‘Parents are superhumans’: three months from having a baby to riding three horses at Kentucky

Caroline Pamukcu is riding three horses at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week (24-27 April), just three months after having her first baby with husband Deniz.

Her daughter Blake – named after Caroline’s Paris Olympic horse HSH Blake – was born on 29 January and Caroline talked yesterday about her experience of becoming a parent and returning so quickly to top-level competition.

Caroline said: “My husband and I keep saying to every parent we know, ‘You guys are superhumans’. We had no idea how much work it is, but it’s so rewarding, right? My favourite thing is waking Blake up in the morning before I go ride and she starts smiling and it’s amazing. She’s so special. It’s great that I can do both.”

The 30-year-old was back competing at international events in early March and shared what it has taken for her to return to fitness, saying: “It’s hard, obviously. I tried to stay as fit as I could through the pregnancy, but the last month I just sat and ate. I ate so much. It was so nice just to get big.

“And then the first month back, I really had to work hard. I had to go to the gym every day and really push myself. It’s not super glamorous trying to get your body to go from that to being five-star fit.

“But again, it’s worth it. I’m so glad we took the time and did this, because it’s such an important part of my life now. There will always be another horse show. There’s not always going to be time to have babies. So I’m glad that we did it.”

Caroline Pamukcu: “It’s interesting having a baby in our camper”

Caroline also said it’s “extra interesting having a newborn in our camper” when the family are on the road to events.

Talking about the journey to Kentucky, she said: “We left the Ocala horse show, drove till 2am, then we stopped and slept in a Buc-ees [a chain of service stations] parking lot. And then we took our baby into the Buc-ees and had our first Buc-ees experience, which was fun.

“And then got here, and my husband and I probably binge ate 5,000 calories. Then I came and said hi to the horses and then the next day, it’s like Groundhog Day, you start all over again at another horse show.”

Caroline lies third after the first day of dressage in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S, having scored 27.9 with her own, her husband Deniz, her mother Sherrie Martin and Mollie Hoff’s HSH Blake.

She said the horse “hasn’t done a ton of dressage since the Olympics” and she has probably only schooled him four or five times this year, with yesterday’s arena familiarisation the first time he’s worn a dressage saddle in 10 days.

She said: “He’s 10 this year and he’s done so much, so I thought it was important for us just to have fun this season and to take the pressure off. We don’t have to hunt for a team this year, so it’s just nice to enjoy everything.

“He finds everything so easy. I took him for a stretch this morning and then I came up here and only warmed up for 10 or 15 minutes before I went in the ring. I was just making it easy and keeping it fun.

“The flying changes were expensive because he was late in both of them, which is annoying because I’ve been trying so hard with them. But that’s all right – we’ve got a year to improve before the World Championships.”

Caroline also rides two horses in the five-star this weekend, HSH Double Sixteen, who scored 39.7 yesterday for 14th overnight and She’s The One, who starts at 2.04pm local time (7.04pm British time) today.

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