Winning CDI Debut for Simonson and Indian Rock at 2025 CDI Ocala

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2025 CDI Ocala

-- WEC press release, edited by Eurodressage

Christian Simonson and the Dutch Olympic team horse Indian Rock made their international show debut at the CDI Ocala on 22 - 25 May 2025 and turned it into a winning one. The 22-year old rider and Heidi Humphries' 12-year old KWPN stallion posted a 70.543% in their first international Grand Prix test as a pair.

Two grand prix classes were held under the lights in the WEC Stadium on Friday, May 23, 2025, on the opening day of the 2025 CDI Ocala, the fifth CDI of 2025 at this venue.

CDI Debut Ride on Indian Rock

Indian Rock sold to the USA in December 2024 for Christian Simonson to ride under Adrienne Lyle's tutelage. After five months of building a partnership and a national show debut after the crowds left at the end of the 2025 Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, the pair felt ready for the international stage.

With a score of 70.543% Simonson and Indian Rock, a 12-year-old KWPN stallion by Apache x Vivaldi, topped the board. Just behind in second place with a score of 70.109% was Simonson’s 2023 Pan American Games gold medal teammate, Anna Marek, with Fire Fly, a 15-year-old KWPN gelding (Briar Junior x OO Seven) owned by Janet Simile. Katie Duerrhammer (USA) and Kylee Lourie's Vividus QRE, a 10-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding (Zaladin MI x Don Charly) finished third with 68.304%. Vividus was bought as a ready-made Grand Prix horse for Duerrhammer from the world number 1, Cathrine Dufour, in December 2024.

Simonson started riding Indian Rock in January 2025 and still communicates regularly with Scholtens to discuss Indian Rock so he can learn more about the horse.

“He and I spend a lot of time together, just hanging out and grazing, and I take care of him along with the team,” said Simonson of Indian Rock. “He is such a kind soul, and he’s so smart. Even for the little things in the barn, he just thinks through everything.

“And then, of course, riding him gives you the most amazing feeling,” he continued. “He feels like a freak under saddle. He can do the most amazing half passes, and his collection work is incredible, and so both of that together, it just feels like a really, really special horse to ride. He’s really incredible.”

Ebeling Closes in on End Goal

In the Grand Prix for Freestyle on Friday evening, the winner’s blanket was placed on Bellena, ridden by Benjamin Ebeling. In their personal best ride together, Ebeling and Bellena were the only plus-70% score in a 12-horse field.

Ebeling felt it was “that first piaffe coming off the left” in the test that contributed to a top score of 70.435%. Four out of five judges agreed, scoring that piaffe an eight, their top-scoring movement of the test.

“I just felt like I had nothing in the hand; it was like a perfect picture of unity and harmony in my mind,” he described. “She could have stayed there forever. That really was a special moment for me.”

Ebeling said that Bellena has been growing in confidence through the grand prix test over the past few weeks and a lot came together for this test. “We’re working to be asymptotic where we get closer and closer to our end goal of having a really clean test,” he said, “and I really feel like this is a 75% horse. I think she’s the best horse that I’ve ever ridden.”

Ebeling took over the ride on Bellena from his father Jan, who has ridden and trained the 15-year-old Hanoverian mare (by Belissimo M x Welser) since she was six years old.

“My dad keeps telling me, ‘She’s going to trust you. You just have to wait, be patient, and take one step at a time through the training. Focus on the training and not the competition,’” said Ebeling. “He’s right. We are slowly growing together, and I can feel that trust coming. She’s really coming to the party, so it’s a cool feeling.”

Earlier in the day, Benjamin Ebeling was also victorious in the Prix St. Georges CDI1* on Pestano van de Kampert, a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding by Destano x Laudabilis owned by Amy Roberts Ebeling. They scored 69.559% for the win.

Marek and Simonson on Second Horses

Second place in the Grand Prix for Freestyle with 69.717% went to Anna Marek (USA) riding Fayvel, a 15-year-old KWPN gelding by Zizi Top x Houston owned by Cynthia Davila.

The 22-year old Simonson also competed Fleau de Baian in Ocala and placed third in the Grand Prix for kur with 67.500%. Adelinde Cornelissen's former international Grand Prix horse was the first big tour schoolmaster which Humphries bought for Simonson in December 2023. The pair did not show for a year and only did two national classes in January before their CDI debut in Ocala;

“To have a debut together, especially at this level, and at my age and everything, I’m just like, ‘Holy cow, how did I get here?’” he said. “Man, I’m a little speechless, honestly. It’s really special. Everyone at Zen Elite Equestrian Center are the ones that make it possible to have these opportunities. I like learning every day, and being with the horses is really what I enjoy the most. Then, having a day like this on top of that, just makes it really exciting.

“I have so much more to learn about the horses and training and more importantly, all the things in between – the care and things like that. I feel very grateful for these two amazing horses, their incredible owners Zen Elite, my trainer Adrienne Lyle, and the entire team we have back home. I’m just one part of an incredible group that makes everything happen.”

Double Wins for Simonson and Ebeling

On Saturday 24 May both Simonson and Ebeling scored a double victory.

Simonson and Indian Rock received 74.277% in the Grand Prix Special. With a class under their belt, Simonson felt that he had a better idea of what to expect going into the Special.

“I think on Friday, it was a little bit of new ground for both him and I,” he related. “Going on the second day, I had kind of a game plan of knowing, ‘This is the cycle of aids I need to have outside of the ring to get him really focused.’ And I think once he knew that he was like, ‘Okay, Dad, I know what we’re doing now,’ and then was super focused on me throughout the whole test.”

Simonson felt that his passage/extended trot tour was a highlight of the test and that “Rocky tried his absolute heart out.” He added, “He has so much scope and ability in those movements. It feels like you’re kind of flying through that part of the test. His lead changes are like nothing else and also in his half-passes and lateral work I can see his legs beneath me. I can just feel all the elasticity. It’s a really, really fun, amazing feeling.”

Anna Marek and Fire Fly scored 70.064% for second place. Third place with 68.319% went to Katie Duerrhammer (USA) and Vividus QRE.

In just their third freestyle performance, Ebeling and Bellena set a new high score together of 76.190% for victory in the Grand Prix Freestyle. Ebeling and Bellena debuted this freestyle at the April Dressage show at Ocala, where Ebeling declared it his “best ride ever.” The music includes the songs “Femininomenon” by Chappell Roan, “Rich Girl” by Gwen Stefani, “Maneater” by Nelly Furtado, and “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran and Beyonce – which was their walk music that garnered them an 8.5 in extended walk from the judge at C – and was produced by Karen Robinson of Applause Dressage.

Marek and Fayvel were close behind in second with a score of 75.620%. In their first CDI freestyle together, Simonson and Fleau de Baian scored 72.330% for third place.