Carol Hagerman Durand, widely considered to have been America's leading lady rider in the immediate post-World War II era, was a star on the first-ever U.S. Equestrian Team and was the first woman rider to qualify for an Olympic team, at Fort Riley, Kansas in 1951. Though the International Olympic Committee eventually sustained its exclusion of women show jumpers for the 1952 Olympics - they were to change this posture only four years later - Mrs. Durand competed with conspicuous success on the "fall circuit" of Harrisburg, New York, and Toronto from 1950-1953. Riding Reno Kirk, Pale Face, and Miss Budweiser, she annexed such competitions as New York's Individual International Championship and International Stake and Toronto's Puissance as well as sharing in many team victories. She also formed a memorable partnership with team captain Arthur McCashin in the International Pair Competition that was featured on the fall circuit in that era as part of the three-phase "Low Score Competition." At one time or another, the Durand/McCashin duo won this competition at each of the fall circuit shows.
A Kansas City girl, Carol Hagerman started riding at the age of eight. By her twenties, her riding skills were sought after by many of the leading Midwest exhibitors and dealers, and she was also showing horses that she developed herself. When her riding career was curtailed by the reduced horse show activity of the War years, Durand joined the Red Cross, and served overseas for two years in India and China.
Picking up the reins again after the War, Mrs. Durand was quickly back in the winner's circle. In 1950, she shipped to Indiantown Gap, PA for the selection trails for the first "civilian" USET, and earned a spot on the team for that year's fall circuit, joining Norma Mathews and Arthur McCashin. Though this this team of international neophytes had to face Mexico's 1948 Olympic Champions, led by the legendary Col. Humberto Mariles Cortés, as well as riders from England, Ireland, Canada, and Chile, the acquitted themselves admirably, accounting for five victories. The following year they improved on this with seven wins, and topped the team standings at Harrisburg.
Despite the disappointment of being on the sidelines for the 1952 Olympics, Durand tasted international competition abroad by joining the team for the world-famous Royal International Horse Showin London. That fall, she shared in the team's best showing to date, an even dozen victories, and was the mainstay of the team's fine showing the following year when it notched ten wins and led the overall standings at Toronto.
Carol Durand died tragically in 1970 at the age of 52, while trying a horse at the Cahokia Downs racetrack in Illinois. She was survived by her husband, Dana, and a son, Dana, Jr.