California Riding Magazine • September, 2010

Disappointment for
WEG Hopeful
Nicole Shahinian-Simpson’s
Road to the WEG Cut Short

In a disappointing chain of events, Nicole Shahinian-Simpson lost her ride on Tristan as she prepared for the World Equestrian Games that begin this month.

Shahinian-Simpson has been campaigning the 10-year-old Belgian gelding owned by Tal Milstein and Ilan Ferder, since May 2009. The pair won the U.S. Equestrian Federation selection trials for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games earlier this year. She also rode Tristan on U.S. teams in the Meydan Nations Cup Series, helping the squad to first place finish in Rotterdam and third in Aachen. After riding in the Global Champions Tour Grand Prix in Chantilly, France, on July 25th she learned from the shipping agent that Tristan wouldn’t be returning to the United States with her other horse. When she called the owners they assured her the horse was going to the United States. On Aug. 6, Shahinian-Simpson received a call from a fellow rider that Tristan was showing in a two-star show in Belgium with New Zealand rider Samantha McIntosh. Finally, with a need to know if the horse was going to be available for the WEG, Milstein and Ferder confirmed Tristan was no longer going back to the U.S.

Shahinian-Simpson obviously is very disappointed about this decision and had an excellent chance of making the final team for the United States at the WEG in Kentucky.