Of course Christian Simonson and Indian Rock won big on the first day of the U.S. Equestrian Federation Grand Prix Dressage National Championship.
What else would you expect from the defending national champion and Rocky, who were second in the Zen Elite FEI World Cup Finals last month? And don’t forget that at age 23 — while still eligible for U25 competition — he’s the top-ranked American on the global standings in seventh place.
On Wednesday, Christian and Rocky marched with authority into the Grand Arena at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, and just took over. With a score of 75.196 percent for the Grand Prix, Christian was nearly five marks ahead of runner-up Ellesse Gunderson on Quintessential 4, who earned 70.348. The only other entry to be judged at more than 70 percent was third-place Meagan Davis on Toronto Lightfoot. She was delighted with her test, telling her horse loudly enough to be heard in the stands, “What a good boy!” as she walked out of the arena. Her total was 70.065 percent.
Meagan Davis, Christian Simonson, Ellesse Gunderson
Rocky, part of the Dutch Olympic team in 2024 with Emmelie Scholtens in the saddle, became Christian’s partner in 2025, after the stallion was purchased by Zen Elite. Aside from the World Cup, they have won every outing.
Although the two made their international competitive debut as a combination at WEC last May, the Grand Prix was the first time they had ventured into the Grand Arena, with its imposing pillared backdrop of the Equestrian Hotel. Aside from the World Cup, they have won every outing.
“It’s quite surreal to see a massive hotel as you’re coming down a diagonal, and the stadium itself is so large,” Christian recounted as he discussed his test on the handsome Dutchbred.
“It feels very grandiose, and it’s really fun. I think the venue here as a whole also is just so well designed for the stabling and all the bits in between. To be here is also quite cool.”
Asked about the high points of his performance, he said, “I think the piaffe/passage tour is what I was really, really proud about today. Adrienne (Lyle), my coach who guides me each step of the way, we had a specific game plan for today, and Rocky really understood what exactly we were trying to do and just gave such an amazing feeling. To have Adrienne’s guidance through each step while we get ready for a championship feels so special.”
This is the first time in 12 years that the national Grand Prix championship has been a stand-alone. The USEF dressage championships are held in a group in Illinois each summer, but the idea of a separate competition was designed to help select the competitors who should be sent to Europe to prepare for August’s world championships in Aachen, Germany.
Having the Grand Prix championships on its own “makes a lot of sense, particularly in a team selection year,” said Adrienne, an Olympian who rode in that 2014 Festival of Champions at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation in Gladstone, N.J.
“The timing of our other national championships just makes it so you’re not going to have the top combinations going there. So it makes a lot of sense, especially from a team selection point of view. It definitely changes the strategy because it’s early in the season. So it’s not like you’re going to have all season to build toward a championship.
“But in a year when the world championships are in august you need to be `built’ by now. It’s really important for people to go head-to-head; our country is so big it’s too hard to compare apples to oranges otherwise. Everyone’s under ths same pressure here.”
The 16 riders participating had to earn their way to this championship by fulfilling qualification requirements. While Christian didn’t have a Grand Prix Special to his credit during the qualification period, he got acceptance as a wild card. How could you send a team to Germany without Christian?
He and Rocky have developed a deep relationship in a relatively short time. They’re more than just pals.
“I feel like I get to be so present with him and each moment it feels like a constant communication back and forth,” he mused.
“I’m like, ‘Hey, let’s do this,’ and he says, ‘Okay, I want to go here.’ We kind of talk back and forth to each other during the test. It does feel like when we compete, I don’t have to really worry about anything else. I could just have an honest conversation and dance with him.”
Christian added, “For me, he feels like a horse that would go through fire for me. I wouldn’t ask him to, but that’s just really how he feels. He’s just unbelievable.”
Ellesse, world 84 in the rankings, is a Filipina who grew up in Malaysia and now rides for the U.S. But what makes her really unusual is the fact that Quintessential, or Q as he is known, is a homebred, not a purchase from Europe. She was there when he was foaled. She has a history with the son of Quaterback 6 that in effect goes even further back, since when she was competing in Young Riders, she rode his dam, Corlette, whose bloodlines go back to Cordoba.
Ellesse Gundersen and Quintessential Q.
“To really see him come all the way to being one of the best here, I think it means a lot. It’s been amazing, the journey we’ve taken. And then to be up here, he’s just getting better and better. I think that’s a huge win in my heart,” she said of her Hanoverian.
When Q was in the early stages of training, her husband, Henrik Gundersen said “He’d make a really nice hunter.” She short-circuited that in a hurry.
Meagan noted her horse came into the ring “with a little extra exuberance, jumping three feet over the entry. I’m not sure what happened.”
Meagan Davis and Toronto Lightfoot.
She observed that after the momentary lapse from the Oldenburg by Totilas, “he just settled right in and did his job and answered all of my questions. He was a true partner today, and that’s what has really built our relationship, is the partnership we have together, and I can show off our trust we have in each other.”
The competition continues Friday with the Grand Prix Special. Click here for results
