By Kimberly Gatto
Portraits by Melissa Fuller
Jane Karol fondly remembers the first time she saw a horse and the magical way it made her feel. “When I was a child and I had the chance to be near a horse,” she said, “It was like my whole world was filled with awe.”
Since that time, Jane—an accomplished dressage rider, trainer, author, and clinical psychotherapist—has parlayed her childhood passion into a profession spanning several decades. Her storied career is multi-faceted. A USDF Gold, Silver and Bronze medalist who has brought numerous horses to the Grand Prix level, Jane also has changed countless young lives for the better through her work as a therapist. She fulfills both roles at her Bear Spot Farm in Acton, Massachusetts, which currently houses over 20 dressage mounts—mostly owned by clients—and a handful of treasured therapy horses.
Infatuated With Horses
Jane began life in Newton, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children born to entrepreneur Herbert Karol and his beloved wife, 
Joan. As the only girl in the family, Jane was born with a deep and lasting love for all things equine. “I have no idea where my love of horses came from, as we were not an equestrian family,” Jane said. “But somehow, from my earliest age, I was completely infatuated with them.”
With no real horses regularly in sight, plastic figurines had to suffice for a while. The little girl’s bedroom was crammed wall-to-wall with equine figurines of various breeds, colors and sizes. “I remember repeatedly lining up all of the plastic horses, from smallest to largest,” Jane said. “I created a magical fantasy world of horses right there in my room.”
Young Jane would occasionally be allowed to indulge her passion at a local barn while the family vacationed in nearby New Hampshire. “I have vivid, fond memories of trail riding with my dad while on vacation,” Jane said. “I specifically remember riding a wonderful Paint horse called Tex. I would count the hours until I could see him again.”
After begging her parents for lessons, Jane attended a local horse camp at the age of 11—and enjoyed every moment of it. “It was not just the riding. I loved everything about the horses—the smell of them, just being around them,” she said. “But at that time, owning a horse was out of the question.”
It wasn’t until years later, when Jane’s family relocated to Texas, that her dream of horse ownership became a reality. “When we moved, it was such a huge change for all of us; my parents said I could have either a car or a horse. There was no question in my mind—it would not be the car,” Jane said. With little money to spend and an equally limited amount of experience, Jane ended up with a green 3-year-old Saddlebred. “We had very little knowledge of what we were getting into, so we basically ended up purchasing the first horse we saw,” Jane said.
Though aptly named My Dream, the gelding was not the most suitable horse for a young, novice horsewoman—or she for him. “I had almost no guidance and didn’t know what I was doing,” Jane said. “The horse was fine—just a 3-year old Saddlebred with no turnout and a rider who was completely green, so he developed a rearing problem. I fell off almost every day at first. To this day I feel guilty about that poor horse. Young horses need experienced horse people or they suffer from our lack of knowledge.”
Learning from that experience, Jane’s parents sold My Dream and purchased a more experienced horse for their daughter. “My next horse’s name was Bubbling Brown Sugar; he was also an American Saddlebred,” Jane said. “He had been trained as an equitation horse and was very obedient. I was able to show a bit locally with him, which was fun.”
When it was time for college, Jane found herself horseless once again, as the cost and demands of college precluded horse ownership. She headed for Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where she would earn a bachelor’s degree in history. While at school, Jane found a way to bring horses back into her life. “I had a friend there who had been riding in the hunters, so I went along to the barn with her and was able to start riding again,” she said. “We did some jumping, which was completely different and new to me. But I found that I enjoyed it.”
After graduating from college, Jane returned to Massachusetts to assist with her family’s charitable organization, the Herbert M. Karol Foundation for Brain Tumor Research, which was established in memory of her late father. She later returned to school at American University in Washington, D.C., eventually earning a master’s degree in organizational development. “I attended classes on the weekends and was able to ride during the week,” Jane said. “I started doing hunter paces, though I feel like I didn’t really know what I was doing at that time.” Soon she tried her hand at low-level eventing with trainer Lainey Johnson and was drawn to the challenge of riding the three different phases. “Back then I was much more focused on the jumping than the dressage,” Jane said. “But I’ll admit I was not very good at it.”
In her mid-20s, Jane returned to horse ownership with the purchase of a gelding called Poetry’s Captain. “He was probably a draft cross of some sort and was not an expensive horse,” Jane said. “The seller told me he was a Westphalian, but he didn’t have any papers. He was a big chestnut, 5 years old, and didn’t have the best conformation. Yet he was just the greatest boy; he had the biggest heart.”
