Dressage-News

Aug. 22, 2023

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

Christian Simonson on Son of a Lady won the Festival of Champions Intermediate 1 Tuesday to extend their lead in the national championship in what the 20-year-old rider believes reflects development of a new generation of American riders.

Christian, with coaching from Adrienne Lyle, a star rider of the most successful period of American dressage, rode the 12-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding to a score of 73.469% for the second victory in the three-phase championship at the Chicago suburb of Wayne, Illinois. Added to Monday’s Prix St.Georges winning result of 72.764% that accounts for a combined 85%–the Freestyle on Thursday counts for the other 15%–the pair have a clear lead in the standings.

Nora Batchelder of Williston, Florida on the eight-year-old Oldenburg mare Nova was runner-up on 72.734% in the Int. 1, moving up a spot from the pair’s St. Georges third place on a score of 70.970% in the St. Georges.

Anna Marek of the Ocala area community of Dunnellon on Duvel, 15-year-old KWPN gelding, was third on 71.558% Tuesday.

Charlotte Jorst of Reno, Nevada on Zhaplin Langholt, a 10-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding, was fourth on 70.940% and fifth with 69.205% on the nine-year-old Hanoverian mare Federle.

Christian and Zeaball Diawind, 11-year-old Danish Warmblood gelding that he is also competing at the championships, was sixth on 68.617%.

Christian is long-listed on both Son of a Lady and Zeaball Diawind for the U.S. team for the Pan American Games, as is Charlotte on Zhaplin Langholt.

Originally from Ventura, north of Los Angeles, Christian–who will be 21 years old on Saturday after the Int. 1 championship is decided–moved to Wellington four years ago for coaching by Adrienne who rode Salvino on U.S. teams that won silver at both the 2018 World Equestrian Games and the Tokyo Olympics. Adrienne has long been coached and mentored by Debbie McDonald, successful as a rider of Brentina and as the American team leader.

While competing this summer on both Son of a Lady and Zeaball Diawind at Aachen, Germany, the most prestigious equestrian event in the world, Christian was coached by video as Adrienne is pregnant with her first child.

“I think it’s really exciting to see my generation coming and also maybe the generation before me and the next generation behind me,” Christian told dressage-news.com. “I think it’s like the first year, or the first generation that we’re getting to see how the pipeline that USEF has been working on for so long and now I think they’re kind of seeing the start of the fruits of their labor. I think that the success we’re starting to see more and more of internationally is also a big result of giving the right riders the right resources, and that’s pretty incredible.”

He utilizes aspects of the developing program that includes physiotherapy, financial support to compete in Europe and training by official coaches George Williams and Charlotte Bredahl.

He views himself as at the “very, very beginning of my career,” though he and Son of a Lady were on the mixed Small and Big our U.S. senior Nations Cup team in Wellington last winter, as well as Young Rider teams in Hagen, Germany in both 2022 and 2023.

“I try to look at things in really long term,” he said, “and I hope to be in the sport for many decades to come. And so I kind of see things as I’m just at the very, very start of my career. And then I really hope that I can make, senior debuts. And of course the big goal is to make Olympic teams and World Cup teams and more Nations Cup teams. But for me, my biggest goal is to hopefully just keep producing horses. That’s the biggest goal, because I know everything else kind of follows if you keep doing that.”

Training by Adrienne Lyle has made a “truly, truly fundamental difference in me as a rider.”

“I think her and Katie Duerhammer have truly taught me what it means to be a horseman,” he said. “Just by being around them, especially being around Adrienne, it’s like every day I get to see such incredible horsemanship all the time. And I think it’s via osmosis how then I can interact with my horses.

“Adrienne has had an incredibly profound impact on me not only as a rider and as a competitor, but also as a general horseman and how you maintain horses, how you compete horses, how you train them, how you have to think about almost every aspect, and every day I’m learning more and more from her.”

He has also taken over the ride on Harmony’s Duval, the American-bred KWPN gelding that Adrienne competed successfully on both sides of the Atlantic, and is now 15 years old.

He describes the gray as “the ultimate schoolmaster for me with, with Adrienne teaching because I think it’s so hard to know what you don’t know and to learn what you don’t know unless you have a horse that can really teach you and help you. So I have to kind of use some of Duval’s wisdom and Adrienne’s wisdom in producing those two horses to the next level after a bit of time.”

In no hurry to get to Grand Prix, Christian expects to be focused on the Under-25 division at Wellington’s Global Dressage Festival in winter of 2024.

“I think I’ve really learned from Adrienne is that by going slow you go fast,” he said. “You have to build your pyramid wide and deep if you want to build it really high.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to be the youngest to do something if you do it sub par. I think it’s also just good horsemanship if you’re not pushing the horse to do things that it’s not ready for.

“The sport is hard enough as is, and I think it’s even harder when you have a big ego about it, too; it can really kick you in the butt. So I feel like that whole taking things step by step and making sure the horse always comes first definitely comes from Adrienne.”

Results:

Intermediate I (Int. 1 Championship)

Rank	Competitor	Score	E	H	C	M	B
1.	Christian Simonson (USA) Son of a Lady	73.469%	72.352	74.558	73.823	74.852	71.764
2.	Nora Batchelder (USA) Nova	72.734%	73.676	72.352	72.794	72.205	72.647
3.	Anna Marek (USA) Duvel	71.558%	71.323	71.470	71.764	72.352	70.882
4.	Charlotte Jorst (USA) Zhaplin Langholt	70.940%	70.882	69.264	71.911	70.882	71.764
5.	Charlotte Jorst (USA) Federle	69.205%	69.852	68.529	69.705	69.558	68.382
6.	Christian Simonson (USA) Zeaball Diawind	68.617%	68.676	70.882	68.382	67.205	67.941
7.	Lauren Sammis (USA) Heiline’s Oh Land	68.440%	68.823	70.000	66.176	69.117	68.088
8.	Bianca Schmidt (USA) CK Sir Shimmi	66.558%	67.352	66.323	68.382	61.617	69.117
9.	Sarah Gammie (USA) Flash	66.470%	65.294	67.058	65.882	67.352	66.764
10.	Brittany Burson (USA) Be Happy SB	65.529%	65.441	65.441	65.294	65.294	66.176
11.	Kelly Irving-Burris (USA) Fresco LD	64.617%	63.529	64.264	66.029	64.852	64.411
RT	Erin Bonneville (USA) Qennett HTF	retired
Find details on Equestrian Hub