Caroline Pamukcu was competing on an exciting new horse during a hot August weekend in 2020 at Olney Farm in Joppa, Maryland. The striking black gelding had arrived from Ireland a few months prior and first dipped his hooves into the eventing circuit in the U.S. at USEA Young Event Horse competitions.
“I was so excited about him that I invited all these professionals to come and watch him at show jumping,” Pamukcu recalled with a laugh. “I just wanted to show him off! But then I totally missed to a fence and fell off. When I came out of the ring, everyone who had come to watch was gone.”
But the 2024 U.S. Eventing Team member had an inkling that the then 5-year-old would perhaps be something special. That horse was HSH Blake, who is Pamukcu’s mount for her first Olympic Games this summer in Paris from July 27 – 29.
It was Pamukcu’s business partner, Irish rider and businesswoman Kelley Hutchinson, who first caught wind of HSH Blake (Tolan R – Doughiska Lass). The gelding was bred in Ireland by Justin Burke and originally competed with his former owner and amateur rider Mary Mangan.
“I actually tried to buy ‘Blake’ for myself as a 4-year-old,” Hutchinson said. “He’s from the same breeder as [2023 USEF National CCI3*-L Champion] HSH Connor, Justin Burke in Galway. I love Justin’s intuition, the way he picks horses and bloodlines. Mary bought him as a foal, produced him the whole way and did a great job. As a 4-year-old, he was pinging around Training level. He was a little baby-ish and green but looked amazing.”
Packed with Potential
Once Blake, who then competed under the moniker Galwaybay Blake, turned 5, Mangan called Hutchinson, offering her first right of refusal to purchase him. “She said, ‘look, he’s ready for somebody to do a bit more with.’ So I rode him and then I rang Caroline and told her, ‘you need to have him.’”
Hutchinson and Pamukcu had gone into business together, with Hutchinson using her expertise as both a rider and producer of young horses to source quality equine athletes for Pamukcu to then sell or, in some cases, to find owners for so she could retain the ride. Blake was intended for Pamukcu, but she initially entertained the idea of selling him.
“I told her, ‘please do not!’ I’m pretty firm. When I love them, I love them,” Hutchinson said.
So Pamukcu made some calls, the first of which was to Mollie Hoff, who had purchased horses from her in the past and whose daughter Lizzie has ridden with Pamukcu for several years.
“A couple people tried [Blake] and passed on him, as he was a little unrideable early on,” Pamukcu said. “The next year, he was still on the market. The week before we did the CCI2*-L National Championships at Virginia, someone tried him and wanted to watch him go and said they’d put an offer in. He won, and I knew he might get sold, so I called Mollie because I didn’t want to lose him. I told her I thought he could go to the Olympics. She called me back and said she’d buy him for me.”
Following the Program
Early this summer, Pamukcu’s prediction came true. On the heels of an individual and team gold medal at the Pan American Games—along with several other high points, including a top 10 finish at WFSBH FEI Young Horse World Championships at Le Lion d’Angers and a second place individual/gold medal team finish in FEI Nations Cup for Eventing competition in Poland—the announcement came that she would travel to Paris for the Olympics.
“I keep telling everyone that Blake and I are a bit of a product of the USEA and USEF programs,” Pamukcu said. “Every year we had goals of doing 5-year-old [Championships], 6-year-old National Championships, Le Lion [as a 7-year-old], during the 8-year-old year we do the Pan Ams and then his 9-year-old year we do the Olympics.”
In hindsight, they simply followed the program. She noted that not every horse can follow that program, but she strongly believes it really works.
“Blake was always wise beyond his years, but he also followed the Young Horse program in Ireland which really set him up,” she continued. “I think young horse programs are incredible. He’s done a championship every year.”
Pamukcu describes her training philosophy with Blake as very strength-focused. “His biggest weakness is that he’s only 9,” she laughed. “Physically, he has more maturing to do. But he has such a great work ethic. Blake is a bit of a unicorn. He steps up to the plate and gives you 200 percent at shows. He’s beautiful on the flat, he’s like a tiger on cross country and he’s nimble like a cat in show jumping. He’s just a really special horse.”
Honing Her Program
After spending time with British Olympian and Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing winner Pippa Funnell in 2021, Pamukcu completely overhauled her program. She attests Blake and the rest of her horses’ high level of fitness to these changes.
“We do a lot of road work like the British do, as well as long trot sets,” she said. “I don’t do a lot of drilling. We just do a lot of trot sets, sometimes on a hill. And he and I are very happy doing that.”
When she started working with Funnell, Pamukcu said she went in with an open mind to assess her own program.
“I was always into trotting and galloping, but Pippa really changed my program. So I’ve been following her methods. At home, I ride all of my horses in snaffles. We do less dressage days and more cavaletti work and stretching,” she noted. “At shows I might not even put a dressage saddle on until my test. I’m a very competitive person. But Pippa taught me that I can stay competitive while also taking the pressure off to make sure my horses are happy and I’m happy. You can still win while loving your horses.”
Pamukcu also credits CCI5* rider and Pan Ams teammate Sharon White for her recent help in preparation for Paris. “I always liked what a good horsewoman she is. And after spending time with her at Pan Ams, I called her up out of the blue and asked if she would consider taking me on.”
Pamukcu notes that White also focused on basics like straightness and footwork. “She works on my alignment and position,” she said. “I’d been bad in the past about going to the basics. So that’s what I really like about working with both Sharon and Pippa.”
Just Another Show
Pamukcu and Blake attended their final mandatory outing in June at the Stable View USEF/USEA Summer Horse Trials in Aiken, South Carolina. She then continued competing with her young and sales horses before traveling with the team to their pre-Olympic base. She plans to try and stick to a normal routine ahead of the biggest competition of her career. And despite internal pressure to do otherwise, she aims to think of the Games as just another important show. No more, no less.
“I’m a routine person. If I don’t follow my routine I feel like a fish out of water,” Pamukcu said. “I’ve enjoyed the experience of traveling with teams and getting used to how the formula works. Because it does work. It sets you up well. [The Olympics are] going to feel like any other show because I follow the same formula. I’m trusting the process because I’ve done it since I was 15 years old and haven’t been led astray yet. So I’m looking forward to really showing that this system does work.”
As for the “perfect unicorn,” Blake, Pamukcu laughs when asked how she thinks he’ll handle the pressure of the Olympics.
“He’s honestly going to be so happy that it’s all about him! He knows he’s a superstar. He was made to do something like this,” she said. “I think he’s going to be sad when he gets back and has to share the attention with everyone else!”
