Carol Lavell (2024)

Established to honor and preserve the achievements of the people and horses that made outstanding contributions to, and represent the most influential and dedicated within, our sport, the late Carol Lavell epitomized exactly what this honor is meant to recognize. Lavell is best known as the partner of the famous dressage mount Gifted, who already holds a spot in the USDF Hall of Fame (inducted in 1997). Together, the pair medaled in events ranging from the Olympics, to the North American Dressage Championships, and World Equestrian Games in the early 1990s. Not only was Lavell a trailblazer in the dressage arena, she was a leader in inspiring others to not only work toward their own dreams, but to help pave the road for others along the way. For over two decades, Lavell and her family helped countless riders through their financial support of The Dressage Foundation's grants. Through this generosity, she aided thousands of amateurs, youth, young professionals, judges, instructors, and many others. Her support of these grants didn't just help others during her lifetime, as her generosity has enabled The Dressage Foundation to ensure that grants from these funds will be awarded for many years into the future, cementing Lavell’s long-term legacy as a leader in our sport. Tragically, Lavell passed away in 2023. However, her family members will be in Houston to enjoy the celebration of her life and to accept her posthumous Hall of Fame induction on her behalf. USDF is proud to honor her life by inducting her into the Roemer Foundation/USDF Hall of Fame.

Induction Speech

Her horse was inducted into the USDF/Roemer Hall of Fame in 1997, one year after its founding in 1996. Twenty-seven years later, we are now finally inducting Gifted’s rider, owner, and trainer. Somehow, sadly, I feel we’re a little bit late. However, having said that, we are here tonight to celebrate all that Carol Lavell did during her lifetime and the legacy she left with us.

Carol was born in1943 in Newport, Rhode Island where she grew up. She always had a love for horses and was a Pony Clubber during her early years. She graduated from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA and Vassar College with a degree in Physics. Carol, worked in research with a biochemistry professor and taught lab research to students at MIT. It seems that clearly, Carol was no dummy. Later, while teaching high school science in Hanover, NH Carol met another teacher, Tom Lavell, and in 1968 they were married. When Carol decided to pursue her love for horses and dressage full time, Carol and Tom moved to Fairfax, VT where she and Tom became longtime residents.

Fellow New Englander, Pam Goodrich, recalled: “I knew Carol before she was famous until her final days. Brilliant mind, funny, driven, strong character, typical New Englander, give her a challenge and she would meet it head on... you needed a place to stay in an emergency?... she was there.”

Perhaps because of her experience at Camp Tela Wookit and as a summer camp counselor at Hitching Post Farm in Strafford, VT, Carol began her equestrian career as an eventer. Her first famous horse was Better and Better, a thoroughbred she trained and competed through Preliminary level 3-day before selling him for Michael J Plumb to ride. Plumb rode Better and Better at the 1976 Olympics as a 7-year-old and won team gold and individual silver. Carol continued to bring along more horses including Chestnuts Are Better, Lilak and In The Black with whom she won the Individual Silver Medal in Dressage at the 1987 Pan Am Games in Indiana.

Carol was forty-one when she purchased her most famous horse, Gifted from Kasselmann’s in Germany. Carol and Gifted broke barriers and kicked open the door for Americans to compete in Europe. They went on to become major rockstars of their era in American dressage. At the time, he was the most expensive horse she had ever bought – $25,000! He was an untrained 4-year-old Hanoverian gelding and according to Carol “He didn’t make a winning impression. He was unfriendly to be around…But he came from very famous bloodlines, and he came with enormous self-carriage.”

Pam Goodrich: “Gifted looked like a big moving “German” horse. Everyone thought Gifted would be in better hands with “male” German rider. Afterall, Gifted was over 17’3 and Carol was 5 foot 4 inches tall. Little did they know that Gifted rode like a sensitive Thoroughbred. Those who rode him – including Herbert Rehbein - learned their lesson the hard way when giving “strong” aids to Gifted. I remember in the mid-eighties being on a 17.2 hand horse and standing next to Gifted in a Second (or Third level) awards ceremony at the Region 1 Championships in Culpeper and feeling like I was on a pony. Gifted was big, and, he could move.

The zigzag in the GP test in those days had one more half pass than it does today, and the story goes that because of Gifted the FEI had to take one out, so that it is now only 3-6-6-6-3. The other story is that while Carol was discussing the horse with long time coach, Michael Poulin, Michael called the horse “gifted” and that is his how he got his name. Carol trained Gifted up through the levels winning USDF HOY at First Level through Grand Prix, and as far as I know, the only pair to ever do that. They went on to win several AHSA/USET National Championships at Grad Prix.

