Continuing to discuss his ride, Christian said of his horse, “He felt amazing. He was with me every step of the way, I could use lighter and lighter aids. The piaffe/passage tour at the end, I could hear Adrienne’s voice in my head about where to put each step. She was really happy with that and if she’s happy, I’m happy.”
Since Christian began showing Rocky at FEI competitions in May, he has won five classes in a row.
He earned individual silver earlier this year aboard Son of a Lady in the Young Rider team competition in Hagen, Germany, where the U.S. squad claimed bronze in the Nations Cup.
Click here for freestyle results