Doug Payne
Highest placed rider on Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics • Grand Prix show jumper • Pan Am Games Team Gold Medalist
Doug was the highest placed event rider on Team USA at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He is also a Grand Prix show jumper and graduate “A” Pony Club alumni. Doug won a team gold medal at the 2019 Pan Am Games as part of the US team. He is ICP Level III certified.
Son of Olympic dressage judge, coach, and eventer Marilyn Payne, Doug was born into an equestrian family. At age 7, he joined the United States Pony Club, eventually earning his A-level certification. After earning his mechanical engineering degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Doug decided to pursue horses full-time and hasn’t looked back since. He started DPEquestrian in 2005, acquiring the ride on OTTB Running Order in 2008, and together the pair completed their first 5-star at Kentucky in 2012. Doug then produced Crown Talisman to the 4-star level in 2014, culminating their partnership with a 6th-place finish at Saumur in France. In 2015, he picked up the ride on Trakehner gelding Vandiver, who would be his next 5-star mount and eventually his Olympic partner.
Doug has continued to produce horses to the top levels of not just eventing, but also showjumping. Along with 5* horse Quantum Leap (who Doug purchased as a weanling) and 4* horse/Pan Am gold medalist Starr Witness, he also has international showjumper Quintessence. With a resume that boasts credentials like FEI 5* Event rider, Olympian, Pan Am gold medalist, FEI 4* Jumper, International Hunter Derby Rider, USDF Silver Medalist, USPC 'A' Rating, USPC, and Mechanical Engineer, it’s easy to see why Doug is such a valuable addition to our coaching line-up! In his free time, Doug has also become an author, publishing ‘The Problem Horse Repair Manual’ in 2014, and is an Instrument-rated pilot. Between eventing competitions, hunter/jumper shows, and his busy clinic schedule, Doug spends a lot of time traveling, usually in the company of his wife Jess and their kids, Hudson and Abigail. His next big goal, in addition to continuing to compete at the top levels of both eventing and showjumping, is to obtain his USDF gold medal.
Doug’s business, Payne Equestrian Sport Services and Sales, is based out of Rougemont, North Carolina.
Other coaches
Natural Horsemanship Coach • USDF Gold Medalist • Author • Horse Development Specialist with 11 years of study under Linda and Pat Parelli
5* event rider • Has been short- and long-listed to the Canadian team numerous times with multiple horses
5* event rider • Represented the US in the 2003 Pan Am Games • ICP level IV coach
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