Hometown: Springtown, Pa. Birthday: 12/8/1994 Sport/Disciplines: Eventing Olympic Years: 2024
Caroline Pamukcu (neé Martin) is a talented young professional who has steadily risen through the USEF Eventing High Performance ranks throughout her career. Pamukcu earned her first international medal in 2013, as the Young Rider individual and team gold medalist in 2013 riding Quantam Solace, her Argentine Sport Horse.
Pamukcu has represented the U.S. Eventing Team internationally multiple times, including on the second-place teams at the 2022 Houghton Hall (GBR) CCIO4*-NC-S riding Sherrie Martin and her own, Islandwood Captain Jack and the 2023 Strzegom (POL) CCIO4*-NC-S with HSH Blake owned by Caroline and Daniz Pamukcu, Sherrie Martin, and Mollie Hoff. In 2023, Caroline and HSH Blake won individual gold and led the U.S. team to silver at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
HSH Blake is a notable product of Pamukcu’s young horse training program. She started competing the 2015 Irish Sport Horse gelding at the novice level in 2020 and in 2022 finished 10th at the FEI Young Horse World Championship in France. At that same event, she won a silver medal with Sherrie Martin's, Luann McElduff's and her own, HSH Connor who went on to win the 2023 USEF CCI3*-L Eventing National Championship.
The Redfield King's HX Group's 2015 KWPN gelding, King’s Especiale got his start in the show ring as a four year-old with Pamukcu and is now a successful four-star competitor with a second-place finish at the 2023 Morven Park International Horse Trials CCI4*-L and a win in the CCI4*-S at Great Meadow. In 2024, Caroline and King's Especiale were named to the Defender U.S. Eventing Team at the FEI Eventing Nations Cup CCIO4*-NC-S at Millstreet International Horse Trials where they posted the top individual score for the team and assisted in securing a team silver-medal finish.
With the strong performances of Pamukcu and HSH Blake throughout the 2023 and 2024 season, the pair were named to their first Olympic Team as one of the brightest young combinations for the program. HSH Blake and Pamucku were the first to compete for the team in their Olympic Debut, earning a 30.40 in the dressage phase and finishing on a final total score of 66.8 for 36th place overall and contributing to the team's sixth place finish.
With over 60 FEI starts in 2025, and an impressive 21 podium finishes, one of the major highlights of Pamukcu’s season was helping the Defender U.S. Eventing Team take silver at the CHIO Aachen CCIO4*-S with her longtime partner, HSH Blake owned by, Mollie Hoff, Sherrie Martin, and Caroline and Deniz Pamukcu. The following month, Pamukcu secured a top twenty finish individually and contributed to the Defender U.S. Eventing Team’s silver medal at the Arville CCIO4*-NC-S with She’s The One, owned by Andy and Mollie Hoff, Sherrie Martin and Caroline Pamukcu. Later that fall, Pamukcu finished third in the US Equestrian Open Eventing Series and went to take fourth overall with HSH Double Sixteen, owned by Double Sixteen Partnership, in the US Open Eventing Final CCI4*-L at Morven Park International. To conclude their 2025 competition season, Pamukcu piloted HSH Blake in his first CCI5*-L at the MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill where the pair came home with a strong fourth-place finish.
Pamukcu and her team continued to showcase their consistency and strength in 2026 with a win at the Bouckaert Equestrian H.T. International CCI4*-S aboard HSH Connor, owned by Sherrie Martin, Luann McElduff, and Caroline Pamukcu. Just a short month later, Pamucku secured her tenth US Open Qualifier win with HSH Double Sixteen at the Fair Hill International CCI4*-S as the only combination to go double clear in the cross-country phase.
Entering the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI5*-L with a strong spring season, Pamukcu doubled down with a second-place finish with HSH Blake, earning Defender/USEF CCI5*-L National Reserve Champion honors in her highest-ever finish at the event. Pamukcu’s talent continued to shine at the MARS Bromont CCI Three Day Event with two podium finishes in the CCI4*-L with She’s The One and HSH Double Sixteen.