{"id":363097,"date":"2026-01-10T00:20:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T05:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/?post_type=article&#038;p=363097"},"modified":"2026-01-10T00:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T05:21:33","slug":"agdf-freestyle-winner-simonson-its-weird-having-a-dream-come-true-in-real-time","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/article\/agdf-freestyle-winner-simonson-its-weird-having-a-dream-come-true-in-real-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Simonson: &#8216;It&#8217;s Weird Having A Childhood Dream Come True In Real Time&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Entering to the unmistakable opening chords of \u201cEye of the Tiger,\u201d Christian Simonson and his own Rocky floated like butterflies through the IDA Development FEI World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday night\u2014and straight to another personal-best score and the eighth win of their unbeaten international career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This opening week of the 2026 Adequan Global Dressage Festival marks the one-year anniversary of Simonson\u2019s partnership with Indian Rock, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion&nbsp;(Apache\u2014Crisjena, Vivaldi) owned by Zen Elite Equestrian. To celebrate, they have scored a pair of personal bests between&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/article\/video-simonson-and-indian-rock-kick-off-agdf-with-a-personal-best\/\" target=\"_blank\">Thursday\u2019s Grand Prix test<\/a>&nbsp;(76.04%) and Friday\u2019s freestyle, which scored 81.44%, just edging past their previous top freestyle mark of 81.40%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Simonson, the chance to ride under the lights at AGDF, to a Joost Peters-designed medley from the &#8220;Rocky&#8221; films for the stallion he calls \u201cRocky,\u201d was a dream fulfilled.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" src=\"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Christian-Simonson-Indian-Rock-\u00a9Centre-Line-Media_260109_AGDF1_Class501-1-700x467.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-post-363097 wp-image-363099\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christian Simonson was all smiles Dec. 9 as he and Indian Rock danced to a new personal-best score of 81.44% and punched their ticket to the upcoming FEI World Cup Finals. Centre Line Media Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the test, I was shaking my head in absolute disbelief,\u201d said Simonson, 23, who trains with U.S. Olympian Adrienne Lyle. \u201cSince I started riding, I\u2019ve been coming to this show and always hoped that one day I could do Friday Night Stars, because it\u2019s the epitome of amazing dressage freestyles in Florida. So, on that last centerline, I was just thinking, \u2018Whoa, this is&nbsp;<em>me<\/em>&nbsp;doing this with&nbsp;<em>the<\/em>&nbsp;Indian Rock. I can\u2019t believe it.\u2019 It\u2019s weird having a childhood dream come true in real time; this whole show has been surreal.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Watch their winning freestyle, courtesy of Wellington International:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"text-align:center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"760\" height=\"410\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KoLGsl2RHyU?si=bmvH4gx-ZJClBQBW\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Simonson credited the \u201chours and hours a day\u201d he spends with Rocky for the strong bond they have forged in their year together. Their performances in AGDF&#8217;s season-opening&nbsp;Lloyd Landkamer Memorial week, in front of a sold-out grandstand,&nbsp;qualified them for the FEI World Cup Finals, to be held&nbsp;April 8-12&nbsp;in Fort Worth, Texas.&nbsp;They also give the pair an <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/us.equestrian-hub.com\/public\/championship\/dressage\/708\" target=\"_blank\">early lead<\/a> in the&nbsp;US Equestrian Open of Dressage series ahead of Thursday and Friday\u2019s second-placed pair, Ge\u00f1ay Vaughn and Gino\u2014as well as generating buzz around a possible team selection for the upcoming FEI Dressage World Championships to be held in August in Aachen, Germany.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am so lucky to ride this special horse,\u201d Simonson said. \u201cHopefully I made Adrienne proud. Rocky will have a rest now, because he really deserves it. Then, we\u2019ll build up again.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>California-based Vaughn, who was also riding in her first Friday Night Stars, scored 75.79% Friday with Gino to repeat her Thursday placing and earn the second podium spot.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe drove for four days and arrived on Christmas,\u201d she said. \u201cThe atmosphere here is amazing, and I was really thankful that I got to take Gino down centerline at Friday Night Stars and experience this. I always have fun with my freestyle music. I used Donna Summers, the Ohio Players, and my dad\u2019s favorite song, \u2018Never Too Much\u2019 by Luther Vandross. It really embodies who I am and the music I grew up on.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Third-place Ashley Holzer and Hawtins San Floriana (75.01%) rode to patriotic music.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m an immigrant,\u201d said Holzer, who rode for Canada at four Olympics before switching citizenship to the United States. \u201cI\u2019m appreciative to be an American, and I think the Neil Diamond music suits her. It felt pretty amazing to feel everything come together in the test and have her trust me a bit more. She\u2019s a hot mare with a lot of energy, and I was happy to feel her joyful in the ring.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two new awards have been introduced for ADGF 2026. Simonson is the early leader in the new Leading International Freestyle Rider standings, and Vaughn earned the Leading Lady Freestyle Rider Award.&nbsp;Simonson&#8217;s groom, Marina Lemay, was awarded the groom\u2019s award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See complete results&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/equestrian-hub.com\/show\/261551\/competition\/dressage\/12656935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About American Regent Animal Health&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>American Regent Animal Health, a division of American Regent, Inc., is committed to advancing animal health with proven FDA-approved products like Adequan\u00ae (polysulfated glycosaminoglycan). The company\u2019s portfolio is anchored by the only FDA-approved polysulfated glycosaminoglycan products for horses and dogs, which have been relied on for over three decades by veterinarians. American Regent, Inc., a Daiichi Sankyo Group Company, manufactures and distributes human and veterinary pharmaceutical products and is committed to providing the ever-changing U.S. healthcare marketplace with a growing and diversified American Regent portfolio. For more information on American Regent Animal Health, visit ARAnimalHealth.com or call 800-458-0163. PP-AI-US-0523<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Entering to the unmistakable opening chords of \u201cEye of the Tiger,\u201d Christian Simonson and his own Rocky floated like butterflies through the IDA Development FEI World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday night\u2014and straight to another personal-best score and the eighth win of their unbeaten international career. This opening week of the 2026 Adequan Global [&hellip;]\n","protected":false},"author":114810,"featured_media":363100,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"tags":[11572,8150,10805],"article_categories":[976,9401,2540],"acf":{"ad_unit":"","ad_unit_mobile":"","spotlight_visible_till":"","image_home_display":"","facebook_image":"","featured_image_caption":"","hide_featured_image":["yes"],"sponsor_heading":"Sponsored by ","sponsor":"Adequan\u00ae i.m.","sponsor_logo":"","sponsor_link":"adequan.com","related_gallery":"0","blogger_profile":71311},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/363097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114810"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/363097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363105,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/363097\/revisions\/363105"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogger_profile\/71311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363097"},{"taxonomy":"article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_categories?post=363097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}