diff --git a/guardrails/classes/schema/processed_schema.py b/guardrails/classes/schema/processed_schema.py
index 5e23544d0..74ec680ee 100644
--- a/guardrails/classes/schema/processed_schema.py
+++ b/guardrails/classes/schema/processed_schema.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import Any, Dict, List
-from guardrails_api_client import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.classes.execution.guard_execution_options import GuardExecutionOptions
 from guardrails.classes.output_type import OutputTypes
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.types.validator import ValidatorMap
 
 
diff --git a/guardrails/classes/validation/validator_reference.py b/guardrails/classes/validation/validator_reference.py
index 93890d0b0..7f48f75fb 100644
--- a/guardrails/classes/validation/validator_reference.py
+++ b/guardrails/classes/validation/validator_reference.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+from typing import Any, Dict
 from guardrails_api_client import ValidatorReference as IValidatorReference
 
+from guardrails.utils.serialization_utils import to_dict
+
 
 # Docs only
 class ValidatorReference(IValidatorReference):
@@ -17,3 +20,26 @@ class ValidatorReference(IValidatorReference):
         args (Optional[List[Any]]): Positional arguments. Default None.
         kwargs (Optional[Dict[str, Any]]): Keyword arguments. Default None.
     """
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_interface(cls, interface: IValidatorReference) -> "ValidatorReference":
+        """Create a ValidatorReference from an interface."""
+        return cls(
+            id=interface.id,
+            on=interface.on,
+            on_fail=interface.on_fail,  # type: ignore
+            args=interface.args,
+            kwargs=interface.kwargs,
+        )
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        ref_dict = super().to_dict()
+
+        # serialize args and kwargs
+        if self.args:
+            ref_dict["args"] = [to_dict(a) for a in self.args]
+
+        if self.kwargs:
+            ref_dict["kwargs"] = {k: to_dict(v) for k, v in self.kwargs.items()}
+
+        return ref_dict
diff --git a/guardrails/guard.py b/guardrails/guard.py
index 8b20e76af..62895b5c7 100644
--- a/guardrails/guard.py
+++ b/guardrails/guard.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 
 from guardrails_api_client import (
     Guard as IGuard,
-    ValidatorReference,
     ValidatePayload,
     SimpleTypes,
     ValidationOutcome as IValidationOutcome,
@@ -36,6 +35,7 @@
 from guardrails.classes.rc import RC
 from guardrails.classes.validation.validation_result import ErrorSpan
 from guardrails.classes.validation.validation_summary import ValidationSummary
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.classes.validation_outcome import ValidationOutcome
 from guardrails.classes.execution import GuardExecutionOptions
 from guardrails.classes.generic import Stack
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ def __init__(
             id=id,
             name=name,
             description=description,
-            validators=validators,
+            validators=[],
             output_schema=model_schema,
             history=history,  # type: ignore - pyright doesn't understand pydantic overrides
         )
@@ -180,6 +180,9 @@ def __init__(
         # self.output_schema: Optional[ModelSchema] = None
         # self.history = history
 
+        ### Overrides ###
+        self.validators = validators
+
         ### Legacy ##
         self._num_reasks = None
         self._rail: Optional[str] = None
@@ -208,7 +211,10 @@ def __init__(
                 if loaded_guard:
                     self.id = loaded_guard.id
                     self.description = loaded_guard.description
-                    self.validators = loaded_guard.validators or []
+                    self.validators = [  # type: ignore
+                        ValidatorReference.from_interface(v)
+                        for v in loaded_guard.validators or []
+                    ]
 
                     loaded_output_schema = (
                         ModelSchema.from_dict(  # trims out extra keys
@@ -1376,7 +1382,7 @@ def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             id=self.id,
             name=self.name,
             description=self.description,
-            validators=self.validators,
+            validators=self.validators,  # type: ignore
             output_schema=self.output_schema,
             history=[c.to_interface() for c in self.history],  # type: ignore
         )
@@ -1416,7 +1422,10 @@ def from_dict(cls, obj: Optional[Dict[str, Any]]) -> Optional["Guard"]:
             id=i_guard.id,
             name=i_guard.name,
             description=i_guard.description,
-            validators=i_guard.validators,
+            validators=[
+                ValidatorReference.from_interface(i_val)
+                for i_val in i_guard.validators or []
+            ],
             output_schema=output_schema,
         )
 
diff --git a/guardrails/schema/primitive_schema.py b/guardrails/schema/primitive_schema.py
index fbb98cfa0..4a758459d 100644
--- a/guardrails/schema/primitive_schema.py
+++ b/guardrails/schema/primitive_schema.py
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 from guardrails_api_client.models.model_schema import ModelSchema
 from guardrails_api_client.models.simple_types import SimpleTypes
 from guardrails_api_client.models.validation_type import ValidationType
-from guardrails_api_client.models.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 
 from guardrails.classes.output_type import OutputTypes
 from guardrails.classes.schema.processed_schema import ProcessedSchema
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.validator_base import Validator
 
