By KIMBERLY LOUSHIN
The word Kristen Wallis uses to describe her stallion Grimoire D’Elphen is kind. Known as Graham in the barn, the stallion has a lot going for him. He’s an outstanding athlete with enough bravery and scope to tackle hunter derby classes. He’s also stunning to look at with his tobiano coat making him an eye-catcher in the ring. While he’s passed these traits down to his foals, the most important pieces: his brain and his kindness, are also dominant characteristics.
Few horses could go from the performance hunters and derbies with a professional early in the week to dutifully packing their amateur owner around the crossrail division on the weekend. Stallions make up a miniscule percentage of that elite group, but Graham does so with ease.
“Out of our five horses he’s probably the chillest,” says Wallis. “I can take him and do whatever; my husband can walk him around too. He’s just so kind.”
“He’s always been a horse that doesn’t seem like a stallion,” says Hannah Gracy, who does Graham’s body work and social media marketing. “He has such a kind and chill temperament, and I think that’s something that’s always made him stand out in the barn as well because all of the kids are able to interact with him. He’s able to be next to other horses. He’s able to be out in the paddock with horses next to him. He doesn’t require any special treatment like some stallions do. He is treated like a regular horse for the most part.”
A Unique Personality
The 10-year-old Selle Francais (Thunder Gesemeray x Dior D’Elphen, Arnac D’Elphen) was bred in Europe by M. Olivier Meterreau, and Brandon Gibson discovered him when looking at one of Graham’s first foals on Facebook. While he didn’t end up purchasing the foal, Gibson imported Graham in August 2022. With his soft mouth and easy-going demeanor, Graham took to the hunter ring quickly.
In 2023, he started competing in the 3’6” Green Hunters with Gibson where his talent was apparent. That year, Gibson approached Wallis about partnering with him on the promising young stallion. Wallis had ridden as a child before taking a 20-year break. She got back into it when her daughter wanted to start riding, so it became something they did together. Lessons led to owning and ultimately investing in Graham.
Wallis was drawn to Graham’s stunning coat, where she finds endless patterns hidden amongst his splashy spots, and the calm way he approached life. When other horses spooked at Christmas decorations being hung outside the barn, Graham watched the festivities with interest. And when the less-experienced Wallis settled in his saddle, he knew it was time to take care of her.
“He’s a very brave horse,” says Wallis. “He’s really easy. He starts and stops with me when I need to take a break, and when I’m doing my crossrails, we just kind of hop over them, and he really takes care of me and makes me feel safe. Everybody that’s ever ridden him, when they get on him, they say they feel like a rockstar.”
Though they had big hopes for Graham, Wallis came to a crossroad when Gibson died in March 2024, and she had to figure out the best path forward for Graham. “At the time, I didn’t know if I could do him justice, because he had so much to offer for the future of the sport with his color, the way he jumps, everything about him. I didn’t know if we would be able to showcase that,” says Wallis. “But the plan was for him to always be a forever horse.”
Alicia Wilkerson initially took the reins on Graham, taking him to the Devon Horse Show and the Platinum Performance/USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championships that year, which helped Graham continue to grow in the show ring. Wallis then found Jordan Ayres Campbell, the owner of TyField Equestrian in Lenoir City, Tennessee, who not only trains and rides but also has experience breeding. Wallis moved her horses to Campbell’s farm in February 2025.
“She’s been a great mentor to help us figure out some of his breeding stuff and showing things as well,” Wallis says.
Julia Windle does the majority of the riding and training at home, and Campbell credits her with making sure Graham is at his best. “He’s so easy in the barn. He is easy to work with,” says Campbell. “He’s really smart. We’ll set exercises to train him, and he learns quickly, which I love about him.”
When it came time to find someone else to take the reins in the show ring, Campbell enlisted her sister Lindsey Ayres. A few years ago they partnered on another horse Bay Society, and Campbell felt that Graham was quite similar in terms of way of going and temperament, and as such, Ayres already had the handbook to him. The partnership has proven a fruitful one, as they were champion in the 3’3” Performance Hunters and won the $2,500 USHJA Hunt & Go National Hunter Derby at Aiken December Classic II in their first show together.
“You literally don’t need the reins at all,” says Ayres. “He jumps phenomenal from anywhere you put him. We clicked from the very first time I sat on him. The first trip we did, he won out of 30. He’s just amazing for the whole week. That week it poured down rain the second day so much that we were crawling through puddles, and he did not care about anything. He was phenomenal.”
Stamping His Offspring
Since Wallis had no prior breeding experience before purchasing Graham, it’s been a learning process as they found the best way to juggle his breeding and showing schedules. Before being imported, he sired over 100 foals, each with his tobiano coloring and eye-catch-ing jumping style. Wallis estimates that he’s sired close to 50 foals in the United States, and as homozygous tobiano, he stamps his offspring with his signature color, jump and personality.
“He has a really special temperament, and he has a special, sweet mind,” says Wallis. “The jumps are not a problem for him. He can jump as high as we need; there’s no problem with that, and then if I need him to pack me around, he’s fine with it. I think he’s a really kind-hearted horse. I do think that passes along to his babies too. The babies that we’ve been around are so sweet and fun to be around, and calm. You’ll see other babies and they’re going wild and crazy, and certain things will scare them, and some of his babies will just be standing there staring at it. They don’t care.”
Those qualities were part of why Campbell bred some of her own mares to Graham as she aims to breed not only amateur friendly horses, but also winning hunter ponies.
“He’s such a kind, mellow, good horse,” Campbell says. “He’s super willing, and he’s flexible to do [performance hunters and crossrails]. That’s where you feel the talent from him, as far as he can step up and do those bigger classes, and he’s really good at it, but again it says so much about him, especially as a stallion, that he’s able to kind of reset. He’s able to do that step down job. I think that’s hard for any horse to do, especially a stallion.”
While the last two years have been rebuilding years, in 2026 they’re going to push towards the goal of him competing in USHJA International Hunter Derby classes. Initially they tried keeping him competing while breeding three days a week, but they ultimately decided it was too much to ask him to collect while on the road. This year, he’ll have April and May off from competing to make things easier with his breeding schedule.
“One of the things that make him so enticing to breed is a lot of stallions aren’t very junior or amateur friendly, and that horse is unbelievably kind,” says Ayres. “I would trust anybody on him. He’s so gentle. He takes care of Kristen in the crossrails and then goes and does the high performance and the derbies. There’s one percent of horses that are able to go and do that job, and we’re lucky enough to have one of them.”
