Christian Simonson was happy about his win in the FEI Intermediaire II, the first leg of the Adequan/USEF Brentina Cup, at the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions (Illinois), but the 22-year-old rider was even more excited about giving his gelding, Son Of A Lady (Soreldo—Western Lady, Welt Hit II), another encouraging competition experience.
“This is his first year of Grand Prix—and this is the biggest thing I’m thinking about also for every test—is just to give him a good experience and have him and I build a lot of trust together,” Simonson said. “That was my biggest thought coming into today and for this weekend as a whole.”
The pair earned a 68.03%, pulling them into the lead ahead of Ella Fruchterman and Hannah Montana W in second (65.97%) and Sophia Schults and Conocido HGF in third (65.50%).
Simonson tries to keep in mind that Christina Morgan and Clifton Simonson’s 13-year-old “Sonny” is still green as a Grand Prix horse, so even with the pressure of a championship on the line, the rider tried to frame the U25 class as a learning opportunity.
“While I have standards for him, I can’t expect him to do a perfect piaffe-passage, or something like that,” he said. “I have to be like, this is just where we’re at right now strength wise; and whenever he tries for me, which he always does, I have to be really rewarding of that.”
On Thursday, the duo will return to compete against eight other pairs in their division for the Brentina Cup championship. Simonson says he’ll have one thing at the top of his mind: balance.
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“The U25 individual test is a really twisty-turny test, and it’s hard to keep balanced at all times,” he said. “So that’s what I always try to think of in that test.”
Arts Leads The Way In 7-Year-Old Division
Across the way in the HITS Lamplight Markel Arena, judges saw the 7-year-olds, the oldest batch to compete in the Markel/USEF Young and Developing Horse Dressage National Championships. In the FEI 7-Year-Old Preliminary Test, Willy Arts and Makanabria DG (Rock Forever I—Gamebria DG, Belissimo M) earned first with a 74.43%, while Elizabeth Bortuzzo and Viconte secured second (73.46%) and Laura Brandt and Ikon took third (73.33%). Following each young horse test, the judges offered constructive commentary along with their scoring.
Following the winning test by Arts and “Makana,” the judges praised the Dutch Warmblood mare, saying, “We appreciated her consistency and her willingness to work for you. In the trot, we found that she was elastic and supple and shows the ability to engage her hindquarters.”
Arts has been working with the homebred mare, owned by Caitlin Hamar of DG Bar Ranch, for about a year and a half.
“She’s a fun horse—a lot of potential,” Arts said. “Yeah, she has a little bit of a mind of her own. Once she has your confidence, she’s a worker. Very hopeful for the future for her.
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“She’s still pretty green at this level, so I was very happy with the ride,” he added. “Yeah, [there are] all these little things that you’d like to change, but I was very pleased that the horse was right on the whole test.”
Brimmer Wins Para Dressage Championship
After two days of competition, the para riders competed in their final class, the FEI Para Grand Prix freestyle, where Eleanor Brimmer clinched the championship title on My Moment (Fuerst Romancier—High Sun, Hotline) with a 73.13%. Sydney Collier and Bell Bottoms scored a 69.55% for second and Paige Schmidt and 26-year-old Kimique landed in third with a 60.35%.
“I was coming in with, you know, like any good Midwesterner, low expectations,” Brimmer said of her winning performance on the 14-year-old Hanoverian mare she’s leasing from Anette Grant. “I just wanted to go and have clean tests and good rides. I just love this horse so much. Every day, she rose to the occasion and was understanding the job. Every single time we get on center line, she just gets better and better.”
In this morning’s Grand Prix class, Karen Lipp and her 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Infinity (Dream Boy—Ultraster, Freestyle) took the Grand Prix with a 66.84%. Amy Bradley on Quileute CCW (Quaterback—Glueckslady, Glueckspilz) took second with a 66.63% and Callie O’Connell on Eaton H (Wynton—Ziolita, San Remo) took third with a 61.00%. The three riders will return for the Grand Prix Special on Thursday and the Grand Prix freestyle on Saturday.
See complete results here.
