As of Monday, Hardin Towell wasn’t planning on showing at the National Horse Show, Nov. 30-Dec. 4 in Wellington, Fla. He was home in Camden, S.C., going to school and thinking he wouldn’t show again until January.

But then a phone call from trainers Ken and Emily Smith changed all that. Their junior rider, Christy Russo, sprained her ankle, and they offered the rides on her horses–High Cotton and Miracle. So Towell hopped on a plane and ended up grand junior hunter champion with Miracle, and then won the National Horse Show Junior/Amateur-Owner Hunter Championship class.

“It’s nice to show different horses, and even nicer when they win,” Towell said wryly. He was very familiar with High Cotton, having sold the flashy chestnut to Russo last year. But this was the first time he’d ridden Miracle, a bay mare. “She’s very pretty, and she’s a happy horse. She goes to please. I love riding hunters out [on the grass field of the International Ring], especially the ones like these, who have a lot of stride and scope. You can really show them off.”

The NHS Hunter championships have an unusual format. Horses and riders earn scores for three rounds while showing in their respective divisions. Then, the top 12 average scores return for rounds 4 and 5. The average of the first two rounds is added to the average of the second two rounds for a total. The format stresses consistency and involves a lot of jumping.

“[High Cotton] had a rail the first day, so that kind of took him out of the running. But Miracle was great. She got a little tired, but she tried hard today. She just wasn’t as crisp as yesterday,” said Towell. Miracle had an 88.75 average for her first three rounds. She and Towell added an 87.50 average in Round 4, and then an 85 in Round 5 for an overall average of 175.63.

Krista Wiesman ended up second on Tribute. She’d come into today with an 81.03 average from the first three rounds. Her first round scored an 86.33 average, but then her Round 5 earned scores of 90, 90 and 98 for a 92.66 average. It brought her total up to 170.32, but it wasn’t enough to catch Towell and Miracle.

Holly Orlando had the unenviable position of returning last in the National Horse Show Open Hunter Championship, which featured the top 12 horses from the professional divisions. “I’ve been in that situation before, and it’s very hard. But with all the math involved with the averages, I couldn’t sit out in the schooling area and figure out what score I needed, so I just went in and went,” said Orlando.

With a Round 5 score of 88.75, Orlando and Rio Renoir clinched a total of 172.62 for the win. “Rio is just the most amazing horse. He’s very trustworthy, and he puts a lot of effort into it. He’s happy and comfortable and he enjoys doing his job,” she said. They just nipped Scott Stewart aboard Fellini–one of his six rides in the class–who finished with an 171.63 total average. Stewart also claimed third on Truly.

Owner Cynthia Diebert found Rio Renoir as a pre-green horse last year. Now 6, the flashy bay Canadian Sport Horse (by Rio Grande) is concluding a successful first year green year. Trainer Joe Guzman does all the homework with Rio, and Orlando just hops on to show him. “Joe does everything with him—he gets to be the bad disciplinarian, and then I just get on at the shows, pat him and go,” Orlando said with a laugh. “But it certainly seems to be working well.”