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50 SIDELINES AUGUST 2012 
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
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By Holly Hugo-Vidal
John French is one of the premier riders in the country, having
won numerous national hunter championships as well as the
inaugural $100,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the
Kentucky Horse Park on his special mount Rumba in 2009.
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, John now calls Northern
California his home.
While John has had tremendous success in the hunter ring,
several years ago he proved he had what it takes to win at the
international grand prix level. Over a fve year period John went
from Rookie Grand Prix Rider of the Year to qualifying for the
World Cup Finals and representing the U.S. on the Nations Cup
Team in Great Britain, Belgium and Sweden.
During 2011, John racked up an impressive list of wins including:
First Year Champion on Come Monday at Devon; 1st and 2nd
in the $25,000 Hunter Prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival;
World Champion Hunter Rider; Del Mar Equitation Champion and
winner of the Professional Challenge Cup Class. California writer
Holly Hugo-Vidal caught up with John to fnd out more about his
amazing career and offered a tidbit: Watch for John on a grand
prix horse called Chawi de Lawbry.
You always look so calm and relaxed when you
ride, how do you do it?
At the Ingate, I tell myself several things like: to have a relaxed
body because with a relaxed body, you can’t have a nervous
mind. I also tell myself that I’m lucky to be doing what I’m doing.
Sometimes I’ll even pretend I’m a different rider and copy their
style. Nicole Shahinian rides so well I like to try to emulate her. I
can’t think about distances and hoping I don’t mess up, because
if that’s all I’m thinking then I probably will. I also try to recreate a
feeling like how a perfect jump in the schooling area felt and try to
recreate that feeling, including how it felt on the approach as well
as in the air.
As a rider of multiple horses in a division, how do
you decide which horse to ride frst?
At the big shows there is a posted order; but when I can choose
I normally ride the horse I feel the most comfortable on frst to
get a feel of the course. If there is a horse who is a little tricky or
if there is one that there is a lot of pressure to do well on, I save
them until a little later in the class so I’ve already gone through
the nerves of riding. Even though I’ve been doing it a lot, I still get
kind of nervous.
How many horses do you ride at a show?
Around 12 to 15 horses. I didn’t use to have a limit; but now I’m
trying to do fewer. I used to ride a lot! You have to fgure out what
number you can ride to still do the best job. If it’s a small class
with ten in it, you’re not going to do a good job if you have fve in
it, because you’ll feel rushed. I hate to feel rushed!
Do you work out to maintain your level of energy?
I don’t have time to go to a gym. In the morning I always have a
good breakfast. To me that’s the main meal. I have to do a lot of
stretching in the morning. I do like to drink Ensure on a day when
I don’t have much time!
What is your opinion of the derbies?
The derbies have been really good for creating interest in the
hunters. Like everything, there are pros and cons. In California,
we don’t have that many USHJA derbies like they have on the
East Coast. I would like to see more encouragement for young
hunter classes. Right now people want to buy derby horses but
there’s no incentive to bring young horses along. I’d like to see
more money in those classes. We’re in the process of doing that
and they already do it in Texas. I also think the scores in the
handy should just be the score, instead of adding on for handiest,
because it’s hard for people to follow.
Holly Hugo-Vidal is Sidelines’
California correspondent and
writes the “West Side Story”
column.  Holly is based at
Alicia Saxton’s Oceancrest
Farms in Rancho Santa Fe,
California.  Holly specializes
in hunters and equitation as
well as adults. She is an “R”
USEF judge, clinician and
an author. Her most recent
book is Build Confdence Over
Fences.
John standing in front of a photo of him winning the $100,000
USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals on Rumba. The photo
is displayed at the USEF headquarters.
Photo by Holly Hugo-Vidal
The
rench
Man