Ariat ProTeam Member, John French, and Ariat's English Product Manager, Holly Andrews, paired up to capture the $2,500 Pro-Am Hunter Classic at the Portola Valley Classic Equestrian Festival, June 23, 2001. The Pro-Am Hunter Classic is a hunter course of about ten jumps, 3'6" in height. The class is judged on two rounds with both a professional and an amateur riding the same horse. French and Andrews both rode Andrews's horse, La Liaison, a 14-year-old Thoroughbred mare that Andrews purchased off the track seven years ago.

"The Pro-Am draws a big crowd," Andrews explained about her experience in the Portola Valley Pro-Am Hunter Classic. "The class is held on Saturday night and everyone is dressed in formal attire. It is really an exciting class to compete in. John is an extremely talented rider. I trained with him for thirteen years. He knows my horse and her idiosyncrasies."

This is the second consecutive year that French and Andrews have competed together in the Portola Valley Pro-Am Hunter Classic, last year coming in second place.

Holly Andrews, of Menlo Park, CA, has been the English Product Manager at Ariat for eight years. She has ridden and competed in hunter/jumper and equitation classes for most of her life. Andrews was coached at the Portola Valley Classic by Lyn Irving.

French, the 2000 World Championship Hunter Rider Professional Rider of the Year, resides in Woodside, CA. In the past year, French has been honored with the Jeffery Katz Award, the World Championship Hunter Rider Professional title and has ridden several horses to numerous championships, including a win of the Grand Hunter Championship and the Rox Dene Award at The Capital Challenge with the horse, Keltic. After successfully running his own teaching and training business for 13 years, French currently rides and trains for Cathy Mendez.