Before he was retired in 1996, Carol and Gifted had competed at the 1990 WEG in Stockholm where they were 11th, the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where they were sixth individually and led the U.S. to a bronze medal, the first Olympic medal in 16 years for the U.S. dressage team. They needed to score 1,524 points in the Grand Prix to bring the bronze home. Lavell recounted: “I was the last of the riders on the second day. It came down to Gifted’s ride.

I needed a test that was 100 points higher than I had ever gotten. I came out and I rode my test. I saw the score, and I realized we had won the bronze medal.” Robert Dover stated that: “Carol Lavel was funny, tough, and someone you knew, as your teammate, you could count on to fight for every single point. She was a wonderful person and left a great legacy for American Dressage.”

At the 1994 World Equestrian Games at The Hague they won team bronze and were 9th in the GP Freestyle. They competed in two FEI World Cup Finals, once in 1992 at Gothenburg placing 4th and again in s’Hertogenbosch placing 5th. Carol retired Gifted in 1996. In speaking about Carol, Michael Poulin summed it up this way: “We have very few people that can really ride and train to the Olympic level in this country. It takes somebody with that vision of dedication to sacrifice time and energy.”

According to Pam Goodrich: “She was smart enough to surround herself with people who could keep her focused on the task as she was so driven. Ande (Andrea), her groom during her most competitive years with Gifted was equally as smart, good natured, but with a strong character.” Long time student, Bess Bruton recalls: “ I had the honor of spending a month or more at her home in Vermont. Wow...was it cold!!! Icicles formed on the horses whiskers from their breath. We would ride a couple of horses...come in...change our long underwear...place it near the stove to dry...putting on our alternate pair. Go back out and ride and repeat through the day. We rode several horses every day, either in the un-heated indoor or out in the snow.” Carol received many honors for what she accomplished during those years and for the impact she had on the national dressage scene. The Chronicle of the Horse named her Equestrian of the Year in 1992. That same year the AHSA named her their Equestrian of the Year, she received the prestigious USET Whitney Stone Cup in 1993. And in 1990 and 1992 Carol was named the US Olympic Committee Female Equestrian Athlete of the Year. Carol and Gifted were on magazine covers and on posters belonging to every horse crazy dressage kid in the US.

Carol’s last international horse was Much Ado who Carol “scouted as a foal in a field” in the Netherlands. He was yet another horse that she brought from Training Level to Grand Prix. She won team gold on him at the 2003 Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo and was 6th individually. Carol retired from competition in 2008.

“Although a very celebrated athlete, Carol always had a love for teaching and adored her dressage pupils and their horses. Overtime, many of her pupils became like family to Carol and Tom.” Carol was able to use her background as an educator and high school teacher to become a sought-after instructor and clinician. According to Michael Poulin: “She was a great believer in honesty in every case. She knew that you have to have a deep understanding to be able to read the horse and be able to transmit knowledge to the student.”

Not one to rest on her laurels, Carol never forgot the support she received to help her get to the top. She spent the latter part of her career helping others to pursue their own dressage dreams. In 2009 Carol with friends and family, in remembrance of her mother, May Cadwgan, and in honor of her father, Gordon Cadwgan, she worked with The Dressage Foundation to establish the $25,000 Carol Lavell Advanced Dressage Prize to provide financial assistance to talented, qualified riders whose plan is to reach and excel at the elite, international high performance levels.

At the time, Carol said: ‘the road to the top is very difficult: some ways are bumpier than others, some are more crooked, and some are dead ends. My Olympic dream came true because my road was paved with many generous supporters who gave not only dollars, but also tack, equipment, and even discounted transportation. I hope this Prize will smooth the bumps for those deserving riders and horses on the road to their dreams.” To date the fund has awarded grants totaling more than $550,000. Laura Graves, Adrienne Lyle, and Sabine Shut Kerry are but a few who have benefited from the fund.

Later, seeded with donations received after the passing of Gifted in 1997, Carol created the Gifted Memorial Fund for Adult Amateurs. This grant enables Adult Amateurs to set aside quality time, in concentrated training away from the daily pressures of job and family. In 2000, Carol and Tom moved from Vermont to their farm in Loxahatchee, FL and shortly after built a house on a mountain, with a farm below, in Fairview, NC where they happily spent their summers. Ever by her side every step of the way, Tom passed away in 2020 and Carol died on March 27, 2023, at their home in North Carolina due to complications from Alzheimer's.

Carol left three legacies: One, she and Gifted left a legacy that paved a path that showed the Europeans and the world not to underestimate the Americans, that a tiny woman could pilot a leviathan of a horse to medals. The second legacy she left was one of inspiration. She inspired the growth of dressage and the dreams of many riders who came after her. The third legacy? She left through the Dressage Foundation, a means by which some of those dreams can come true.

-George Williams, USDF President