Teams Announced for The Baran Global Hunter Classic

Teams Announced for The Baran Global Hunter Classic

Legendary hunter professional John French with Crystal Blue will lead a team of top junior rider Paige Walkenbach aboard Babylon and three-time Olympian Harrie Smolders. Photo by SportFot

Wellington, Fla. – July 10, 2025 – The stage is set. The teams are assembled. A new chapter in hunter sport is about to be written. The Baran Global Hunter Classic announces the riders who will lead this historic equestrian event. The three-member teams combine the precision of top professional hunter riders, the passion of talented junior and amateur riders and the power and skill of elite international jumper riders.

Some of the sport’s biggest names are set to compete in The Baran Global Hunter Classic.

USHJA World Champion Hunter Rider Lifetime Achievement Award winner John French (Wellington, Florida)—a four-time WCHR Champion Rider and seven-time WCHR Pro Challenge winner—will captain a powerhouse team. He is joined by Paige Walkenbach (Paradise Valley, Arizona), the 2024 USEF Junior Equestrian of the Year and 2025 Devon Horse Show Best Child Rider. Rounding out the team is Harrie Smolders, currently ranked in the top 20 in the world. The Dutch show jumping veteran has competed in three Olympic Games and recently helped the Netherlands take gold at the Longines League of Nations™ Rotterdam CSIO5* and claimed victory at the Longines Global Champions Tour of Cannes CSI5*.

Lourdes De Guardiola (Wellington, Florida) is a standout professional across the hunter and jumper rings. She has recently earned top championships and placings in USHJA National Hunter Derbies and High Performance Hunter divisions in Kentucky, Wellington and Traverse City. Joining her is rising junior rider Katherine Babun, whose impressive record includes many wins and top placings in the ponies, hunters and jumpers. Joining the team is one of the sport’s most decorated athletes, Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA).

A veteran of eight Olympic Games, Pessoa 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. He has also ridden in 12 World Cup Finals, numerous Pan American Games, Nations Cup Finals and Young Horse World Championships. A force in the ring for decades, he continues to add to his resume with recent top-10 finishes at FEI grand prix events in Wellington, Ocala and Myakka City. Notably, he claimed victory in the $200,000 Blue Diamond Cup at Old Salem in September and the CSI5*-W Longines FEI World Cup™ Washington (President’s Cup) in October. In 2005 and 2007, Pessoa showcased his versatility by competing in the American Hunter-Jumper Foundation World Cup Hunter Challenge in Las Vegas during the FEI World Cup Finals.

Another top professional bringing hunters to the world stage is Geoffrey Hesslink (Shelburne, Vermont), captain of a team stacked with talent. A winner of the 2022 $100,000 WCHR Peter Wetherill Hunter Spectacular, the 2023 $100,000 Central Hunter Spectacular and reserve champion in the 2024 WCHR Professional Rider Finals, Hesslink will team up with Faith Schuttemeyer (Boynton Beach, Florida), an accomplished junior with top placings in the pony and junior hunter ranks. Lillie Keenan (New York, New York), fresh off team golds at the Longines League of Nations Ocala CSIO5*, Nations Cup Rome CSIO5* and the Mercedes-Benz Nations’ Cup Aachen CSIO5*, 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.

And that’s just the beginning.
See the full team roster below.

Team Esau Williams

Emily Esau Williams - Professional Hunter Rider, Team Captain

Ellie Sadrian - Junior Hunter Rider

Rodrigo Giesteira Almeida (POR) - International Jumper Rider

Team Artemis

Lourdes De Guardiola - Professional Hunter Rider, Team Captain

Katherine Babun - Junior Hunter Rider

Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) - International Jumper Rider

Team Dolan

Josh Dolan - Professional Hunter Rider, Team Captain

Kylie Wilson - Junior Hunter Rider

Michael Duffy (IRL) - International Jumper Rider

Team French

John French - Professional Hunter Rider, Team Captain

Paige Walkenbach - Junior Hunter Rider

Harrie Smolders (NED)- International Jumper Rider

Team Finally Farm

Hardin Towell- Professional Hunter Rider, Team Captain

Madison Ramsey- Junior Hunter Rider

Giampiero Garofalo (ITA) - International Jumper Rider

Team California Rose

Halie Robinson - Professional Hunter Rider, Team Captain

Caroline Ingalls - Amateur Hunter Rider

Maikel van der Vleuten (NED) - International Jumper Rider

Team Hesslink Williams

Geoffrey Hesslink - Professional Hunter Rider, Team Captain

Faith Schuttemeyer - Junior Hunter Rider

Lillie Keenan (USA) - International Jumper Rider

Buy Tickets

Watch this event July 11–13 at Longines Tops International Arena in Valkenswaard, live on GCTV and ClipMyHorse.TV. The Baran Global Hunter Classic marks the premiere of hunters taking the world stage in a format designed to honor the sport’s heritage while pushing it boldly into the future.