Christian Simonson had never ridden a CDI special on Fleau De Baian, and made his debut a winning one in the Modon CDI3* Grand Prix Special. Aboard the 16-year-old Jazz x Ulft stallion, Simonson led the field of 14 with a 70% score on a sunny Saturday during Week 5 of the 12-week 2026 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL.

Photo – Christian Simonson & Fleau De Baian. (©Centre Line Media)

Ashley Holzer joined Simonson on the all-American podium, slotting into second with 69.447% on her own and Diane Fellows’ 14-year-old San Amour mare, Hawtins San Floriana. Jennifer Williams and the 12-year-old Rousseau gelding Joppe K’s 68.872% earned them the yellow ribbon.

Simonson and Fleau De Baian earned plenty of eights, mitigating the dip in marks for mistakes in both lines of changes on the diagonal, though the one-times down the centerline were lovely. This result marked the first CDI win for the duo since Simonson took over the reins in late 2023 from Adelinde Cornelissen, who also rode Fleau De Baian’s full brother Parzival at two Olympic Games.
The win was particularly sweet for Simonson as he and Fleau De Baian were eliminated for a blood speck in the horse’s mouth at the conclusion of his grand prix test during AGDF 3.

Learning Process

Christian Simonson and Fleau De Baian (Photo: ©Centre Line Media)

“Horses are always a learning process, and with ‘Felix’ I’ve learned an immense amount about them already,” said the 23-year-old rider. “It’s a testament to my trainer Adrienne [Lyle] and the team that we can deconstruct what happened and look at how we can best understand it and move forward. Today was a good reflection of our mentality to always try to do right by our horses, understand them better and present them better.

“Felix has so much strength and just wants to go, go, go—especially in the last extended trot today. I was thinking, ‘Oh man, don’t break—if we break, Adrienne will be upset with me!’,” continued the Wellington, FL-based Simonson. “We had mistakes in the changes, but that’s just him and me learning how to compete in the stadium. I was able to do the piaffe transitions really well, though. He has such a good heart and really tries his hardest.

“This was our first special and I’ve only done a couple of them total, so it’s been really fun,” he added. “It’s very different than the grand prix or freestyle because there are so many transitions. Last season, we were only focusing on the U25 with Felix, so it’s been kind of a refinement. At home, we’re focusing on suppleness and elasticity with him. Around the barn, he loves showing off and yelling at the other horses, but he is never wild and is good-natured. He’ll scream, but doesn’t actually do anything, which is cute. We call him a little lion because he loves roaring at everyone.”

Click here for results from the Modon CDI3* Grand Prix Special

AGDF 5 concludes on Sunday, February 8, a day that features the next Buffalo Wild Wings Prix St. Georges Future Challenge for emerging small tour horses. AGDF, which hosts seven weeks of CDI competition, runs through March 29. For more information, results, and to live stream the classes in the International Arena free of charge, visit www.wellingtoninternational.com.