The show jumping community always knew Robert Ridland as a great rider, but now they also see him as the brilliant, strategic mind guiding the NetJets Show Jumping team to unprecedented success. Ridland brings several decades of international experience to the U.S. Show Jumping.

As an athlete, Ridland competed in the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games and won several grand prix competitions throughout his riding career. Ridland has been extensively involved in the governance of the sport, including several terms as a board member of US Equestrian and the United States Equestrian Team Foundation.

Ridland's vast experience as an international course designer helped shaped his analytical approach to the sport. He won the Course Designer of the Year Award twice while building the courses for the U.S. Olympic Trials and numerous international competitions. As an international official, he was the only American to have served as the FEI Technical Delegate for four FEI World Cup Finals. As a television commentator, he worked for many years as the color analyst for ESPN and CBS, as well as two stints for NBC at the Barcelona and Athens Olympic Games.

Since being named the U.S. Show Jumping Chef d’Equipe/Technical Advisor in 2013, Ridland has led the U.S. team to team bronze medals at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and Toronto 2015 Pan American Games as well as silver medals in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the 2017 FEI Jumping Nations Cup Final.

Lizzy Chesson has been deeply rooted in international equestrian sports for many years. As a groom for her mother, she was part of two World Championship Driving teams. At the age of 22, Chesson was selected to drive a pair of horses in the World Pair Championship in Hungary.

Chesson is a graduate of Columbia University where earned a degree in Art History. She began working for US Equestrian in 2006, first in the Show Jumping department as an assistant to then Managing Director Sally Ike. She was then promoted to Managing Director of Jumping in 2013.   

Chesson as Team Leader and Robert Ridland as Chef d’Equipe have gone on to deliver many medals and successes with the U.S. Jumping Team on the worlds stage while also building a strong pathway for the future. She enjoys hunting with the Essex Fox Hounds when she has time, she is also an avid amateur gardener and her life revolves around a littler terrier named Rags who many would have seen standing guard in the Gladstone office.

Karl Cook started riding at the age of 8 with his mother and sister, quickly developing a lifelong passion for horses. He had a successful junior and young rider career, competing in the 2007, 2008, and 2009 FEI North American Youth Championships and winning double gold in 2007 and team gold and individiual silver in 2008. 

Cook has scored numerous top results throughout his professional career. He has competed in three FEI World Cup Finals: 2013, 2015, and 2017. In 2016, Cook made his senior Nations Cup debut at Langley (CAN) with Tembla. In 2022, Cook was again on the NetJets^® U.S. Jumping Team at Langley (CAN), riding Coachella 4. In 2023, Cook was on the winning U.S. team at the Nations Cup in San Juan Capistrano (USA) and helped secure third-place finishes in Langley (CAN) and Falsterbo (SWE) riding Kalinka van't Zorgvliet.  

Cook trains out of his Pomponio Ranch in San Gregorio, Calif., where the business breeds, raises, trains, and sells world-class jumping horses.

Kent Farrington’s roots in equestrian sport were seeded in Chicago, Illinois, where he began riding at the age of eight. He quickly made his mark, ascending through the junior ranks before turning professional in 2000. He has since gone on to represent the United States at numerous international championships, including as part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the bronze medal-winning team at the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France, both with the KWPN gelding Voyeur.

In 2011, Farrington and Uceko represented the U.S. at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, where the team won gold. In 2015, he rode Gazelle as part of the bronze medal-winning team at the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.

In 2019, he became the first U.S. rider to win the Rolex Grand Prix of Aachen and the International Jumping Riders Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva in the same year. In 2020, Farrington brought home numerous victories, including a top finish aboard Gazelle in the coveted $213,300 American Gold Cup Grand Prix CSI4*, besting a competitive jump-off of 15 combinations. At the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Wellington, Fla., Farrington set the tone early with a win in the $214,000 Marshall & Sterling/Great American Insurance Grand Prix CSI4* aboard longtime mount Creedance. He was named USEF’s International Equestrian of the Year for 2020.

