January 10, 2026 
Twenty-three-year old Christian Simonson (USA) is riding high on an eight-start win streak, two new personal bests and a world top 15 ranking this week. The wind behind his sails is partner of just over seven months Indian Rock but it’s three-time U.S. Olympian Adrienne Lyle manning the helm.
Lyle is Simonson’s trainer and the one he credits for their improved scores.
“I just do what she tells me to,” he laughed.
If their CDI-W performances at the Adequan Global Dressage Festival this week are the measure, he’s listening well.
Simonson and Indian Rock earned a personal best score of 76.043% in the FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix on the opening day of AGDF. It was a 1.2% improvement over their previous PB (74.804%) and also a PB the 13-year-old Apache x Vivaldi stallion previously campaigned by Emmelie Scholtens (NED) at both the Herning 2022 World Championships and Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“We’ve worked on finding the right rhythm and balance in the piaffe/passage. We work on accuracy, frame, balance, and things like the zig-zags and changes, which add so many extra points [because of their doubling coefficient]. All those pieces chunked together are probably what made the big jump. I still can’t believe the score, though—holy cow.”
On Friday, Simonson rode Indian Rock to a Joost Peters medley from the Rocky films and another PB of 81.445% to take the win in the FEI World Cup™ Freestyle—securing their ticket to the Final in Fort Worth, TX this April and eighth consecutive win.
“At the end of the test I was shaking my head in absolute disbelief,” said Simonson, who climbed 136 spots up the world rankings this month from no. 151 to 15.
“Since I started riding, I’ve been coming to this show and always hoped that one day I could do Friday Night Stars because it’s the epitome of amazing dressage freestyles in Florida. So, on that last centre line, I was just thinking, ‘Whoa, this is me doing this with the Indian Rock. I can’t believe it.’ It’s weird having a childhood dream come true in real time; this whole show has been surreal.”
“I am so lucky to ride this special horse,” added Simonson. “Hopefully I made Adrienne proud. Rocky will have a rest now, because he really deserves it. Then, we’ll build up again.”
Friday’s Freestyle doubled as a qualifier for the US Equestrian Open of Dressage, now in its second season. Seven of this year’s 24 qualifiers will be held at AGDF, leading up to the final in California in November. Simonson now sits atop both the US Equestrian Open standings with 40 points and the North American League of the FEI Dressage World Cup standings.
International competition returns to AGDF week 5 with the CDI5* and CPEDI3*, January 21–25.
Tickets for the FEI Dressage World Cup™ Final are on sale now at fortworth2026.com/tickets.
