Karin Winegar

Karin Winegar was born horse crazy in Albert Lea, Minnesota and never got over that stage--she even took her horse to college with her.  Her family also allowed her to have dogs, hamsters and parakeets, and she was always bringing home birds, rabbits, frogs, salamanders and snakes that she assumed needed rescuing. 

Karin wanted to be a veterinarian, of course, but when she stood at the blackboard in seventh grade and wrote the formula for water as 2HO, she knew she would have to find some other career path.

She graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and then attended graduate school in English literature at the University of Minnesota.  In 1978, she became a reporter at the Minneapolis Star (later the Star Tribune) and wrote feature stories, covered participatory sports, women's sports issues and interviewed celebrity authors until she left the Tribune in 1998.  Her editorials still appear in the Tribune on occasion.

She freelances for national publications ranging from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to PEOPLE, EQUUS, Practical Horseman, Cowboys and Indians, Conde Nast Traveler and Sailing magazine.  Her commentaries appear on Minnesota Public Radio.

Her writing has won Lowell Thomas awards for  both investigative reporting and for maritime journalism.  She has won numerous awards in the equine industry including two AQHA Steel Dust Awards and the U.S. Equestrian Award.