Farrington’s early 2021 results included wins in the $137,000 NetJets Grand Prix CSI3* at WEF 3 with Austria 2, the $73,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Classic CSI5* with Creedance, and the $25,000 Palm Beach Equine Clinic Spring 4 Grand Prix with Kaprice. Over the summer, Farrington competed Gazelle as an individual at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Next, he scored several wins with Austria 2, Gazelle, and Orafina at Spruce Meadows. Farrington and Gazelle won the $213,300 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Lexington CSI4*-W at the National Horse Show. Farrington then partnered with Creedance to win the Trophée de Genève at CHI Geneva to close out the year.

Farrington began 2022 with a win in the $75,000 CaptiveOne Advisors 1.50m Championship CSI5* on Easy Girl during week five of WEF. He and Orafina won the $75,000 Adequan WEF Challenge Round IX CSI5* during week nine of WEF. The pair scored another win $140,000 Bainbridge Companies Grand Prix CSI3* during week two of the ESP Spring Series. Farrington traveled to Thunderbird as part of the NetJets^® U.S. Jumping Team, riding Landon in the Nations Cup and winning the $186,900 Longines Grand Prix CSIO5* with Orafina. Heading to Spruce Meadows, Farrington and Orafina tallied three separate wins. The pair won again at Ottawa in the $215,000 RBC Grand Prix CSI5*. Farrington and Orafina continued their winning ways taking the $139,000 Horseware Ireland Grand Prix CSI3* in Tryon and the $74,200 CWD Jump-Off Challenge CSI5* in California.

In 2023, Farrington won the CHF140,000 Florida Coast Equipment CIS3* Grand Prix with Landon during week two of WEF. He partnered with Orafina to win the $226,000 Adequan^® Grand Prix CSI4* at Desert Circuit IV on the West Coast. Back on the East Coast, Farrington and Toulayna $226,000 Horseware Ireland CSI4* Grand Prix during week 10 of WEF. Farrington partnered with Landon to take first in the Grand Prix and help the NetJets U.S. Jumping Team win gold in the 2023 FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ of Mexico at San Miguel de Allende CSIO5*. The pair were members of the U.S. team again and helped secure bronze at the FEI Jumping Nations Cup of Canada at CSIO5* Langley. Farrington earned CSI5* wins at Spruce Meadows with Creedance, Landon, and Toulayna. He rode Toulayna and Creedance to a one-two finish in the $145,000 CSI3* Grand Prix of Michigan at Traverse City Horse Shows as well as earning CSI3* and CSI5* wins with Creedance in the following weeks. Farrington tallied another win with Toulayna in the CSI5* Kubota Grand Prix at Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) Toronto.

Farrington made his third Pan Ameircan Games appearance in Santiago, Chile, earning team gold and individual silver with Landon. Back in North America, he took top prize in the $38,500 Strength and Speed Challenge and the $80,000 1.50m International Speed Challenge with Creedance at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. Farrington closed out 2023 with a win in the Trophée de Genève with Toulayna at CHI Geneva. 

Farrington began 2024 with wins in the $62,500 Adequan® CSI4* WEF Challenge Cup with Landon and $116,100 Adequan® CSI5* WEF Challenge Cup CSI 5* with Toulayna during weeks 4 and 5 at the WEF.

Laura Kraut’s illustrious career began when she received her first riding lesson at the age of three. Encouraged by their mother, Carol, Kraut and sister Mary Elizabeth took riding lessons together throughout their childhood and still work together today.

Kraut’s first big break came in 1992, when she was named an alternate to the U.S. team for the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. Eight years later, she made her Olympic Games debut in Sydney, Australia, riding Liberty. In 2008, she was part of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the Beijing Olympics, riding Cedric. In 2021, Kraut was a part of the silver medal-winning U.S. team at the Tokyo Olympics with her mount, Baloutinue.

