I met Golding around 2005 when I first had horses in the FEI tent. In her role as FEI steward, she was enormously helpful as I navigated rules new to me. When I reached out to Golding when I starting writing about the history of show jumping as curator of the USHJA Wheeler Museum, she spent hours telling me stories and sharing photos “from back in the day.” It was always evident that Golding genuinely loved horses. She had seen a lot in her years in the horse show world, and she was willing to hold people to high standards in their care of the horse.
From England to the International Stage
Golding grew up caring for her own ponies and a horse in England. An elderly groom encouraged Golding’s fascination with gaining knowledge and began teaching her tried-and-true remedies and practices. That desire for knowledge led to Golding’s move to the U.S. at age 20 and the launch of a career that left a legendary mark on American show jumping.
In 1970, Golding met Bernie and Tiffany Traurig while they were horse shopping in England. She flew to the United States with their horses and worked at their Bloodstock Farm in Pennsylvania for three years. When a hunter called Royal Blue and the great jumper Springdale were sold to Winter Place Farm in Maryland, Golding went with them. Bernie became a rider for Winter Place, and Golding cared for the horses he rode, including a “skinny 3-year-old” named Jet Run.
Meeting Michael Matz
In the fall of 1974, Golding went to work for Jerry Baker and Michael Matz at F. Eugene Dixon’s Erdenheim Farm. Jimmy Herring had been hired earlier that year, and when asked what other grooms should join their team suggested Golding. Herring and Golding worked with Matz for much of the next 30 years and remained friends until Golding’s death in 2023.
Herring recalled, “We called her ‘Mama.’ She was the ‘let’s go’ person; the one who was shaking us up: ‘Come on, it’s time to get up and go to work.’ And Karen was also our ‘go-to’ person — about your horse or something with you yourself. She was sympathetic and understanding, always.”
The job with Erdenheim led Golding to the 1975 Pan Am Games, where Matz and Grande were on the U.S. gold medal-winning team, and onto their first Olympics, in 1976 in Montreal. Golding so impressed the United States Equestrian Team during those Games that she was asked to serve as stable manager/head groom for later USET tours, even when Matz wasn’t on the team. In 1996, she was groom for Rhum IV, Matz’s ride on the U.S. team that won the silver medal. Some of her other great horses were Mighty Ruler, Sandor, Chef, Bon Retour, Heisman and Judgement. With the exception of 1984, she was at every Olympics through Sydney 2000.
Karen and Jet Run
Around the time Golding left Winter Place, Jet Run was sold to Fernando Senderos of Mexico in time to win the individual gold and team silver at the 1975 Pan Ams and compete in the 1976 Olympics. Matz and Baker knew Senderos, and he and Jet then moved to Erdenheim to train. When Senderos left show jumping in 1977, Mr. Dixon bought Jet Run for Matz to compete. Jet Run became Golding’s horse of a lifetime.
Matz’s, Golding’s, and Jet Run’s major victories included the 1977 American Jumping Derby, 1978-1979 American Gold Cup, 1979 Pan Am team and individual gold medals, 1981 FEI World Cup Final and 1982 World Championship team and individual bronze medals. Golding remained his caretaker through his retirement in 1985.
“We just became pals,” Golding said. “Jet Run would follow me around and would play with me in the fields and chase me. Unfortunately, he was a bad shipper, so I spent a lot of time in the back of the truck and staying with him on planes. But then he settled in and became quite a great horse. He was a good part of my life.”
Mr. Dixon called Golding back to the farm to be with Jet at his death at age 28.
Karen’s Impact on Jumpers and Their Caretakers
As show jumping expanded in the United States, grooming as a profession changed as riders and owners of horses selected for the USET began wanting their home grooms to travel with their horses. In 1975, Golding and Georgia Coyle (nee Dunaway) had become the first outside — and the first female — grooms to accompany their horses on USET selection tours. Coyle was caring for Winter Place’s Southside as Robert Ridland was aiming for a berth on the 1976 Montreal Olympic Team. Golding was with Matz, caring for Grande. “The riders really fought for it,” she said, “They realized we knew our horses and that it would be the best for the horses.”
Caretakers “back in the day” were hands-on with all aspects of their horses’ care, needing skills that today are often handled by specialists or commercial operations: driving vans, flying with their horses, braiding, tending to physical therapies, sleeping in tack rooms as security guards. Before the days of cell phones and the internet, grooms had to rely on knowledge they learned firsthand.
Coyle remembered: “Karen brought skills from Europe, like pulling a tail. We traded a lot of information because we came from different experiences. The horse shows were big, but the group of grooms working with the top jumpers was small, and we saw each other all the time.”
Keeping Things Simple
Golding said that she tried to “keep things simple” with good feed and “old horsemen’s remedies” from her upbringing in England, like using cabbage leaves to cool horses’ legs and spending lots of time grooming and figuring out their horses as individuals.
Herring recalled, “Karen got all that knowledge from working with some of the best vets, racehorse grooms and farriers in the country. She was always hungry for knowledge about the animal. And she was so willing to share it.”
“Everybody helped each other,” Golding recalled, “If we had to fix something or if we needed an idea, there was always someone to ask. Even the riders would pitch in. We had the same sense of purpose. We wanted the best horse on that day to win, whether it was ours or someone else’s horse.”
“The horse’s care was always foremost,” Herring said, “With Karen, it was always clear that the horse comes first.”
Becoming A Steward
When Matz changed his focus from show jumping to racing in 1998, Golding turned to other areas of the sport. She became an FEI steward in 2000 and garnered respect among riders at home and abroad throughout the new phase of her career. Her belief that the horse comes first also defined Golding’s approach to her role as a steward. Herring said, “It was just her personality. She could come across as mean sometimes, but she was always open to everyone.” She was selected as a steward for the 2012 London Olympics and was chief steward at the FEI World Cup Finals in 2003, 2005 and 2007.
Keeping Traditions for the Next Generation
Golding collected thousands of pins from the Olympics and other major events. As a welcome gift or thank you for support at international events, souvenir pins are a kind of currency. “The USET would give us a bunch of pins to hand out to break the ice when meeting new people back in the stables,” Golding told me in a 2016 interview. “When someone helped us out, we gave them a pin. The pins often meant more to them than payment.”
Always looking for ways to give others a leg-up in our sport, Golding found a new way to carry forward her pin-trading tradition. She said, “I realized I had so many doubles that I started giving bags of old pins to current grooms heading to Europe to give away.” One groom told Golding on his return that “it was amazing how the pins crossed language barriers. In Germany, we could make friends and offer the pins as small gifts to those who gave us a hand.”
When Golding passed away in 2023, she left her pin collection to the Show Jumping Hall of Fame. They are on display at the USHJA Wheeler Museum, mementos of her legacy and pride in being a groom.
Featured photo of Karen Golding and Jet Run during his retirement ceremony in 1985 is courtesy of Willa Weller.
I began riding at age 11, was managing a stable by 13 and have been grooming and showing jumpers and hunters most of my life. An injury at age 19 interrupted my time in the barn, so I turned to college and graduate school. I worked in publishing, was a college history professor, ran a therapeutic riding organization and was the programs and communications director at JustWorld International. Today, I combine my love of horses and history as a writer, researcher and the curator at the USHJA Wheeler Museum while managing my family’s Quiet Corner Farm in Pennsylvania. My articles have appeared in Horse Sport, Equestrian, and USHJA In Stride, as well as newsletters for multiple horse-related nonprofit organizations.
