Christian Simonson on Indian Rock Wins Wellington World Cup

Christian Simonson posted a personal best score on Indian Rock to win Wellington World Cup Freestyle to clinch a start in the Final at Fort Worth, Texas in April.

The victory for Christian and the 13-year-old stallion outdoors under lights for the first time scored 81.445% before a packed Global Dressage Festival stadium.

Christian and "Rocky," as he calls Indian Rock, completed qualification with a maximum of 60 points from three victories. He is the first to claim one of the three spaces reserved for North America in the lineup of 18 combinations from around the world that will compete at Fort Worth for the annual championship.

Christian at age 23 is likely the youngest ever rider from North America to earn a start at the Final launched 40 years ago. Isabell Werth of Germany, the most successful equestrian in history, competed Fabienne in her first Final in 1992 when she was a month younger than Christian now is.

The result for Christian, based in Wellington and coached by Olympic silver medalist Adrienne Lyle, came a day after riding Indian Rock to a Grand Prix score of 76.043%. That was the highest at that level for an American rider since Adrienne posted 77% on Salvino at the same Global grounds three years ago.

Geñay Vaughn who drove for four days with Gino from her California home seeking her second Final appearance, rode the 15-year-old gelding to a score of 75.790% for second place. Gino showed at the 2025 Final in Switzerland.

Ashley Holzer also of Wellington placed third on Hawtins San Floriana, a 14-year-old British-bred mare, with a score of 75.010%.

"Absolutely disbelief," Christian explained of shaking his head at the end of the musical performance.

"Seeing this show, coming to this show. I've watched it on live streams. I've been here in person, and I've said multiple times to my family, 'I really hope one day I get to do Friday Night Lights, because I think that's the epitome of amazing dressage freestyles here in Florida.'

"And so I think on that last center line, I was just thinking to myself, 'whoa, this is me doing this with the Indian Rock. I can't believe this just happened...' And it was a clean freestyle, and I just shaking my head because the amount of gratitude and how thankful I am for Rocky and the team and everyone. It felt like such a special moment that all came in at once on the center line. And that's why I just couldn't believe any of it."

The score, her said, "was also a bit surreal, I must say. This whole weekend's been just crazy."

Indian Rock is owned by Zen Elite Equestrian of Ft. Lauderdale, an hour south of Wellington. Zen, owned by entrepreneur Heidi Humphries has bought numerous horses and sponsored some key aspects of the sport in an effort to spur renewed growth of dressage in America.

Zen is also the sponsor of dressage at Fort Worth.

The horse was developed by Emmelie Scholtens who competed the stallion on Dutch teams at the 2022 World Championships, 2023 Europeans and the Paris Olympics in 2024 before the sale to Zen Elite.

Kevin Kohmann is currently the second ranked in North America with 52 points and Benjamin Ebeling third on 49 points, both from the U.S. and each with three competitions.

Photo: Christian Simonson on Indian Rock winning Wellington Freestyle to qualify for the World Cup Final at Fort Worth, Texas in April. © 2026 Ken Braddick/DRESSAGE-NEWS.com