Before the Competiton

Once the riders had qualified and before competing in the class the riders met with AHJF President Geoff Teall, Vice President Louise Serio and Show Manager Billy Glass to discuss strategy, the plan for the event and to express their thoughts about this innovative class.

"The spirit of the class is good competition and good fun," commented Billy Glass. The riders look forward to this class. "I always want to get in," commented Stewart who was not feeling his best and admitted that he was "going to go to sleep" before returning for the evening competition.

The fact that Pletcher was the 2002 winner made him even more determined. "It would be great to win it again and I'm going to have even more incentive going into tonight," he commented. When asked why, Pletcher added, "because these are the top four riders of our business and we work hard to qualify for this class and it's a hard class to win and I want to win it twice. I think showing in the hunters is hard but when everyone gets together you really want to get out there and try." Even after the class Pletcher's enthusiasm did not diminish. "It is a great class to ride in with a lot of enthusiasm. It's the end all!"

Schatt is another staunch supporter. Schatt, who won the class in the 90s, commented, "I think it profiles the hunter riders and it's nice for the owners of the horses to know that they have nice enough horses to qualify to be ridden in this class." Schatt went on to talk about the media sponsorship by Show Circuit Magazine and the fact that horse shows should honor the winner of this class at other shows the way they recognize the jumper riders. "This is the best hunter rider in the country and it would be a nice thing for the other horse shows to announce this throughout the year when the winner competes. If they do it for the grand prix riders, why not do it for the World Champion Hunter Rider."

Commented Darling, "I'm just happy to be here and honored to be in it. In the beginning of the year I didn't set my goals on this class but once I got closer to the top in the standings I started to work towards it."

"The best thing about this class is it is totally different. There is nothing else like it in the hunters. People really love to watch it and the audience support is so great. We are asking the riders to do something they don't normally do. It's one of the few things in the sport of hunters that happens fast, is easy to follow, exciting to watch, and different from what the spectators normally see," added Teall.

"The riders are competing so hard to get into this class," commented Serio, Kennett Square, PA. "It's exciting to see them have such a great opportunity to go in a class like this. It is one of the few goals that you can have that shows off the riders and their skills. It's less about the horses and more about the riders."