John French: Show Hunter Horseman of the Year

To hear John French tell it, his big break came shortly after he gave up horse showing.

The son of trainer Jill French, he had plenty of chances to ride from an early age, but by 16 he’d grown discouraged after repeatedly taking his 15.2-hand palomino to shows and leaving empty-handed. George Morris and Bill Cooney’s students always seemed to take the lion’s share of the awards. A few weeks later he showed up at the barn to find the latest copy of Practical Horseman, where his photograph appeared in the “Jumping Clinic With George Morris” column. After expressing concern over John’s locks (“Long hair has no place on boys or men at all,” he chided), Morris extolled John’s position, saying, “All in all, this is one of the best photographs we’ve seen of classic hunter seat riding.”

Buoyed, John entered the Maryland Equitation Finals. He borrowed a fancier horse, braided him, and trailered to the show an hour away, where John trained himself to the win.

“After that people were like, ‘Hey will you show a horse for me? How about this pony?’ ” said John. “I started catch riding nice horses for tons of people; we couldn’t afford anything that nice.”

Those catch riding skills came in handy this year when he won the WCHR Professional Final for the fourth time at Capital Challenge (Md.), taking the first two rounds on unfamiliar mounts and the last one as well on a regular partner, Iwasaki and Reilly’s Small Gesture.

To Corinne Bevis, who along with other top trainers like Archie Cox and Liz Reilly regularly counts on John to show her horses, John’s relaxed style allows the horses to demonstrate their highest potential with minimal interference. “He sets the horse up perfectly, then gives [the horse his head], almost overly trustingly,” she said. “There’s nothing manufactured about his riding. He gives the horse the best environment to give his best effort, but at the end of the day the horse has to step up. He creates this perfect rhythm and balance that says, ‘Let’s do this together.’ He gets the best effort out of the horses because they want to do it for him.”

Longtime assistant Lexi Shaw credits a positive, calm attitude in the barn and in the tack as instrumental to his outstanding 2016.

“There’s nothing negative, there’s no ‘telling’ the horse,” said Shaw. “It’s always positive and forward and light and free. I was nervous the first time I saw him go into a 1.50-meter class, thinking, ‘How does that work in the jumper ring?’ but he’ll canter right around, and the horse loves it.”

John’s spectacular fall season included the grand hunter championship and leading hunter rider titles at Capital Challenge, as well as division titles at Washington International (D.C.) and the CP National Horse Show (Ky.).

But a few months earlier, things didn’t look as bright. While trying a horse in England in June, John suffered a fall when his mount flipped, and he dove to the side in time to avoid all but a broken rib. He was out of the tack for a month, and when he returned he couldn’t get his mind in quite the right place. His trip to the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship (Ky.) was disappointing, and when he returned to California he just felt off.

So in late August John picked up Relentless: From Good To Great To Unstoppable, by sports psychology guru Tim Grover. The book gave John new perspective, and he realized he was overthinking his rounds and doubting himself, rather than letting his muscle memory and subconscious kick in. He soon felt more relaxed and confident.

Upping his mental game at shows meshed with a decision he’d made earlier in the year to revamp his business. After years managing a busy client base, training a barn full of horses, and rushing to shows, French was ready for a change. Early in 2016 he bought property in Paso Robles, Calif., which will eventually become the newest incarnation of Waldenbrook Stables, a smaller operation focusing more on developing young horses than on training clients.

“In the past, when I’ve come home I’d spent a majority of my time helping students and teaching, and I wasn’t even getting to ride my horses,” he said. “Now I can ride as much as I want, and I want to do some clinics and judging. I’m thinking about the future down the road. I only have so many more years of riding, so I want to focus on that now and take care of myself a little bit more.”

By Mollie Bailey. Article originally published by The Chronicle of the Horse‘s February 6, 2017 issue. Click here for full article.