 
diff --git a/guardrails/schema/pydantic_schema.py b/guardrails/schema/pydantic_schema.py
index a29349307..085c8b018 100644
--- a/guardrails/schema/pydantic_schema.py
+++ b/guardrails/schema/pydantic_schema.py
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@
 
 from pydantic import AliasChoices, AliasGenerator, AliasPath, BaseModel
 from pydantic.fields import FieldInfo
-from guardrails_api_client import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.classes.output_type import OutputTypes
 from guardrails.classes.schema.processed_schema import ProcessedSchema
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.logger import logger
 from guardrails.types import (
     ModelOrListOfModels,
diff --git a/guardrails/schema/rail_schema.py b/guardrails/schema/rail_schema.py
index 2071f6b01..b23eae128 100644
--- a/guardrails/schema/rail_schema.py
+++ b/guardrails/schema/rail_schema.py
@@ -7,10 +7,11 @@
 from lxml import etree as ET
 from lxml.etree import _Element, Element, SubElement, XMLParser
 from xml.etree.ElementTree import canonicalize
-from guardrails_api_client import ModelSchema, SimpleTypes, ValidatorReference
+from guardrails_api_client import ModelSchema, SimpleTypes
 from guardrails.classes.execution.guard_execution_options import GuardExecutionOptions
 from guardrails.classes.output_type import OutputTypes
 from guardrails.classes.schema.processed_schema import ProcessedSchema
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.logger import logger
 from guardrails.types import RailTypes
 from guardrails.types.validator import ValidatorMap
diff --git a/guardrails/utils/serialization_utils.py b/guardrails/utils/serialization_utils.py
index d124a9069..7e2e94cda 100644
--- a/guardrails/utils/serialization_utils.py
+++ b/guardrails/utils/serialization_utils.py
@@ -2,10 +2,29 @@
 import json
 from typing import Any, Optional
 import warnings
+from dataclasses import asdict, is_dataclass
+from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 from guardrails.classes.generic.default_json_encoder import DefaultJSONEncoder
 
 
+# This is the same logic as the DefaultJSONEncoder but without stringifying everything
+def to_dict(o):
+    if hasattr(o, "to_dict"):
+        return o.to_dict()
+    elif isinstance(o, BaseModel):
+        return o.model_dump()
+    elif is_dataclass(o):
+        return asdict(o)
+    elif isinstance(o, set):
+        return list(o)
+    elif isinstance(o, datetime):
+        return o.isoformat()
+    elif hasattr(o, "__dict__"):
+        return o.__dict__
+    return o
+
+
 # TODO: What other common cases we should consider?
 def serialize(val: Any) -> Optional[str]:
     try:
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_primitive_schema.py b/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_primitive_schema.py
index 566c6dcb0..30f0d77b1 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_primitive_schema.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_primitive_schema.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import json
 
-from guardrails_api_client.models.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.classes.schema.processed_schema import ProcessedSchema
 from guardrails.schema.primitive_schema import primitive_to_schema
 from guardrails.classes.output_type import OutputTypes
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_pydantic_schema.py b/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_pydantic_schema.py
index 12913425c..fecc5d43d 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_pydantic_schema.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_pydantic_schema.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import json
 
-from guardrails_api_client.models.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.classes.schema.processed_schema import ProcessedSchema
 from guardrails.schema.pydantic_schema import pydantic_model_to_schema
 from guardrails.classes.output_type import OutputTypes
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_rail_schema.py b/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_rail_schema.py
index 4fb4ebfeb..0fd7b28f9 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_rail_schema.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/schema/test_rail_schema.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 from xml.etree.ElementTree import canonicalize
 
-from guardrails_api_client.models.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.classes.schema.processed_schema import ProcessedSchema
 from guardrails.schema.rail_schema import (
     rail_file_to_schema,
diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/test_guard.py b/tests/integration_tests/test_guard.py
index 86a258cdb..e4461c3ad 100644
--- a/tests/integration_tests/test_guard.py
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/test_guard.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
-from guardrails_api_client import Guard as IGuard, ValidatorReference
+from guardrails_api_client import Guard as IGuard
 
 import guardrails as gd
 from guardrails.actions.reask import SkeletonReAsk
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from guardrails.classes.llm.llm_response import LLMResponse
 from guardrails.classes.validation_outcome import ValidationOutcome
 from guardrails.classes.validation.validation_result import FailResult
+from guardrails.classes.validation.validator_reference import ValidatorReference
 from guardrails.guard import Guard
 from guardrails.actions.reask import FieldReAsk
 from tests.integration_tests.test_assets.validators import (