United States Eventing Association

USEA Hall of Fame Member, Karen Stives: 1950-2015

The USEA is very sad to hear of the passing of Hall of Fame member, Karen Stives, who lost her long battle with lung cancer today at the age of 64.

Karen earned her place in Three-Day Eventing history when she rode her mother's big grey gelding, Ben Arthur, to win the individual silver medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. A single rail down in show jumping cost her the individual gold, but the pair's strong finish helped earn the team gold for the United States. Karen became the first of two women ever to win an individual Olympic Three-Day Event medal – Virginia Holgate Elliott (Great Britain) won the individual bronze also at Los Angeles.

Karen was a New England rider who rose to the top of international competition through sheer diligence, hard work and plenty of natural ability, and she was called a "small package with a thousand-pound brain," by longtime friend and colleague, Jim Wolf. At one time she contemplated trying out for both the U.S. Eventing and Dressage teams in the same year – an idea she discarded after riding in two separate selection trials in the same weekend!

Karen was the USCTA Rider of Year in 1981, 1987 and 1988. She represented the U.S. in many international Three-Day Event competitions on her wonderful Thoroughbred, The Saint, including the World Championships in Luhmuhlen in 1982. It was there that Karen's mother, Lillian Mahoney, was taken by an Irish-bred horse named Ben Arthur who had been leased from a British rider by a member of the New Zealand team. Mrs. Maloney purchased him for Karen after the competition, forming a partnership that would pay off two years later in Los Angeles.

Following her retirement from international competition, Karen became an FEI judge and chair of the USET Three-Day Event Selectors' Committee for many years. In 2014, Karen donated $1 million dollars to the USET Foundation which became known as the Karen E. Stives Endowment Fund for High Performance Eventing. The funding awards competition grants to U.S. riders including two of who competed at today’s Nation’s Cup at Aachen.

Karen is survived by her significant other, Bob Hutchison; her sister Linda McCabe; and three nieces and nephews.