In a sea of bays, grays and chestnuts in the Platinum Performance USHJA 3’/3’3″ Green Hunter Incentive Championship, GFS Mikado stood out when he entered the Rolex Stadium at the Kentucky Horse Park. With his smokey cream tobiano coloring, the warmblood stallion has a look more often found in the pony ring than in the green hunters.

“People definitely notice him. They either love it or hate it. It’s a funny color,” said rider Jennifer Bliss. “I like a little bit of an interesting color myself.”

But he’s more than colorful; “Mikado” also has proven he’s got plenty of jump. Tania Mackee bred the 8-year-old stallion, registered with the Anglo European Studbook (GFS Lord Of The Dance—Charisma, Camaro), in England. He comes from a long line of colorful horses, including his palomino sire and buckskin overo dam. Erika Sergent and Danny Michan of Sergent Stables LLC imported him as a 3-year-old, and three years ago Michan started showing him in the jumpers but soon found Mikado wasn’t interested in going fast. In 2023, he started showing in the hunters with Isabella De Sousa before spending most of last year in the breeding shed.

Mikado showed a couple times during the Winter Equestrian Festival (Florida) with Brianne Goutal-Marteau, and in May, Sergent and Michan approached Bliss about developing him more as a hunter with the goal of eventually doing the derbies.

“He’s super brave. He’s a thousand percent brave, and he has a nice stride and nice scope, and I really think he can do it,” Bliss said. “He just has to get some more mileage.”

The green incentive championships is only Bliss’ fourth show with Mikado. She originally had no plans to bring him to Kentucky, but when he was so consistent showing in the national hunter derbies this summer at the World Equestrian Center—Ocala (Florida) she changed her mind.

“He’s light on experience, but he’s really brave and capable,” she said. “He’s really fun to ride. He just has to kind of learn the game a little. The jumps are easy for him; he was a little distracted at the end of the ring [in the Rolex Arena].

“He’s a little bit of a sleeper,” she added. “In the beginning, I was like, ‘This horse can do no wrong. He’s such an angel. He’s so perfect,’ and then he bucks me off one day. I was like, ‘I better not take that for granted. I better pay a little bit of attention here.’ But he’s a good boy. He’s great.“

Bliss doesn’t have a lot of experience with stallions, but she said Mikado is very laid back. Though he goes to get collected regularly, he’s not reactive to mares. She said it is a new challenge figuring out his ideal ride and preparation.

“Having not had a ton of experience with stallions, it seems like a little bit of an extra challenge getting their minds and bodies both in sync at the same time,” she said. “Calm and focused in his mind but not too fatigued in his body.”

Be sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. You can also read full analysis of hunter championship week in the Sept. 26 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.