The names of riders and teams participating in the innovative Baran Global Hunter Classic, taking place Friday through Sunday in Valkenswaard, the Netherlands, were announced today. Although the field is smaller than organizers originally anticipated—with seven total teams instead of 10—the roster includes some of the biggest names in the hunter and jumper worlds.

With 300,000 euros—almost $350,000 in prize money—on the line, Olympic jumping medalists will saddle up alongside some of the United States’ top hunter professionals, with junior and amateur teammates to take part in the three-day, three-phase competition. Each team will have one FEI jumper rider, one professional hunter rider and one junior or amateur rider. The format is similar to USEF Junior Hunter Finals, with an under saddle class worth 10%, a classic round worth 40% and a handy round worth 50%. In the jumping phases all the FEI riders will go first, then each of the junior/amateurs, then the professional hunter riders, all judged to the typical hunter standard. Each team gets a drop score.

According to the start list released today, participants include Olympic show jumpers Rodrigo Pessoa (Brazil), Maikel van der Vleuten (the Netherlands) and Harrie Smolders (the Netherlands), as well as top hunter riders John French, Geoffrey Hesslink, Halie Robinson and Hardin Towell. The junior and amateur participants include Paige Walkenbach, Caroline Ingalls and Ellie Sadrian.

Team French will be captained by World Champion Hunter Rider Lifetime Achievement Award winner John French, of Wellington, Florida, joined by Walkenbach, of Paradise Valley, Arizona, the 2024 USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year and 2025 Devon Horse Show Best Child Rider. Rounding out the team is Smolders, currently ranked in the top 20 in the world. The Dutch show jumping veteran has competed in three Olympic Games, earned team silver at the 2022 Agria FEI Show Jumping World Championship (Denmark) and recently helped the Netherlands take gold on home soil at the Longines League of Nations Rotterdam CSIO5*.

Team Artemis will be led by Lourdes De Guardiola, of Wellington, Florida, a standout professional across the hunter and jumper rings who has recently earned championships and top placings in USHJA national hunter derbies and high performance hunter divisions in Kentucky, Florida and Michigan. Joining her is rising junior rider Katherine Babun, whose record includes many wins and top placings in the ponies, hunters and jumpers and, on the jumper side, Olympic individual gold medalist Rodrigo Pessoa. A veteran of eight Olympic Games, he earned individual gold at Athens 2004, bronze in Sydney 2000 and Atlanta 1996, and carried Brazil’s flag at the 2012 London Olympic Games. He is a six-time FEI World Equestrian Games competitor, winning team gold in Rome in 1998, and is the only rider to win three consecutive FEI World Cup Finals (1998–2000) with Baloubet Du Rouet. 

Hesslink, of Shelburne, Vermont, will captain Team Hesslink Williams. A winner of the 2022 $100,000 USHJA/WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular (Florida), the 2023 $100,000 WCHR Central Hunter Spectacular (Michigan) and reserve champion in the 2024 WCHR Professional Rider Final (Maryland), Hesslink will team up with Faith Schuttemeyer, of Boynton Beach, Florida, an accomplished junior with top placings in the pony and junior hunter ranks, and Lillie Keenan, of New York City. Fresh off her team golds at the Longines League of Nations Ocala CSIO5* (Florida), Nations Cup Rome CSIO5* and the Mercedes-Benz Nations Cup Aachen CSIO5* (Germany), Keenan will step back into the hunter ring. Among many other impressive performances in her junior years, Keenan won the 2011 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship at age 14.

Other teams participating in the Baran Global Hunter Classic are:

• Team Finally Farm: Hardin Towell (captain, professional hunter), Madison Ramsey (junior hunter) and Giampiero Garofalo (Italian FEI jumper rider)

• Team California Rose: Halie Robinson (captain, professional hunter), Caroline Ingalls (amateur hunter) and Maikel van der Vleuten (Dutch FEI jumper rider)

• Team Esau Williams: Emily Esau Williams (captain, professional hunter), Ellie Sadrian (junior hunter) and Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida (Portugese FEI jumper rider)

• Team Dolan: Josh Dolan (captain, professional hunter), Kylie Wilson (junior hunter) and Michael Duffy (Irish FEI jumper rider)

The competition will be livestreamed on ClipMyHorse.tv. For more information, click here.