Susie Hutchison and Cantano in 2010

Horsetrader photo / Warren Wilson

LEXINGTON, Ken. — While continuing to win grand prixes (related story below), Susie Huchison received word last month that she will be a 2016 inductee into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame.

The announcement came March 29 from the SJHF, which will induct its newest members in a June 2 ceremony at the Devon Horse Show before the start of the $225,000 Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon. Joining Hutchison as 2016 inductees will be Elizabeth Busch Burke and Katie Monahan Prudent.

Induction into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame is an honor bestowed annually upon select individuals whose contributions to the sport have set them apart and whose influence has had a significant impact on the sport of show jumping and the equestrian community. It is because of their talents, efforts, accomplishments, and what they have brought to the sport, that the Election Committee, comprising some of the nation’s top riders, trainers and officials, voted them as the inductees for the 2015 election.

Hutchison’s career in show jumping has been highlighted by more than dozens of grand prix wins, and she has represented the United States at six FEI World Cup Finals, the FEI World Equestrian Games and Spruce Meadows in Canada. She finished fourth in the 1993 World Cup Final in Gothenburg and topped the World Cup’s USA West Coast League standings three times.

Known as “Susie”, the Temecula-based trainer has earned victories at some of the nation’s most prestigious horse shows, winning such events as the Los Angeles National Grand Prix and the Grandprix of New York at the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden. She also won the Mercedes Challenge Series in 1989.

In 1992, she was named American Grandprix Association (AGA) Rider of the Year and was voted Rider of the Year by The Chronicle of the Horse. In 1993, she was the first recipient of the Mark Muller Perpetual Sportsmanship Award of the Pacific Coast Horse Show Association and was Leading Rider of the Desert Circuit Series in Indio.

In 1994, she was selected to ride for the U.S. in the show jumping World Championships at the World Equestrian Games in The Hague. Riding her longtime partner Woodstock, on whom she had earned more than 20 top three Grand Prix placings, she helped the U.S. to a fifth-place finish. In 1995, Hutchison was nominated for the AHSA Equestrian of the Year Award. She was also voted California Horsewoman of the Year by the California Professional Horsemen’s Association (CPHA).

Hutchison began riding at the Flintridge Riding Club with Hall of Famer Jimmy Williams when she was five years old. As a junior, she competed heavily, winning every horseman finals offered on the West Coast.

At age 18, she turned pro, winning countless championships in both the jumper and hunter rings. She has had a hand in the training of many noteworthy young jumpers, including riders like Olympic medalist Anne Kursinski.

Hutchison has served on the U.S.’s Active Rider Committee and was selected to judge the USET Medal Finals in Gladstone, New Jersey.

Burke, daughter of 1988 Show Jumping Hall of Fame inductee August A. Busch, Jr., and wife of 2001 inductee Bobby Burke, was a dedicated competitor, owner and businesswoman. She combined qualities found in both her father, President of the Anheuser-Busch brewing company, and her husband, a highly respected horseman. She was a rider, owner, and leading force in promoting the sport.She worked to help build show jumping in the U.S., leveraging the Anheuser Busch name to open doors and develop sponsorship and media opportunities. Among the biggest classes that benefited from her support were the American Invitational, AGA Championships, Grand Prix de Penn National, Grand Prix of Devon and the 2000, 2003 and 2005 FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas.
In addition to her sponsorship efforts, Elizabeth used her influence to gain unprecedented TV coverage for show jumping on ESPN and other networks that helped expand interest in the sport.

For more than two decades, Prudent was one of show jumping’s most successful riders. In 1969, at the age of 15, Prudent achieved the dream of many junior riders when she won the ASPCA Maclay Finals, one of the youngest riders ever to win it. She then won the AHSA Medal Finals in 1972, making her one of the few to win both prestigious titles.

Following her junior years, Prudent’s career skyrocketed as she became a true sensation. riding to dozens of grand prix wins across the U.S. She was equally successful in international competition, and in 1979 at her first FEI World Cup Final in Gothenburg, Sweden, she took second after tying for first with Hugo Simon and losing a jump-off to him. She went on to ride in five more Finals in the 1980s and dominated that decade as few other riders have been able to do, winning AGA Rider of the Year three times in the ‘80s (1982, 1986, and 1988).

MORE ONLINE: Http://bit.ly/604A_Hall