Equestrian Will Simpson brings a lot of experience to Olympic bid
Filed Under: NEWS!
Filed Under: NEWS!
For Will Simpson, it was the horse tip of a lifetime.
Had it not been for a contact in Germany, an Olympic Games dream might have been put on hold until 2012 for the 49-year-old horseman for El Campeon Farms in Thousand Oaks.
Twelve-year-old Holsteiner gelding Carlsson vom Dach will be Simpson’s ride for show jumping events in Hong Kong for the 2008 Olympics.
“He has all the ingredients,” said Simpson, who has trained with the dark bay horse since the spring of 2007. “He’s brave. Careful. Fast.”
The perfect blend for Simpson’s go-for-broke style.
It will be Simpson’s first Olympic appearance.
Owed, in part, to Gilbert Boeckmann, who advised Simpson to look into purchasing Carlsson vom Dach from Christian Seimer.
“Like in every business, when you buy a horse, it’s due diligence,” said El Campeon owner Eva Gonda. “It’s not just having a talented horse. It’s seeing that talent of horse is compatible with the rider.”
Six months after the horse was brought to Ventura County, Simpson knew that he had a perfect match.
Simpson brings 38 years of riding experience to the biggest event of his career.
In a sport that Americans more than likely would associate with wealthy families, Simpson can bring a different face.
“It’s seen as a hobby for the elite,” said Gonda, an accomplished rider herself.
With his down-to-earth charm, Simpson could be marketed as the “Cowboy Equestrian.”
“Will is a showman,” said Gonda. “He has a great personality. At the same time, he has a very competitive spirit with a hunger to succeed. He has compassion for the horse, but is not one to be overly so. For all the years of knowing him, he has always been considered a cowboy.
“He’s a good athlete and a student of horsemanship. He’s inquisitive. He watches videotapes of the masters.”
Simpson might look as good on the saddle of a palomino.
Chasing after robbers in a scene from the Old West.
“People describe me as a go-for-it rider,” said Simpson. “I am usually very fast in the first round and in the jump-off. I attack the course.”
Horsemanship has been part of Simpson’s surroundings as he grew up in Springfield, Ill.
Three years after being introduced to the sport, the 14-year-old Simpson became so proficient his parents sent him to Chicago to serve a two-year apprenticeship.
He became skilled in many aspects of the horse business.
“I can wear every hat,” said Simpson, who has worked for El Campeon Farms for the last 12 years. “I can do the shoeing. I can work with the young horses. I can drive the trucks. I can teach. I love it all. There is always something to learn in the horse business.”
Simpson made an impression on the sport early in his career by setting an outdoor high-jump record of 7 feet, 914 inches on Jolly Good in 1985 in Cincinnati.
Seventeen years later, he won the West Coast League with a score of 91 — third highest total in the league’s history — out of a maximum 100. He won the Del Mar International Grand Prix four straight years, captured the 2006 CANA Cup, the 2007 Ariat Grand Prix and has represented the United States five times in World Cup finals.
Nothing has compared to his 2008 season.
Right out of the gate, Simpson won the $100,000 Zada Enterprises Masters Cup in Wellington, Fla., on March 2.
One month later, he saddled Tosca to victory in the 1.40-meter Jumper Classic at the Tournament of Champions during the Tampa (Fla.) Equestrian Festival. The two were victorious at the $25,000 International Accumulator in Charlotte, N.C., where Simpson scored 65 points in the fastest time of the night (46.19) in mid-April.
In Europe for a three-month-long training session, Simpson placed second to England’s John Whitaker in a jump-off at the Samsung Super League in Rome on May 24. Simpson had the fastest time, but clipped one of the three elements.
Those performances helped gain Simpson confidence on the international stage without compromising the long-range plan he and Gonda had mapped out.
“Instead of planning how to get to the Olympics, we made a plan for what to do when we get there,” said Simpson. “We worked backward from the Olympics.
“We had a fresh horse when we started the season and a fresh one when we ended.”
Most of his European trip was spent in Germany, where many of the top equestrian’s athletes reside.
As Simpson has studied their styles and techniques, not far from his thoughts is the event’s biggest rival.
“The course designer is the enemy,” said Simpson.
Like golf, equestrian courses have their own little quirks. Most of the top riders avoid courses that have a reputation of being slippery.
The 100-meter by 80-meter Sha Tin course in Hong Kong was designed by an Australian equestrian architectural firm of Timothy Court and Company.
“We know his habits and are training for them,” said Simpson. “I feel prepared.”
Before the competition, Simpson will walk the course. “I’ll just take the whole thing in and figure out what the course is like; how it starts and how it finishes. Will speed be a factor or will there be an element of surprise?”
At the age of 49, Simpson’s best days appear ahead of him.
“It takes a long time to learn how to do it,” said Simpson, “but you get to do it for a long time. I want to do a few more Olympic Games.”
Ten-year-old daughter Sophie and 6-year-old son Ty are his inspirations.
“They are a big role in why I keep going,” he said.
