After I won the World Cup finals, I was feeling like, “Okay, the ball is in the (Olympic) selectors’ court.”
The next target was the observation trials. We went to Del Mar a couple of weeks after the World Cup and Flexible was still on fire. We won both of those trials. Then we headed to Calgary. We rested him, so he was fresh, sound, and still feeling very young at 16. I didn’t jump any extra classes with him. It was a very difficult track for the first class, with only two clear, myself and Beezie Madden on Coral Reef Via Volo. He won that. Later that week was the final trial and then the team would be picked. Flexible was still fresh as a daisy.
I never jumped a fence to prep for any of those jump-offs at Del Mar or Calgary. I would just do flatwork and keep him on the aids. I followed Kent Farrington in the ring for the tiebreaker in that final trial. He was riding Uceko and really fast. That particular jump-off track had one place where you jumped a vertical and then you landed and made a left loop around an oxer. I thought, “I can jump this vertical on an extreme angle, right to left, and could pull Flexible left and turn back right to this oxer.” It was very awkward but definitely a shorter track moving around to that oxer. I told my son, Chris, who walked the course with me, that it was doable for Flexible.
I said, “I want to win and make sure I make the team, and I’m going to make that kind of awkward, funny turn there.” The whole crowd oohed and aahed when I jumped the vertical on that super angle. Someone who was videoing asked, “Is he lost? He’s going the wrong way.” But I wasn’t. I couldn’t do anything wrong, and that sealed the deal as far as team selection. It pays to be Flexible! I was super-proud of Flexi and happy with my performance.
That’s how I made the squad for the London Olympics and realized a lifetime ambition by competing there. Although I ended up eighth individually, the highest-placed American, as a team we didn’t finish where we would have liked to and were out of the medals. Even so, it was a great experience and Flexi came through for the country.
That wasn’t anywhere near the end of Flexi’s competitive career, which continued until November of his twentieth year. By that point, though, he wasn’t jumping as consistently as he had in the past, so I didn’t think there was any reason to go on showing with him. He felt good, but he would just make a mistake at some point, and a lot of times, it was later in the course. That wasn’t his style. The pattern was obvious to me and those of us who knew him. He was losing some of his athleticism and endurance, which is natural when you get older.
We started to get him ready for Thermal in 2017, but finally said, “It’s time, he has nothing more to prove.” There was no indicator he would be better at 21 than 20, so we made the decision to retire him after a marvelous career.
Flexi now has babies in the United States and around Europe. I’m hoping someday I can train one of them and enjoy the type of fulfillment and success I’ve had working with this very special stallion, small of stature but large of heart.
Will Simpson
Clinching the Gold
Although he wanted to ride Western when his relationship with horses began, Will changed his mind after he saw jumpers flying over enormous obstacles, horses and riders working together in harmony to clear them.
One of six children who grew up in Springfield, Illinois, he signed up for lessons at age 11 and rode with the Sangamon Pony Club. Will, who went on to work for Rodney Jenkins, gained fame early by setting an outdoor high-jump record of seven feet, nine inches on Jolly Good in 1985 in Cincinnati.
A five-time FEI World Cup finalist, he has won more than 75 Grands Prix, including the Del Mar International for four straight years, before clinching a team gold medal for the United States on El Campeon Farm’s Carlsson vom Dach at the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong.
Will also gives back to the sport. From 1998 through 2008, he served as President of the West Coast Active Riders organization. He also was on the board of the North American Riders Group, and chaired the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s High Performance show jumping committee. Will served on the board of the Compton Junior Posse, coaching inner city children.
Based in California, Will has two children, his son, Ty, and daughter, Sophie, who made her mark as a champion equestrian on the junior scene in her teens.
Will Simpson always looked for his kids after he finished a round at the Olympics, wanting to tip his hat to his son, but he had a bit of a search after the final round in Hong Kong because he didn’t know where they were sitting.
After my first round in the Nations Cup at the 2008 Olympics, where Carlsson vom Dach had a foot in the water, and the second round, where I had the last jump down, the officials added everything up and called us back in for a jump-off against Canada for the gold medal. It all happened so fast, and next thing, you’re called back on your horse. It was basically going from “You’re finished,” to “Here you go again.”
I was a little disappointed following my second round. If there had to be a jump-off, I wanted to seal it so badly. And I got my chance.
I wasn’t concerned that Carlsson vom Dach was out of gas. He was the type of horse suited to that hot, humid climate. I had plenty of horse left. When it was my turn to go, I didn’t have to worry about the clock. Coach George Morris and my teammate McLain Ward came running up in the schooling area as I was finishing getting ready and said, “Now, Will, all you have to do is go clear.”
A sense of panic came over me. “All you have to do is go clear” in a jump-off in the Olympic Games? The jumps are huge. Anything can happen. It’s late at night in Hong Kong, with a crowd of 18,000 people in Sha Tin Stadium watching every move. But here we go.
And then, immediately, I felt a sense of calm. My favorite part of show jumping is the jump-off. We have a saying, “The sport’s no fun unless you get in the jump-off.” And here we were, going into the jump-off! I thought, “Okay, I’ve got this. This is what we do. This horse loves to jump off.” It was time to show the world how well this horse could jump.
So I went in with a peaceful feeling that came over me. We came to the combination on course—we had a slight rub, nothing even close to knocking a rail down. No problem. The last jump seemed to be a mile away…it was at the other end of the ring, a big oxer. I wondered, “Am I going to get in a fight with this horse right here?” But he just got into a groove and I let him go his speed, which is a little fast, and he got right to the base of the jump and fired up over it—way up over the front rail. He soared right over the fence.
Despite running into all kinds of problems on the day of the final selection trial in the United States for the 2008 Olympic team, Will Simpson was able to keep smiling.
After that, the announcer yelled, “Gold for the United States!” What a feeling.
It was a lifetime body of work that came down to a successful moment right then. Both McLain and George were on the kiss-and-cry podium. There was a debate about how fast I was going—some people thought it was way too fast; George thought it was just right. I felt it was the horse’s natural pace, and I wanted his body and his mind working at the same rate. It was a really fun debate…although it would have been a terrible debate if I hadn’t jumped that clean round! But it worked out perfectly, and our anchor rider, Beezie Madden, didn’t even have to jump again.
It was a thrill. Then I was in a little bit of a panic. Ever since we had a double clear in Rome, when my son, Ty, was there, I would tip my hat to him after I crossed the finish. My kids had seats in different sections every day. It took me about an hour to get back and forth from the security area to the public area.
I hadn’t had the time to go see my kids that night, so I had no idea where they were. I had to tip my hat as I went by each individual section