Longtime horseman Todd Karn was named the fifth head equestrian coach in Cornell history in July 2012 and will be starting his second year in charge of the program in 2013-14.
In his first season with the Big Red in 2012-13, Karn's leadership helped result in Cornell claiming its first Ivy League Championship since 2009. Cornell won four total shows in Karn's first year and had four riders qualify for the Zone Championships. One of those riders, freshman Meridith Meyer, made it to the national meet in Harrisburg, Pa., where she was crowned reserve champion in the Open Flat class, becoming the Big Red's second-ever reserve champion at nationals.
Before coming to Cornell, Karn served as the President and Manager of the Hunt Valley Farm LLC in Cazenovia, N.Y., where he offered advanced horse and rider training for competitors in the East Coast's top rated United States Equestrian Federation (USEF)Rated Horse Shows. He produced the Zone II Amateur Owner Champion and an ASPCA Maclay finalist at the Kentucky Horse Park National Horse Show in 2011.
With tremendous experience as a rider, trainer and judge, Karn has been a known name on the equestrian scene for more than four decades. He started his training and teaching career at the Ox Ridge Hunt Club in Darien, Conn., back in the early 1980s.
Prior to coaching, Karn was a national class rider, competing at the 1976 ASPCA Maclay Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York City and the AHSA Medal Finals in Harrisburg, Pa. He has since had great success in the ring, successfully saddling Chital to the Zone I Regular Working Hunter championship in 1983, good for a third place finish nationally, and also riding the top hunter, the Wizard, to the championship in the Regular Conformation at the Devon Horse Show in 1994. Karn still competes to this day.
Karn has also excelled as a judge, receiving his large “R” license in 1985. Since that time, he has judged numerous shows, including the Middleburg Nationals, Hampton Classic and the New England Medal Finals. He has been asked to judge the 2012 Washington International Equitation Finals with Olympian McLain Ward and James Clapperton.
Updated 5/9/13
