This year the hunter divisions will be one of the main features during the Kentucky Spring Horse Show Series at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. The hunters will feature $25,000 in prize money each week, a World Champion Hunter Rider (WCHR) week, and the $15,000 Chronicle of the Horse/United States Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA) International Hunter Derby, presented by Dietrich Insurance. The show will be led by Kentucky Horse Shows, LLC, and will feature two exciting weeks of competition spanning May 12-16, 2010, and May 19-23, 2010.

The Kentucky Spring Horse Show, held May 12-16, 2010, marks the first week of competition and has been designated as a WCHR week. The WCHR is an awards program started by the American Hunter-Jumper Foundation, and the awards are presented, on both a national and regional level, to pony, junior, amateur, professional, adult and children's hunter riders who accumulate the most points at WCHR-designated horse shows throughout the year.

The first week of the horse show will also feature the $15,000 Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby, presented by Dietrich Insurance, being held Saturday, May 14, in the Main Stadium. The derby event will include jumps reminiscent of the hunt field, such as a natural post and rail, a stone wall, a coop, an aiken, hedges, logs, banks, and ditches.

Kentucky Horse Shows, LLC, is pleased to announce that there are a number of excellent changes for the hunter competitors to benefit from this year. The first is that the prize money for the hunter divisions has risen to $25,000 during both the Kentucky Spring Horse Show and the Kentucky Spring Classic, which runs May 19-23, 2010. This change marks an increase of 20% from 2009. There has also been an important change to the hunter schedule this year. All of the junior and children's hunter classes will be held on Saturday and Sunday to not interfere with school for the young riders.

Finally, the hunter exhibitors will be pleased to find that the OTTO Sport footing system has been installed in the Murphy Ring to match the surfaces in the Stonelea Ring and main hunter schooling area.

The Kentucky Spring Horse Show and the Kentucky Spring Classic will be held at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park, which will also be hosting 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™. These events attract the nation's best competitors because it offers wonderful competition venues, excellent stabling, plenty of exercise rings and spacious places to ride, miles of trails, and lush cross country fields.

For more information about the Kentucky Spring Horse Shows, please go to www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.