Remembering Terry Rudd
August 12, 1949 – December 31, 2024
Written by Lauren Giannini
Terry Rudd, a superlative rider of hunters and Grand Prix jumpers, was 75 when she departed for Elysian Fields on December 31, 2024. She was born to ride and established herself as an equestrian prodigy from her earliest seasons with ponies in the show ring.
Terry had it all — athleticism, talent, and nerves of steel. She lived to ride, run, and jump. She also had beauty and brains. She was classic from the start, showing ponies under the tutelage of the late, great hunter trainer Milton “Junie” Kulp in the late 1950s at his All Around Farm in Pennsylvania.
I was a horse-crazy kid at the Ravenhill show when I first saw the impeccably turned-out rider in her jacket, flared jodhpurs with leather garters below the knee, and paddock boots with elastic clips keeping her jod cuffs in place. A pair of ribboned, long braids sprouted from her hunt cap. That was Terry. In 1961, she and her horse, Hot Shot Kid, jumped into the record books in her international debut on the American Horse Shows Association Junior Pony Team, winning in England and harvesting back-to-back Large Pony Hunter Championships in Madison Square Garden at the National Horse Show.
Terry would continue to ride brilliantly on every pony, horse, and round, hunter or jumper. These are two very different disciplines, and few riders make it to Grand Prix, let alone succeed at both. Hunters are judged for evenness of pace, perfect bascules (arcs in the air), lead changes, and the overall picture of horse and rider. Jumpers go for time as they race to complete a course. Terry was often compared to Rodney Jenkins, who believed the rhythmic flow of hunters on the course was integral to success in riding jumpers.
“Terry was extremely talented, always one of the best,” says Joe Fargis, 2007 Show Jumping Hall of Fame inductee and 1984 Olympic team and individual gold medalist with Touch of Class. “The first time we saw Terry and Hot Shot Kid, we were in awe. She was at her best in the saddle. People loved to have her ride their ponies and horses.” And the equines loved Terry, who tuned in to them, helping them achieve their best.
There isn’t room for all of her great rides, including Rise ’N’ Rule and Fat City, but some highlights stand out. In 1977, she piloted Mr. Demeanor to first place in the American Invitational in Tampa, first held in 1973, whose entries read like a who’s who in show jumping. Two years later, she debuted as a member of the U.S. Equestrian Team at the National Horse Show, a new feather in her cap, coached by the legendary Bert de Nemethy. In 1980, she was named to the U.S. Olympic team and competed with Semi-Tough in Rotterdam, Germany. Terry finished 10th individually, second-best of the Americans, and the team finished seventh.
Terry stayed in Germany to school horses for Paul Schockemohle, who finished fourth at Rotterdam. “I met Terry for the first time in Germany where I was working for Paul,” Kate Duffy recalls. “We became good friends. After Terry returned to the U.S., we kept in touch. When I came back, I stayed with her for a short while at the farm she rented in Pennsylvania. She called me often.”
In 1993, Terry scored a second victory with P.S. Gazpacho in the $125,000 Grand Prix of Roanoke, at the time the richest event of its kind in the U.S. and Canada. The duo had won Roanoke in 1990, and so she became the first rider to win the big class twice with the same horse.
Terry was inducted into the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame, along with the inimitable Spindletop Showdown. Partnered with many good hunters, including Brenton Reef, Best Chance, and Not Always, she set the bar high for correct position and flowing, flawless rounds. She is already missed, but her memory lives on, captured in photographs of beautiful horses and rider, flying as if they had wings.
Happy Trails, Terry. ML
A private memorial is being planned by her family. Terry will be laid to rest alongside her mother, Betty, and brother Timmy.
Featured photo: “Terry Rudd and Horse, Semi-Tough, at the Upperville Jumper Classic, Upperville, Virginia, June 10, 1979,” Patricia Williams MacVeagh (American, 1929–2014). The Patricia Williams MacVeagh Collection. Photo courtesy of the National Sporting Library & Museum.
Published in the February 2025 issue of Middleburg Life.