Kraut and Miss Independent represented the U.S. at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, where the team won silver. She was part of the 2010 WEG team with Cedric, and was named to her third WEG in 2018, where she rode Zeremonie as a member of the gold-medal winning NetJets^® U.S. Jumping Team.

Additionally, Kraut has been part of the U.S. team at five FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ Finals (2015-2019, 2021), including a bronze-winning effort with Zeremonie in 2016 and on the silver medal-winning team with Confu in 2017.

She was part of the winning teams at the FEI Jumping Nations Cup of USA at San Juan Capistrano CSIO5* in May 2023 with Dorado 212, FEI Jumping Nations Cup of Mexico at San Miguel de Allende CSIO5* in April 2023 with Baloutinue, $230,000 FEI Jumping Nations Cup of USA in February 2020, and the first winning all-women team at FEI Jumping Nations Cup CSIO5* Dublin in August 2017.

Recent wins for Kraut include the $425,000 Lugano Diamonds CSI5* Grand Prix wiht Baloutinue during week seven of the WEF in February 2023, the $38,000 Brickenden Trophy at the Royal Horse Show with Calgary Tame in November 2022, the $75,000 Speed Final with Calgary Tame at the Washington International Horse Show in October 2022, the St. Tropez-Grimaud CSI4* class with Bisquetta in September 2022, and the $216,000 Horseware Ireland Grand Prix CSI4* with Confu during week 10 of the WEF in March 2022.

Based in both Florida and Great Britain, Kraut and her longtime partner, legendary British show jumper Nick Skelton, run a successful training business.

McLain Ward was introduced to riding before he could walk and has a competitive prowess that only continues to increase with age. In 1990, Ward became the youngest rider ever to win both the United States Equestrian Team (USET) Medal Finals and the USET Talent Derby at age 14. After turning pro, he quickly became the youngest rider to reach the $1 million mark in earnings in 1999, at the age of 24.

Ward is a five-time Olympian, including as a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. teams in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 with his longtime mount, Sapphire. With HH Azur, he was part of the U.S. team that took silver at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ward was also a team silver medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games riding Contagious.

He was a member of the gold-medal winning NetJets^® U.S. Jumping Team for the FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 riding Clinta, WEG Normandy 2014 team bronze medalist with Rothchild, and WEG Aachen 2006 team silver medalist with Sapphire. As a Pan American Games athlete, Ward was a part of the gold-medal team in Guadalajara 2011 riding Antares F and won individual gold and team bronze in Toronto 2015 riding Rothchild.

In 2009, Ward rode Sapphire to his first-ever podium finish at the FEI Jumping World Cup Final, finishing in second place. In 2017, he finished the job, winning the FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Omaha with HH Azur.

Ward collected an impressive record during the 2021 Florida winter circuit aboard Contagious, Catoki, HH Azur, and Kasper van het Hellehof, securing a third-place finish with HH Azur in the FEI $72,900 Horse Flight Grand Prix CSI5* and a third-place finish aboard Contagious in the $214,000 Marshall & Sterling/Great American Insurance Grand Prix CSI4*.

Ward continued with a strong showing during the 2022 season securing two wins riding Contagious in the Turkish Airlines – CHIO Aachen CSIO5* Grand Prix as well as the RWE Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia – Aachen CHIO CSIO5* Grand Prix.

Ward was a member of the NetJets U.S. Jumping Team at the 2022 ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark, with Contagious. He closed out the year by winning the Rolex Grand Prix at CHI Geneva with HH Azur.

In 2023, Ward won the Rolex Grand Prix at The Dutch Masters with HH Azur. At the San Juan Capistrano CSIO5*, Ward helped the U.S. team win the FEI Jumping Nations Cup of USA with Contagious, Grand Prix of the United States with Kasper van het Hellehof, and Winning Round with First Lady.

Ward’s home base is in upstate New York where he lives with his wife, Lauren, who is an avid competitor in the amateur divisions. They have two young daughters named Lilly and Madison