First Grand Prix Horse
While she had originally purchased Captain as an eventing prospect, Jane soon realized that both her and the gelding’s talents were better suited to the dressage arena. The pair spent a few years training under Barend Heilbron, who introduced Jane to Dutch trainer Gerrit-Claes Bierenbroodspot. “You certainly wouldn’t have looked at Captain and thought he would be a dressage horse, but we moved up the levels and ended up getting to Grand Prix,” Jane said. “We were not winning, but we were there. He probably would not have made it in today’s dressage world with all of the fancy movers, but at that time he fit in just fine. And I fell in love with dressage for its emphasis on the relationship between horse and rider.”
Captain was one of the first horses to reside at Bear Spot Farm after Jane and her husband, Howard Cooper, purchased the facility in 1994. The couple had met on a blind date years earlier. “We dated for a year and a half, then broke up for another year and half. Eventually we got back together and were married,” Jane said. Howard, a successful litigator and trial attorney, has always fully supported his wife’s passion for horses.
That support came in handy with Jane’s overly busy schedule. In addition to operating a successful training stable at Bear Spot Farm, Jane earned a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Antioch New England Graduate School, completing her pre- and post-doctoral work as a Harvard Fellow at nearby Cambridge Hospital. It was during her doctoral studies that Jane first pondered combining her passion for horses with her work as a psychotherapist.
“During my doctorate program, I was learning about attachment theory and the use of the therapeutic relationship as a tool to help develop insight, and thus, healing for clients,” she said. “Without getting into too much detail, a therapist can use the genuine emotional reactions the client has towards him or her as a powerful aid in the therapeutic process.”
Jane said that she began to think about the relationship between horses and humans as she learned about the therapeutic power within the client/therapist relationship. “I started thinking about the healing power that horses have with humans. I was conscious of the ‘love’ those of us who are drawn to horses feel when we are around them,” she said. “Over the years, I had heard so many horse people tell stories about how horses ‘saved their lives’ when they were teenagers—it all seemed to fit together.” While horses were rarely, if ever, utilized in a clinical setting at that time, Jane followed her hunch that they could become a powerful tool in the healing process. She was correct.
Healing Power of Horses
In 2004, Jane established the Bear Spot Foundation For Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy to provide therapeutic services to children, teens and their families. Since then, the Foundation has helped countless individuals heal from a variety of debilitating conditions. Clients with depression learn that life can hold happiness; those with low self-esteem can find their worth; and those suffering from loss find hope in the face of despair through the simple presence of an equine companion. Therapy horses at the Farm are varied, ranging from a rescued mini called Cookie Monster to a retired Lusitano dressage stallion who was trained in all of the Grand Prix movements. All are valued members of the Bear Spot team.
When Jane is not working as a psychotherapist, she can be found developing horses through the levels or coaching her dressage clients at home and at competitions. Jane herself continues to compete at the upper levels and is currently bringing along a young mare called Via who shows exceptional promise in the dressage ring.
Jane’s daughter, Hope Cooper, born in 1996, has followed in her mother’s footsteps as a dressage professional. At Bear Spot Farm, mother and daughter work together on a daily basis, which Jane finds especially fulfilling. “It’s an incredible experience to watch Hope excel and interact with the clients and horses,” Jane said. “She is so amazingly gifted as both a rider and a coach; she even teaches me when my trainer’s not around.” Jane and her husband also have another child, Scoop—a talented and accomplished artist.
In terms of the future, Jane intends to continue to improve her riding in the coming years and hopes to bring Via to the Grand Prix level. Both Jane and Hope currently train under FEI World and European Championship medalist Christoph Koschel.
“You hear about violinists and cellists that get better with age,” she said. “While some parts of the riding become more difficult as we age, it can also get better because we have more experience. I try to stay physically fit so that I can be the best I can be in the sport during this phase of my life.” Jane is also highly sought after as a clinician and holds two USDF competitions at her farm to benefit the Bear Spot Foundation.
Looking forward, Jane also hopes to continue to expand the Bear Spot psychotherapy program and is grateful to have Lindsey Plante, Psy. D, working alongside her as the main clinician at the practice. “We are now at a time where kids are going through so much difficulty in life,” she said. “They have so much to worry about these days—things I never had to think about at that age. There are school shootings, social media bullying, COVID—the list goes on. This therapy is so important, as we can get them off of social media for a bit and they are able to touch a horse and feel its warmth.” That is something they cannot get in a traditional therapy setting.
“When a horse rests his head on the shoulder of a depressed and suicidal teenager at the very moment she is expressing her feeling that the world would be better without her, I feel grateful beyond words to the therapy horse,” Jane said. “I also feel astonished that horses, particularly our therapy horses, offer gifts like this almost every day. Those gifts will never cease to move me and surprise me. Each time I see a horse helping one of my clients heal, I feel both utterly moved and mystified.”
For more information, visit www.bearspotfarm.com
Photos by Melissa Fuller, melissafullerphotography33.mypixieset.com
