Ransehousen, the US dressage champion as long ago as 1956, made her Olympic debut at Rome in 1960 and also competed in Tokyo four years later.

Her next Olympic appearance came in Seoul in 1988, earning herself a place in the record books among a select group of women with the longest competitive career in the Games.

Ransehousen is also a successful instructor and trainer and coached 1976 Montreal Olympic team bronze medalist Dorothy Morkis.

She has also acted as the Chef d'Equipe for the US equestrian team at three consecutive Olympics between 1992 and 2000, where her teams won bronze medals at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney four years later.

In addition to her many years of work as an FEI "I" and USEF "S" judge, she was also a member of the USEF High Performance Dressage Committee, USET vice president for dressage, and former assistant secretary of the former American Horse Shows Association (now USEF).

She was inducted into the United States Dressage Federation (USDF) Hall of Fame in 2001.

The USEF Lifetime Achievement Award and the Jimmy A. Williams Trophy are given to the horseman or horsewoman whose "life experience and accomplishments exemplify uncommon devotion to the sport of competition with horses and whose equestrian career and horsemanship have continually elevated the sport’s excellence."

The USEF Lifetime Achievement Award will be formally presented to Ransehousen during the USEF’s 2010 Annual Meeting at the Louisville Downtown Marriott, January 16, at the Pegasus Awards dinner where she will be honoured by fellow US Chef d’equipe George Morris, as well as former team member and six-time Olympic dressage rider, Robert Dover.