Karina Hogan was born and raised in Hassfurt, Bavaria, Germany. Her life with horses began when she was 10 years old. After just a year of riding and taking lessons, her grandfather recognized her passion and bought her a horse. She initially competed in Dressage and the 3'0"-3'3" Equitation and Jumpers. By the time she was 14 years old, she was competing with her second horse in the 3'6"-4'0" Equitation and Jumpers. Karina knew from an early age that she wanted to become a trainer, and began her education to reach this goal. She studied with trainer Wolfgang Lehnert at RSG Fankenhof Sonnefeld, as well as at Stable R&FV Grossostheim. She also attended agricultural school to study the care and feeding of livestock. Knowing that she had found her true passion in life, she applied for an apprenticeship with renowned German rider/trainer Siegfried Haaf in RuFV Grossbardorf. After only a couple of months there, however, she was involved in a very serious motorcycle accident and had to put her riding on hold. As soon as she recuperated, she went back to work as Head Trainer at the Stable RC Eltmann in Bavaria. There she taught lessons and trained and showed horses, at times having as many as 26 students, 10 school horses and 18 horses under her care.

In January 2005, Karina made the difficult decision to leave Germany with her husband Chad and move to America. She has been Head Trainer at Sandamar Farm since 2005. In addition to leading the Sandamar show team, Karina also campaigns her mare, Area 51, in the jumper arena. When she's not riding or teaching, Karina enjoys kiteboarding, snowboarding and skiing.