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“I can’t wait to ride again,” Woodside native Karl Cook tells The Almanac, after winning a silver medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. As he explains, he and his mare, Caracole de la Roque, are now back in Rancho Santa Fe prepping for their next challenge.
This story has been edited for length and clarity.
The Almanac: How did it feel to be called up at the last minute to ride for the Team USA show jumping event?
Karl Cook: Of course, you want to be on the team the whole time, but when we were chosen for alternate, there was no hesitation. We wanted to show so when we got called up, we were excited.
Q: And ready?
A: Yes, we did all of our preparation as if we were going to show and felt as ready as possible. I mean you don’t know you’re ready until after you go, but in the moment I felt ready.
Q: You’ve been competing internationally successfully for years, but this time you were riding with and against Olympic veterans. Was that nerve wracking?
A: No. We’ve been competing internationally for years, and I’ve been slowly climbing that proverbial ladder. I think if you think too much about who you’re competing with or against, then you’re giving them a leg up. So, we’re there to compete, we’re there to win because we believe we are better.
Q: On Day One and Day Two of the team competition you ended up riding two clear rounds. How did that feel, and how tough was the course?
A: The course the first day is easier than the second day, and that’s by design, so the second day was significantly more challenging than the first day. And then jumping double clear frankly, I was just relieved, excited of course, but just relieved because there are a lot of people that thought of me in a certain way and it was great to show them that they are wrong.
Q: Do you want to elaborate?
A: They thought I always choke in nations’ cups and can’t do nations’ cups, and that I would always be this way, I was always a liability. And we made the team because we did well enough in the nations’ cups, but we also won grands prix, and jumped double clear in grands prix. So, it was great. I think riding with a chip on your shoulder is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give you.
Q: What are your thoughts on winning silver and being on the podium?
A: I was focused on doing the best that I could, not so much on an individual side, but if I jumped double clear that would help the team. I wasn’t adding up the scores of the other people, I wasn’t keeping track of how other teams were doing. I was focused on doing what I could do. I remember when we were watching McLain [Ward] go in the second round and he ends up jumping clear, at that point someone in the Kiss and Cry, where we were standing, said, ‘We’re on the podium!’ I didn’t know where we were sitting, I didn’t know the ramifications of anyone’s results because we were focused on doing our own thing. And then when the last French rider had a rail and we got bumped to silver, then yes, it felt pretty amazing.
Q: Have you had Olympic dreams for a while?
A: Of course. If you do any sport that’s in the Olympics you always dream of going to the Olympics, so that’s always been something you want to experience, and I’m very fortunate to have been able to go and compete and compete in a way where I feel like we did a good job and I feel proud.
Q: Does any of this go back to riding in Woodside?
A: I remember the very first day during the warm up class [in Versailles]. It was our first time in the arena, and all the alternates went in. The one thing that stuck with me as I was cantering around that ring is it felt like when you are on your horse and imagine you have this unbelievably beautiful grass field that’s five or 10 acres, perfectly mowed, gorgeous, or like rolling hills in Kentucky. On your own you just get to canter your horse, fully free and have the best time. That’s what it felt like, just so much fun. When you get to a certain high level in showing as much as you try to have fun, a lot of the other stuff creeps in, so it becomes less than just the joy of riding.
Q: In the following days at the individual event some competitors didn’t complete the course and riders fell off. What were you thinking watching that before you rode in the finals?
A: I watched a few people go. One person fell off at the water; that’s not that big of a deal. I wasn’t too worried about that. We’re limited in height now, so the course can’t be built as high as in years past, but that doesn’t mean it’s not hard. For me, this is the hardest course we’ve ever had because of how technical it was. You used to have fences that were bigger or wider, but you had a free approach to it and then you would land from that and canter away for 20 strides before your next fence. Whereas now you have them so bunched together with such complicated lines that were so challenging. I was excited to show after three clear rounds. I felt I knew my horse was ready and I just was excited to have our shot at one more medal.
Q: What’s next for you and your horse?
A: After big championships you need to let the horses rest for a bit, so we’re going to do that and then we’ll show a few more times this year. If everything goes to plan, she’ll go to three more shows this year culminating at the big Rolex Five Star in Geneva in December. That’s the goal now, I’m not in that show yet, I’m still trying to get in.
Q: What a year! In 2024 you got married, won first and second in several Grand Prix events in Florida, Rome and France, and you’re already getting back to training mode?
A: You have to, no one else is resting. If you rest, you fall behind.
Q: Anything you’d like to add about your support team?
A: It’s very easy to see one horse and one rider in the ring, but it’s very important that everyone understands at that level there’s enormous infrastructure behind them and it’s because of those people that anyone at the Olympics is able to do what they do. I’m very proud of my horse, her groom, and the whole team that’s able to put it all together because it’s not just one person. It takes a whole bunch of people [including his mother, Woodside resident Signe Ostby, who owns Caracole].
Q: You posted on Instagram, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.” Is that attitude linked to designing your own riding clothes and horses’ shoes? Is more coming?
A: Yes, there’s always more, but people are always asking what’s the most important thing that you’ve found in doing what you do? The most important thing might only be 23% of the totality. I think it’s so much more important to focus on all of the many little things that lead to the whole instead of trying to find that one thing. There is no one thing, there has never been one thing, there never will be one thing, it’s a huge accumulation of many, many small perfectly done things.
