Meet the US Dressage Team Headed to the 2026 World Championships

The US has settled on four combinations for the FEI World Championships in Aachen. The team medals are decided first, over two days of Grand Prix on August 11 and 12. The individual medals come later, in the Grand Prix Special on the 14th and the Freestyle on the 15th. Three of the four riders currently sit inside the top ten of the US Equestrian Open of Dressage standings. Here's who they are and what each brings to the ring at Aachen.

Ashley Holzer and Hawtins San Floriana

Holzer is the most decorated rider on the team, a four-time Olympian who won team bronze for Canada at Seoul in 1988 before she declared for the US. She has spent this summer competing in Europe ahead of Aachen, with a runner-up finish at the Hartpury Festival of Dressage along the way. "Flo" came to her from Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin, and when Holzer is at Hester's yard in England she hacks the mare out through the picturesque countryside. The partnership took time to build. Holzer has said that getting a mare to cooperate means asking, then asking again with a please, and then, when that fails, sending flowers. She has been the freestyle machine of the group this season, with five performances and an average just shy of 75%. She also holds the best Grand Prix Special score of the four team riders, a personal-best of 72.574% for second at Hartpury. Her freestyle this year is set to Neil Diamond's "Coming to America," a nod to her own move to the States. She currently leads the US Equestrian Open of Dressage standings.

Jordan LaPlaca and Gold Play

LaPlaca is based out of Maverick Hill Dressage in Ledyard, Connecticut, and works with mentor Albrecht Heidemann and Christine Traurig, who happens to be the Chef d'Equipe steering this Aachen team. He produced Gold Play himself, buying the gelding as a four-year-old from German team rider Frederic Wandres and bringing him all the way up to the top. The Grand Prix Special is this pair’s strongest test. LaPlaca won it at the Wellington Nations Cup on his senior team debut. Gold Play enjoyed the one-tempi changes so much that day that he added two extra down the centerline, and they won anyway. They have since pushed their personal best to 71.745% at Hagen. LaPlaca has ridden almost everything, from hunters and jumpers to saddleseat, eventing, and driving, and he still competes as an FEI-registered driver. This is a breakout season for LaPlaca in the senior at Grand Prix.

Christian Simonson and Fleau de Baian

Simonson is the youngest rider on the squad and in his first season in the senior division. He grew up in Ventura, California, is now based in Wellington, and trains under Olympian Adrienne Lyle. "Felix" was developed to the top level by Dutch star Adelinde Cornelissen before Simonson took over the ride, and the horse is owned by Zen Elite Equestrian Center. Together they posted the best freestyle score on the team this year. That was a 76.570% at the Hagen Nations Cup on the Fourth of July, a mark Simonson loved for the date as much as the number, and it came in only their second freestyle together. Away from the ring Simonson is the adventurous sort, with a student pilot's license earned at 15 and a childhood spent mountain biking, skiing, and scuba diving before dressage won out. He currently sits tenth in the US Equestrian Open of Dressage standings, and holds one of the highest freestyle scores in the Series on his other mount, Indian Rock. 

Geñay Vaughn and Gino

Vaughn runs Starr Vaughn Equestrian in Elk Grove, California, alongside her mother Michele, who is both her coach and Gino's owner. She also trains with Kathleen Raine in California and Patrick Kittel in Germany. She comes from sporting stock: her father is former Major League Baseball slugger Greg Vaughn, and Geñay was born the year he made an All-Star team, which is how she and the family farm both ended up named Starr. Michele bought Gino as a green six-year-old back in 2017, rode him herself, then handed the reins to her daughter once she saw what he could become. Vaughn calls him her best friend first and her teammate second. Gino is the Grand Prix engine of the team, and his 72.282% at Del Mar this year is the best of the four. She currently sits fifth in the standings and became the first rider to win two consecutive Open qualifiers this season. 

The reserves

Two combinations stand ready behind the team. Kasey Perry-Glass and Heartbeat W.P. are first reserve, with Meagan Davis and Toronto Lightfoot second. All six will have one eye on the fall, when the Series picks back up and builds toward the Final at Thermal in November. First, though, comes Aachen.