October 18, 2025, Myakka City, Florida. Christian Simonson and Indian Rock continued their domination at TerraNova’s October CDI, producing an exemplary 81.405% performance to top the B&D Builders LLC World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle, their first ever in international company. Despite being together for less than a year, they demonstrated harmony, huge power, and maximum elasticity to a punchy soundtrack of ‘Rocky’ movie music.
Ben Ebeling was the last to go, pulling off a new international personal best of 78.055% to clinch second place with his girl power freestyle routine. The class doubled as a qualifier for the World Cup Final in Texas in April, and also as the penultimate opportunity to gain valuable US Equestrian Open of Dressage points ahead of the $200,000 final showdown in California next month. Ebeling’s ride on Ann Romney’s 15-year-old mare Bellena (by Belissimo M x Welser) rocketed him up the US Open leaderboard into second place.
Kevin Kohmann’s third place finish vaulted him up into third place on the US Open standings with a classy 77.17% ride on Diamante Farm’s Dünensee, a 16-year-old Dancier gelding.
Simonson’s victory extended his exemplary international record with Zen Elite Equestrian’s 12-year-old Apache x Vivaldi stallion Indian Rock, making it four wins from four starts for the dynamic duo.
“On the last centerline I was just thinking, ‘Holy cow, this is crazy, I can’t believe I’m riding the Indian Rock,’ so I couldn’t help but smile,” said Simonson, who was performing the complex freestyle for just the second time in competition. “With the World Cup Final coming, I wanted to make sure the freestyle was the best that we can be. With the degree of difficulty, that’s kinda the game that you play with the choreography. We really want to show off Rocky’s big, scopey half-passes so we purposely added the extra steepness and tried to show seamless transitions.”
Simonson, originally from California, is now based in Wellington, Florida, with his coach Adrienne Lyle, an Olympic team silver medalist. His move across the country is paying dividends. He picked up nines for passage, the one-time changes, and the double canter pirouette left. Their degree of difficulty mark averaged 9.52, bolstered by combinations such as a piaffe pirouette directly into passage half-pass.
“I feel like the luckiest person ever,” added the 23-year-old Simonson, who took over the ride from Dutch athlete Emmelie Scholtens in December 2024. “It’s really cool to get that score and it’s testament to what an amazing horse he is, how much try he has, and the whole team we have behind us. Our short-term goal is another CDI-W soon, and long-term is to make it to the World Cup Final in Fort Worth which would be a childhood dream come true.”
A Special debut for Destare
The German anthem rang out once again in the CDI3* ranks, this time for Christoph Koschel’s win in the Akerman LLP Grand Prix Special, his second victory in as many days. His 10-year-old Danciano x Fürst Romancier gelding, Destare, has competed sparingly in international shows, this was his second at the level, and his first Special. They scored 69.489% with a high score of 72.979% from the judge at E, Christoph Umbach (LUX), to take the win unanimously. They picked up eights for passage and one-time changes, and a nine for the final halt.
“It was a shame about the two broken half-passes,” commented Koschel, referring to Destare passing droppings in the first trot half-pass and tripping in the second. “That’s killer on the score because those movements have a double coefficient, but I was so happy with how he got back into it and finished up, especially with him being a young horse and not knowing what was coming next in the test.
“He showed a better picture than yesterday, with more self-carriage,” he continued. “I felt a lot of power in the warm-up; yesterday I thought he was maybe tired from the trip over from Germany a week ago, but actually I think he’s shy and just needs to get used to the atmosphere in these rings. I didn’t do young horse classes with him and haven’t competed him that much, so he just needs mileage to gain more self-confidence.
“The willingness was there, so I honestly don’t care about the mistakes because we can fix those,” added Koschel, who was also busy training numerous clients at the show. “I’ll also maybe practice the Special test a bit more at home because when I was in there I have to admit that I was wondering whether I had ever ridden some of the movements, like the one-time changes on the centerline, with him before.
“Still, we will see where this journey takes us. It is for sure exciting to train him all the way up. I see the potential for higher scores at home already, and now my job is to bring that feeling into the ring. From what I see, there’s a lot of good stuff in him,” concluded Koschel, who is based in Wellington, Florida for the winter season.
Saturday’s classes concluded action in TerraNova’s October CDI, however national classes continue on Sunday, October 19. The next USEF rated national show takes place January 16-18, 2026, with the next CDI slated for April 1-4, 2026.
Words by Alice Collins for TerraNova Equestrian Center