This adult amateur came back from a scary fall to become circuit champion.

In 2006 Glenda Lippman suffered an injury that might have convinced many adult amateurs to hang up their spurs. An ill-timed buck in the warm-up at the Capital Challenge (Md.) sent the Las Vegas, Nev., rider flying, and she ended up on six weeks of bed rest with a broken pelvis.

But instead of avoiding horses, Lippman purchased her next hunter while she was stuck in bed, and Red Label turned out to be a winner, capturing the adult amateur, 18-35, circuit championship at the HITS Desert Circuit in 2008.

Lippman, 31, began riding as a 5-year-old at Maypine Farm in Cleveland, Ohio. She competed in the short stirrup division and moved up to children’s hunters, but when she graduated from high school she had to quit riding and start working on a career.

After two years at Cleveland State University (Ohio), Lippman was swept into the family outdoor advertising business. Her family sent her to real estate school in Las Vegas in 2000.

“Vegas is a town where you have to live here to work here because it’s so transient,” said Lippman. “People here are skeptical of the overnighters who come in and take off. They had me move here so I could be a resident and meet the people and the developers. It was growing really quickly at the time.”

Lippman proved more than capable of growing her family business, and she quickly began finding property for billboards and negotiating for leases and permits.

“I had to get a real job and learn how to support the horses on my own. I made it my goal to be able to support the horses and support my own riding,” she said.

So she inched back into the sport, first by buying horses and sending them to Lauren Bass, whose family had helped her get started in riding at Maypine Farm. Then she connected with Archie Cox in Lake View Terrace, Calif., and it was Cox who helped her literally get back on the horse after her devastating fall.

“When I finally was released to start walking again, I took my crutches, got in my car and went to the barn,” said Lippman. “I was not even walking, and I got on [my horse] with the help of Archie. I used my crutches, scaled a little wall, got on him and started riding again.

“I had some fears to overcome, but I knew I was in really good hands,” she added. “Archie told me that I would be safe. When you have someone on the ground that you trust who tells you you’re going to be fine, I think that that’s really important. He wouldn’t tell me I was safe if I wasn’t.”

Lippman soon developed a strong partnership with Red Label. “He’s so trustworthy,” she said. “I’ve never had an animal that I know at the end of the day will always jump the jump no matter what position I put him in. He’s got a brain. He thinks really quickly, and if I make a mistake, he’s able to save me. There’s nothing that feels better than knowing you’ll always be safe on him.”

The 11-year-old gelding won his under saddle classes with Lippman from the start, and the pair earned their first adult amateur championship in the third week of the 2007 Desert Circuit in Thermal, Calif.

“I always wanted to be circuit champion,” said Lippman. “So that was my goal [for 2008], and I was very pleased I was able to achieve that. That was definitely the big highlight for me. I have to drive back and forth from Vegas. It’s a 4.5-hour drive to get there. I made sacrifices to get there. You put your career on hold when you’re driving back and forth like that. I felt like I’d really done something I was very proud of.”

Lippman credited Cox and his program for “Rocky’s” achievements.

“He tunes him up so well sometimes that when I tell him the wrong thing he knows when to ignore me,” she said with a laugh. “It’s like sometimes the horse knows better. That’s something that is really great for me. When you have a professional riding your horse all the time, they know what their job is. Archie’s spent many hours working with my horse, teaching him how he should go.”

Lippman also raved about the excellent footing and organization of the Desert Circuit series.

“The grounds crew was wonderful. The people were very friendly. The stalls are big and permanent,” she said. “We had some crazy windstorms, and the facility handled it really well. They were very responsible about canceling stuff when it needed to be canceled. They never put the financial aspects above the horses. They were very responsible. I was impressed.”

Although Lippman couldn’t have been happier with her 2008 accomplishments, she won’t be riding in any horse shows this year.

“In 2005 we sold the family business to a public company. We took some time off, and we’re back to work again. That’s why I won’t be showing at Thermal, because we’re in the process of growing the family business again,” she explained.

Her family is diversifying the business, so they will continue to buy land for billboards, but they’ve also started working on retail pylon signs. The Las Vegas branch of the business, Frontier SignCo, offers everything from acquiring the permits to manufacturing and installing the signs.

“We were very quiet from 2005 until now. It was a couple of years of playing with the horses and not having other responsibilities,” said Lippman. “Now I’m very busy. I have to go back to work, but I got to have a lot of fun with Rocky, and I plan on being out there in the future with him. My family comes first, real life comes first, and horses come second.”

Lippman plans to lease Rocky to another rider in Cox’s barn. And she won’t totally leave horses behind.

“I own another horse with the Bass family, a young jumper. I have another, older horse that I’ve sent to Jane Fraze. She’s using him as a practice horse in Arizona and playing with him. I still definitely have horses and will be active in the industry, but probably more as an owner or investor versus someone showing on the weekends,” she said. “I want Rocky to have the same visitor every day, someone to bring him carrots, and I can’t provide that right now because I’m really busy. At some point I’ll be back on the show circuit when the economy flips again, and I’ve got time to do that. I’ve got to work when I can work and play when I can play.”