The gift from Stives will fund an annual grant for an eventing high performance activity that will have a direct impact on the United States ability to win medals at CCIO competitions. Last Friday, the Foundation hosted a special reception to honor members of its Gold Medal Club and announce the Karen E. Stives Endowment Fund for High Performance Eventing.
USET Foundation Executive Director Bonnie B. Jenkins said that Stives’s generosity was “simply extraordinary”.
“Karen and our other Gold Medal Club members make it possible for the USET Foundation to help fund teams for the WEG, the Olympics, Pan American Games and all the High Performance programs and international competitions that take place throughout the year.”
USET Foundation Treasurer Philip Richter said Stives’s gift to the USET Foundation would a direct impact on the country’s ability to win medals.
In introducing Stives at the reception, US Chef d’ Mission Jim Wolf said that no one rider has given as much back to the sport.
“As a rider and donor I think she’s really setting a tone. Selector, donor, rider, volunteer, judge – she has done all those things for the love of the sport, for the people and the horses,” he said.