Club Background

For over seventy-five years, the Flintridge Riding Club has set the standards of excellence for equestrian centers in Southern California. Located in La Cañada Flintridge against the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, it has been home to members of all ages and levels of experience who share a love of riding and of horses. The idea of a private family riding club began in 1922 when four prominent local families decided to create a club where they could enjoy fine fellowship and equestrian pursuits. Robert Fullerton, Jr., Reginald D. Johnson and S.C. Fertig of Pasadena and John E. Marble of South Pasadena located a perfect site and invited to dinner owner Senator Frank Flint, for whom Flintridge is named. On that evening in 1922, the founding group purchased ten oak-covered acres from Senator Flint and the Flintridge Riding Club was born.

The Club was formally incorporated on October 9, 1923. Its first President was Reginald D. Johnson, famed A.I.A. architect, who designed and built the Spanish-colonial style clubhouse two years later. An additional thirty acres were purchased and the completion of stables, rings and a cross-country course made the Flintridge Riding Club unique among riding clubs in the Los Angeles area.

Since its founding, the grounds and facilities of the Flintridge Riding Club have been constantly upgraded, often with the professional assistance of dedicated members. In 1969, a new wing for junior activities and an office were added to the original clubhouse. Four new barns were completed in 1966, and one additional barn in 1984. One hundred eighty horses can be stabled in stalls and paddocks, each receiving the excellent care for which the Club is known throughout the country. There are currently three jumping arenas, including the Jimmy A. Williams Oval with grandstand seating for six hundred. One of the two dressage areas is complete with a regulation ring and mirrors. The original cross- country course has been redesigned in recent years for eventing, with natural timber obstacles and a galloping track. Members also have easy access to miles of riding trails, maintained and improved through the support of Club members, which extend throughout neighboring cities and the nearby foothills.

Over the years, the activities of the Club have varied to reflect the changing needs and interests of its members. In the early years there were gymkhanas, hunter trials, and Thursday night moonlight rides followed by dinners at the clubhouse. Today, the Thursday night dinner tradition continues as an informal barbecue on the patio, often proceeded by group jumping or dressage lessons. Social gatherings revolve around annual holiday events, and most recently, the Kentucky Derby. Riding activities for all ages and experience levels and in the disciplines of hunter/jumper, dressage, eventing and Western pleasure include schooling shows, guest-instructor clinics and three major annual horse shows.

The high level of show standards maintained by the Flintridge Riding Club over the decades has been possible thanks to the generous contributions of its members. The variety and prestige of the shows reflect the broad scope of competition in which Flintridge riders and horses have always participated. The Children's Horse Show, begun in the earliest years of the Club, is the oldest all-junior competition in the United States. Another long-running competition is the Flintridge Amateur Horse Show, held every fall for over sixty years. In 1979, this AHSA "A" rated show included one of the first Grand Prix Jumping events on the West Coast. This event was a qualifying event for the International Equestrian Federation's World Cup Finals in 1981. The International Dressage Judge's Forum was hosted by the Flintridge Riding Club in 1979. That same year, Flintridge was the site of the United States Equestrian Team Dressage Selection Trials for both the Pan-American and Olympic Games. In 1981, the Flintridge Riding Club presented it first annual AHSA, USDF and CDS-rated Dressage Show. For ten years, Dressage Under the Oaks was an F.E.I.-level event which attracted prominent competitors from across the country. In response to the current popularity of combined training, the Flintridge Horse Trials, taking advantage of the regulation dressage ring, the jumping stadium and the extensive cross country course, has become one of the major horse shows held annually at the Club.

Flintridge Riding Club is most renowned for its excellent instruction program. The late Jimmy A. Williams came to the Club in 1956 and as Riding Master established a comprehensive instruction program that produced many national and international competitors whose accomplishments brought the Flintridge Riding Club to its present prominence. In West Coast competitions, students of Jimmy A. Williams and horses he had trained won many year-end hunter/jumper championships. A record for the Pacific Coast Hi-Point Working Hunter Championship was set by former Club member Susan Hutchison whose horse, Best Bet, took home the blue ribbon for this event for six consecutive years. In 1972, Hutchison tied the high jump record by clearing seven feet in the Puissance class at Indio. A list of winners of the major California equitation medal finals of this era reads like a roster of Club members. The California Professional Horsemen's Association Championship has been won by Susan Hutchison in 1971, Kappy Howlett in 1972, Francie Steinwedell in 1974 and Anne Kursinski in 1977.