Pan Am Medal Winner Fire Fly Ready to "Play the Game" with Jim Koford at 2026 CDI Ocala

Dressage

U.S.A.

American Grand Prix rider Jim Koford will be riding down the centerline at the 2026 CDI Ocala with a familiar horse, Pan American Games bronze medal winner Firefly.

"Country Boy" Firefly is not ready yet to hang up his shoes for a full retirement and 63-year old James "Jim" Koford is planning on having some fun at the CDI Ocala upcoming weekend.

Imported from Holland

Fire Fly is a 16-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Briar Junior out of Arieka (by OO Seven x Kennedy). He is bred by Anton Geessink in The Netherlands. He was originally named Flying Dutchman.

Owner Janet Simile imported Fire Fly as a 7-year old from Holland with the help of Gotien Sipsma, the bay was first competed in the U.S.A. in 2019 by Yvonne Barteau. Between January and March 2019 she showed him in 10 small tour level classes.

As of May 2019 the horse was campaigned by Shelley van den Neste. She took him to the 2019 and 2020 USDF Region 3 Championships at small tour level. They rode in the Amateur small tour classes at the 2020 CDI Wellington and moved up to national Grand Prix level in June 2020. They competed at the 2020 U.S. Championships in Wayne, ILL, posting 63.873% in the Inter II and 61.50% in the Grand Prix. They had their CDI debut at Grand Prix level in January 2021 in the Amateur Grand Prix classes in Wellington in January 2021 and went to the CDI Tryon in April 2021, the final months Van den Neste competed Fire Fly for owner Simile.

Pan Am Medal Winner

In July 2021 Anna Marek welcomed Fire Fly, aka "Fred", into her barn when she was pregnant with her second child.

Fire Fly needed special care and feeling to manage his sensitive nature and does not live by a traditional stall routine but instead is turned out 24/7. Coached by Anne Gribbons, Marek transformed Fire Fly into a 70+% scoring Grand Prix horse.

Their international debut was in Wellington in March 2022 and their carer highlight year was in 2023. After showing in Wellington and Ocala they were nominated on the U.S. team and helped secure team gold at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. They earned individual bronze in the Grand Prix freestyle.

They made the U.S. Olympic short list for the 2024 Paris Olympics based on scores achieved at CDI's in Wellington, Hagen, Kronberg and Aachen.

In 2025 they continued to show in Wellington, Ocala and had their last CDI ride in Devon in September 2025.

"Country Boy"

After Devon Marek and Simile decided to allow Fire Fly shift down a gear in his sport career and continue as a schoolmaster for Janet.

"He moved back to the owner's farm and was turned out with a small gelding group," Jim Koford told Eurodressage. "She has a small breeding operation and some terrific young horses. In November she reached out to see if I would come out to the farm to teach her and her husband some lessons and to evaluate some of the up and coming horses. One of the horses I sat on that day was Fire Fly. Clearly he was ready to go back to work."

Koford has been lightly training the rising 16-year old Fire Fly and they will be making their show debut as a pair at the CDI Ocala on 30 January 2026.

"He seems to like being a country boy so he lives at home with his friends," said Koford. "I ride him there 4 or 5 days/week. We did a national show in the middle of January. He produced solid rides in the Grand Prix and the Special. The next step is the CDI Ocala."

Koford added with a smile, "at this point I feel like Fire Fly and I are two older guys with nothing to prove but still want to play the game."