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About Karin
Karin grew up in Dokka, Norway near Lillehamar, where the Winter Olympics were held in 1994. Her family has been in the forestry business for 200 years. Horses have traditionally been part of the logging industry so it’s no surprise that Karin had a Shetland pony named Ponyman at an early age (and also a black lab named Bumse).
With the support and encouragement of her Mother, Karin started riding lessons at age 7. Her horse, a warm blood mare named Sjoka, was quite a challenge! But Karin learned how to handle the mare and her riding steadily improved. At age 16 Karin won her first medals in show jumping, cross-country and steeplechase – an exciting accomplishment for a 16 year old.
In 1990 Karin traveled to California to visit her 2 brothers living there. While in the US Karin became a working student for Olympic dressage rider Leslie Morse at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. She later worked in the Bay Area at the Golden Gate Park hunter jumper stable, Lisa Devito Equestrian Center.
Karin realized her true calling was dressage. She quickly figured out that her German neighbors to the south were the experts in this discipline. So in 1992 she began study at the Westfalen Riding & Driving School in Munster under Herr Putz. Karin recalls the thrill of riding a Schoolmaster and truly understanding for the first time what Dressage should feel like. Karin studied hard and completed her FN Bronze Apptaichen in Germany after 3 months of training.
In 1997 Karin and her American husband, Jerry, moved to Kansas City where she became a member of the KCDS while working at Landers Farms. While at Landers she trained extensively with the noted German dressage instructor Michael Beining.
In 2000 Karin spent 3 months again in Germany, in an intense dressage apprenticeship at one of the premier dressage barns in Warendorf. In 2007 Karin trained for 3 months at Temple Farms in Chicago with top German instructor Jochen Hippenstiel. In addition Karin has participated in clinics with several famous Dressage horsemen, including Conrad Shumaker and Steffen Peters.