Last Updated on October 31, 2025 by adminahb
Walkenbach Equestrian LLC’s Oldenburg mare, Crystal Blue, and John French.
The pinnacle of the 142nd National Horse Show Hunter competition took center stage in Alltech Arena, where an elite group of 16 horse-and-rider combinations were invited back for the $75,000 National Horse Show Hunter Classic. In its fifth year, the Hunter Classic highlights performance, style, and skill over two rounds.
John French and Walkenbach Equestrian LLC’s Oldenburg mare, Crystal Blue, led from start to finish with first-round scores of 91 and 92 and second-round scores of 93 and 91. Not only did French win the class, but he also earned Reserve Champion honors with Little Brook LLS’s KWPN stallion, Kaiden.
Heading into his last round, French had already secured the first-place spot and could only lose to himself. “It’s always nice when you know you’ve won it already on one horse, so I was a little bit less nervous. I just went for a smooth ride — a little bit more showing the horse off than the first round.”
Kelly Sims’ Cannon Beach, a Danish Warmblood gelding guided by Michael Britt-León, claimed third-place honors. “He’s a wonderful horse. He comes to the ring the same every single day. He really tries hard.” In his first year, Cannon Beach was champion two weeks ago in Harrisburg, and that experience prepared him to rise to the occasion in the Alltech Arena, earning a score of 84.75 in the second round following an initial score of 89 in the first.
To round out the award presentations, the BioStar Happy Horse Award was given to Kelly Sims’ Cannon Beach and rider Michael Britt-Leon.
About the course, French shared, “It was great tonight. It had bending lines, and this is such a nice ring to ride in because it is bigger that most of the indoor rings that we’ve been showing in. So you can carry some pace and gallop around.” That was the intention of course designer Paul Jewell, who designed the track with this specifically in mind. Britt-León agreed. “There were opportunities for you to make decisions that best show off your animal. It was different than your normal course that gets built, which I thought made it more interesting and a little bit more exciting.”
For more information, visit nhs.org.