HAVERFORD, Pa. — California-based jumper star Susie Hutchison received another career honor April 13 when she was named to the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame.

Hutchison, based in Temecula, is one of five riders who will be inducted during a ceremonial dinner May 26 at the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford.

“This is a huge honor,” said Hutchison. “I’ve been nominated in the past and haven’t been chosen, so it’s really an honor and a special place to have my name listed with the top hunter riders from years past. To even think that people still remember that I rode hunters is nice.”

This will mark Hutchison’s third National Show Hunter Hall of Fame ceremony, having attended previous inductions of her longtime mentor and partner, Jimmy Williams, as well as her hunter mount, Best Bet, in 2008.

Joining Hutchison as a 2015 inductee will be Ralph Caristo, Leo Conroy, Jack Frohm and Elizabeth Johnson. Two horses will enter the Hall, too, including Holy Smoke and Keswick.

Hutchison, who is competing again in grand prixes at Sonoma and Blenheim venues after a leg injury at Thermal sidelined her, would like to see a Hall of Fame established on the West Coast someday.

“I think it’s really important to memorialize the leaders in the sport, and also to educate,” Hutchison said. “Kids today don’t know. When I do a clinic, I might ask them who some historic people are, or ask them who won the first gold medal for the United States, and they cannot answer. But they have really don’t have a place to go to find out the information. It would be so nice to have something for our sport — like the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame — where kids can walk through and see, touch, read and know more about the background of their sport. WHo are the founding members, what did they do or what have they done?”

To be eligible for National Show Hunter Hall of Fame induction, a person must have participated in the show hunter industry at least 15 years with a distinguished hrecord of contribution or achievement. For a horse to be eligible, it must have distinguished itself in show hunter competition and have been retired or deceased for at least five years.

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