Riding two of her longtime partners, Jenny Karazissis picked up back-to-back wins at Desert Horse Park in Thermal, California, on Feb. 9. The rider kicked off her winning day on Big Shot, a 13-year-old Holsteiner owned by Dulcie Lou Morris, who claimed first in the $5,000 USHJA National hunt-and-go derby. Later that afternoon, she piloted Really, a 15-year-old warmblood of unrecorded breeding owned by Michelle Cobb and trained by Devin Gibson, to the top spot in the $49,900 USHJA International Hunter Derby. 

Karazissis relied on her years-long relationships with the two geldings to get the most out of their performances—and she leveraged the atmosphere to get a bit more out of her own riding. 

“Most of the time, I would say I’m almost better when I’m under a little pressure and maybe have to go in there and lay it down for the person that’s going to come after me,” Karazissis said. “It’s more nerve-wracking coming in last and holding the lead for sure.”

Following her hot streak in the desert, we caught up with Karazissis to talk about her partnerships with both the horses and people that help make her program successful, and what it has looked like to slow down and narrow her focus on a smaller string of horses this year at Far West Farms in Calabasas, California. 

1. You had an amazing win on Really. Can you tell me about the feeling he gave you during that ride?

“Amazing” is a good word to describe it. Even after riding him for as long as I have, he still amazes me with his incredible jump. You know, there are times in the warm-up ring where I’m getting ready, and I have to just shout on landing because of just the sheer power and form; it’s just exciting to be on a horse with that much scope. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could go into the grand prix, too, in perfect form. 

Obviously, he gives me those efforts in the show ring as well. But even in the warm-up ring, he makes you just want to go, “Oh, my gosh.” I’ll pull up, and I’m like, “Did you see that? Wow.” You just don’t get over it. It’s just an incredible feeling.

His personality is—it’s hard to describe—but it’s very casual. I mean, he’s not at all excitable. Yeah, there are times where he’s fresh, and he might be a little strong or something. But basically, he’s very level-headed. He’s just a low-key, casual dude. Even the efforts that he gives—I say “efforts,” but it feels effortless when you’re riding him to a big jump. He’s got no spook to him. Doesn’t matter what you put in front of him, I know he’s going to go. 

Another plus with him is, with my riding style, I prefer getting right up to the jump; I like the base. To be able to rely on the fact that he is always going to get his front end out of the way in perfect form is, as a rider, something I love. There are some horses where you tend to have to give them a little bit of a gap to get a better jump out of them or something, but I’m all about the base. 

Watch their winning second-round performance in the Feb. 9 $49,900 USHJA International Hunter Derby, courtesy of ShowGroundsLive.com:

2. Tell me about Big Shot. You also had a great weekend on him. How did he feel going into the weekend?

Big Shot (Lordanos—Corrado I) felt great. It was the only class we did that week. I hesitated; he’s much better over bigger jumps, so I’ll do the occasional national derby, but I mostly gear up for the international derbies, which he had done earlier in the circuit and was second in one. But I figured, he’s got to jump at least once during the week, so why not just do the national derby and just let it be that? I was worried he wouldn’t put out any effort over the smaller jumps, but he really did. He felt like he enjoyed it and was having fun. He really got into it, and it showed.

With him especially, he can be a little distracted by things outside the ring, or he really could turn a corner and spook at a jump. When I’m picking up the canter and heading to [fence] one, I can tell that he’s dialed in—that he’s going to give me a good performance, and he’s not going to do any of that silly stuff.

We’ve had him a long time, and we’ve gotten to know him really well. He loves being turned out and mostly because he wants to roll. He’ll roll maybe four or five times in a row, but then he does not like to be left out in the turnout; he’s a big chicken. He’s just constantly looking around like somebody’s going to get him.

He’s one that’s not impatient. If you were to bring him to the ring, and he had to wait 30 minutes to go, he’s not one of those that gets crabby. He’s just very special. He’s happy, as long as he has fly spray. He does not like the flies. If he’s got a fly on him, he will buck or kick out. He’s very sensitive to that. But otherwise, he’s happy to just hang out and watch the action.

3. I read that you’re narrowing in on a smaller string of horses and carving out more time for yourself. What are you enjoying outside of horses right now?

Well, very recently, I took up golf. It’s a very time-consuming sport, so it was not something I ever had time to do before. I’ve always been interested in it. Our son (Kyle Karazissis) is a professional golfer, and for [my husband] Kost, it’s one of his passions. Kost has been a golfer since before we were married, and he loves it. Fortunately, he did not object when I decided I wanted to take it up. We have the best time going out together and golfing. 

He laughs about it now, that I’m obsessed. I can’t wait to be done, and if I have an early day I’m like, “Oh good. I have time to go golf.” Even if I don’t get 18 holes in, I’ll go to the driving range or play nine holes.

But boy, is that a humbling sport. Oh my gosh, you have that one shot where everything just goes perfectly, and then maybe for the next 50 you still keep striving for that one shot. It would be like the feeling that Really gives you over a jump that makes you want to go and do it again.

4. Who are the people that have been the biggest influences on your journey?

I’m definitely a watcher. I try to learn good and bad things from watching and taking it all in. So I think that’s really important. But the hard part is that, with the people you idolize or want to emulate, a lot of times what is obvious to you is not what’s actually good about their riding. It’s not something you can see. 

I mean, there are very few people—McLain Ward being one of them—where you watch him, and you feel like he just doesn’t make a mistake. You can’t pick apart anything about his riding, or his focus. There’s just something there. He’s just got a gift, and you can’t copy a gift.

I grew up participating in clinics but also auditing them. Those are the kinds of things that I think are really important. They might say something that’s obvious to you, but just then it strikes a chord, or it sinks in. I think I learn a lot by being observant.

I want to say how much I appreciate my husband, who not only has been so supportive, but he’s a huge part of it behind the scenes. He prepares my horses, he prepares me, and it absolutely plays a huge part in any success I have. We’ve been together almost 40 years now; to still be learning from one another and have that support is just so important. 

5. It sounds like you have a really amazing team around you. I’m curious, now that you’ve brought up your husband, how do you feel like you have made your business partnership work in addition to your domestic life?

No. 1 would be respect and trust. I respect his knowledge and his ability when it comes to horses, and I’d like to think he feels the same way. Just the amount of trust we have in each other, too, is just something that you can rely on. It makes it very easy—not to say there haven’t been times when we might have disagreed on something, or he might set something for me on the ground, and I kind of give them a look like, “No.” But all in all, I put myself in his hands. 

He’s been very sought after lately by a lot of professionals to help them on the ground, and I love to be there. As long as I’ve been working with him, I still get so much out of just sitting on the sidelines and watching him help another professional. So that, again, just goes a long way.

We met through the horses. I would say the first real connection we ever had was he was the course designer for the [California Professional Horsemen’s Association] Medal Finals, and I happened to win it. He made a point of coming over and congratulating me, and saying good job for, you know, conquering his course. Shortly after that, we started dating, and we’ve pretty much been together ever since. 

After the fact, I was looking at home movies from when I started riding in a backyard down the street. My babysitter was Shari Rose; she was my trainer. We were watching these home movies together after we were married, and he said, “That’s me!” He was in the same ring. He would come once a week and school these people’s horses, and he was riding around in the same ring that I was riding in. We just cracked up about that.